 Digital learning environments are everywhere. You know them as learning management systems that go by names like Blackbird, Moodle, Desire to Learn, and Canvas. Recent years have seen more diverse digital learning environments. People learn how to play the ukulele by watching YouTube videos. They learn how to grow organic veggies by joining Facebook groups. They join a vast array of specialist communities that help them improve their skills, from knitting to drawing to managing their finances. All these technologies, resources, and platforms that people use to learn online is what I call digital learning environments. These systems are central to online and blended learning, whether some important issues that researchers and designers need to know about digital learning environments. There are four foundational elements that designers need to consider. Organizational structures, design, guidance, and the technology's lack of neutrality. First, digital learning environments are organized in different ways. These ways may influence how people interact with each other, how people teach, and how learning is assessed. Three ways that digital learning environments are organized are the following. Groups. These are formal and hierarchical entities. An example is an online course at the university. Participation in the group is controlled by start and end dates by the university and by the instructor. Groups are most often hosted by learning management systems. Networks. These are fluid structures with minimal boundaries. It's easy to figure out who is in a group, but it's difficult to figure out who is in a network, because entry and exit to a network are unrestricted. Individuals in a group may know a lot of the people in there, but individuals in a network may know some, but not everyone. Some individuals are closely connected to each other, but some individuals are unknown to each other. An example of a network might be a LinkedIn page. And finally, communities. These are structures that are more fluid than groups, but less fluid than networks. In a community, people share mutual interests and show commitment, coherence, and continuity. Communities of practice are one well-known instance of this organizational structure. Second, we have to consider how to design effective, meaningful, and impactful learning experiences. This is essentially what instructional designers do. At its most basic level, a digital learning environment should consist of fundamental elements like alignment between activities and assessments, and a learner-centered focus. Instruction designers, though, can do much more. They can design more meaningful and impactful education by crafting the learning experience and by inspiring learning. The third important issue that we need to consider is that of guided versus unguided instruction. How much guidance and support should be included in a digital learning environment? How much and what types of support can peers provide to each other? With an abundance of content online, can people just learn by themselves by reading books, watching videos, and completing assessments? Yes, it is possible to learn without any structures, but a complete lack of supports and structures is rarely helpful. This is why progressive pedagogies like problem-based learning, incur learning, and so on provide scaffolds to assist students. In designing digital learning environments, we should consider how to help learners grow from novice to experts online. There are times when they might have the skills and abilities to self-direct their learning, and there are times when they need our assistance to do so. Finally, we should keep in mind that technologies are rarely neutral. In fact, technologies have particular perspectives on the world because they are designed by people and people embed their values in the design of technology. For example, Facebook structures nearly design all relationships in the same flat way, and some learning management systems only allow instructors to create discussion boards. These software design decisions have an impact on the ways that we design and use digital learning environments. For example, when students are unable to start discussion threads, instructors are limited in their ability to create student-centered learning environments. When designers use technologies in digital environments that were not specifically designed for learning and teaching, they should consider how the design of the tool may dictate their teaching activities and what the repercussions of that design are on the students. These four issues are important to consider and recognize when designing, adopting and evaluating digital learning environments. You can find the more detailed analysis of these issues in the published paper. Thanks a lot for tuning in, and if you like this, please share it with your friends, colleagues and students.