Prediction #5: Learning Engineering will gain institutional momentum, especially in military and academic sectors
Continuing on I2IDL’s top ten predictions for learning technologies and data infrastructure in 2026, our fifth prediction is that Learning Engineering will continue to gain institutional momentum.
(ICYMI, check out Prediction #4 about the learning tech stack.)
Confidence Level: 5/5 ★★★★★
Learning Engineering will cross a threshold in 2026. We expect to see “Learning Engineering” in more job postings, conference tracks, and university programs than ever before.
Touchstone books, including the Learning Engineering Toolkit, the 60 Year Curriculum, and Learning Engineering for Online Education helped define the discipline. Forerunner academic organizations—Carnegie Mellon’s METALS, Arizona State’s Learning Engineering Institute, Boston College’s Learning, Design, and Technology program, Harvard’s Next Level Lab, and the AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (AI-ALOE)—have grown the next generation of practitioners. And the IEEE International Consortium for Innovation and Collaboration in Learning Engineering (ICICLE) nurtured the community of practice.
In 2024, the U.S. Air Force established the Enterprise Learning Engineering Center of Excellence. This isn’t a pilot program; it’s an operational organization committed to the “systematic application of evidence-based principles, scientific methods and practices from the learning sciences, education research, and systems-thinking…” The Royal Canadian Air Force’s Training Modernization Strategy (2024) also commits to Learning Engineering, saying it will play “a prominent role” in its Future Air Force Training System.
In 2026, we predict more military services will incorporate Learning Engineering into their strategies and practice. As defense organizations turn to advanced AI-enabled training systems and data-informed educational approaches, they’ll need Learning Engineering to ensure effectiveness.
The academic landscape will also expand. IEEE ICICLE will launch the Journal of Learning Engineering in 2026, creating another peer-reviewed venue that advances scholarly work in the field, complementing the Journal of Digital Education and Learning Engineering (first published in 2025). Established academic programs will continue producing graduates, and we anticipate more higher-education institutions around the world will embrace Learning Engineering.
So what? For defense organizations, the USAF and RCAF commitments establish a benchmark. If your training and education modernization strategy doesn’t address Learning Engineering, you’re behind your allies. More significantly, you’re missing the people and processes needed to implement modern learning technologies. Start by using the Learning Engineering Adoption Maturity Model framework for institutional assessment and planning. For industry, vendors serving government programs should increasingly expect requirements that reference Learning Engineering practices (instrumentation, iterative improvement, learning science justification for design decisions), and incorporating these approaches into your business or K-12 offerings could cement your early market leadership in those sectors. For higher education, the growing opportunities for academic programs and publishing are clear; additionally, you should embrace Learning Engineering in practice. If you aren’t already walking the walk (implementing Learning Engineering at your institution), it’s past time to establish that function.
