I'm Ed McLean, a freelance learning designer and developer.

I provide extra capacity and expertise when clients need it, often over many projects. For example...

50+projects for Mind Tools
"A valuable extension of our team. He's a true gem."
Tracey McDonald, Head of Learning Experience Production
40+projects for CIPD
"A pleasure to work with. Easy to recommend."
Jonathan Hughes, then Learning Experience Manager, CIPD
5projects for Wiley
"We're delighted with the quality of his output."
David Dowling, Learning Lead, Wiley

My background

  1. I started out with ten years in client-facing roles, asking questions, listening closely and turning business needs into practical solutions.

  1. Then, I spent ten years designing and delivering student skills training in higher education.

  1. For the past seven years, I’ve developed learning solutions for some of the world’s biggest companies.

What I do

Learning design

I bring dry "content" to life with interactive scenarios, thought-provoking challenges and opportunities to apply learning.

"His expertise and knowledge of learning design is excellent."
Tracey McDonald, Head of Learning Experience Production

Development

I love to build in Evolve, Rise and more. From full course builds to updates and ongoing maintenance.

"His creative use of authoring tools earned us glowing feedback from our partners. We're still in awe of his use of (Evolve) logic and triggers!"
David Dowling, Learning Lead, Wiley

Writing

I use words to grab attention, spark thought, surprise and reinforce learning.

"His writing is articulate and always delivered to high standard."
Tracey McDonald, Head of Learning Experience Production

What's it like to work with me?

"Excellent communication throughout. Always on hand to answer questions and give reassurance"
Colin Ransom, Founder, Ransom Harris
"He has a calm, thoughtful and measured way of dealing with anything asked of him."
Tracey McDonald, Head of Learning Experience Production
"Flexible, responsive and diligent."
David Oliver, Owner, Fourth Corner Communications

So, what about you?

I'd love to hear what you’re working on, talk through your priorities and see where I might be able to help.

© Ed McLean 2026. All rights reserved.

Privacy notice

Who I am

I am Ed McLean, a freelance learning designer, e-learning developer and writer based in the UK.

If you have any questions about how I use your personal information, or would like me to stop contacting you, you can contact me at:

[email protected]

Information I may hold about you

If I contact you in connection with my freelance services, I may hold professional information such as:

  • your name;
  • your job title and employer;
  • your business email address;
  • your LinkedIn profile or other professional profile;
  • information about your organisation relevant to my reason for contacting you;
  • the source from which I obtained your details; and
  • records of correspondence and previous contact with you.

I do not intentionally collect sensitive or special category personal information for marketing purposes.

Where I obtain information

I may obtain professional contact information from publicly available and business information sources, including:

  • your employer's website;
  • LinkedIn and other professional profiles;
  • publicly available business directories and publications;
  • business contact-data providers such as Apollo; and
  • other legitimate professional or business sources.

I may also receive information directly from you when you contact me or respond to me.

Why I use your information

I use professional contact information to identify organisations and individuals who may have a relevant need for my freelance learning design, e-learning development or writing services, and to contact them about those services.

I aim to make this contact targeted and relevant to the person's professional role rather than sending indiscriminate marketing.

Lawful basis

Where appropriate, I rely on legitimate interests under UK data protection law.

My legitimate interest is developing and promoting my freelance business by identifying and contacting organisations that may reasonably have a need for the services I provide.

When relying on legitimate interests, I consider the relevance of my services to the person's professional role and balance my business interests against their privacy rights and reasonable expectations.

I do not rely on legitimate interests where another legal requirement means consent is necessary.

Your right to object to marketing

You have the right to object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing at any time.

If you do not want me to contact you again, simply tell me by replying to my message or contacting me at [email protected]. I will stop using your information for marketing.

I may retain a minimal record of your name, organisation and contact details on a suppression list so that I can make sure I do not contact you again.

How long I keep information

I periodically review prospecting information and normally delete personal information that is no longer reasonably required for business development purposes.

Unless there is a continuing business relationship or another reason to retain it, I normally retain prospecting information for no more than 24 months from the most recent review or meaningful contact.

If you object to receiving marketing, I may retain the minimum information necessary to record that objection and prevent future contact.

Who I share information with

I do not sell your personal information or provide it to other organisations for their own marketing.

I may use third-party service providers to help operate my business, for example email, cloud storage, contact management and business information services. These providers may process personal information on my behalf.

Where information is processed outside the UK, I take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate legal safeguards for international transfers apply where required.

Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

  • ask for a copy of the personal information I hold about you;
  • ask me to correct inaccurate information;
  • ask me to delete your information;
  • ask me to restrict how your information is used; and
  • object to the processing of your information.

For direct marketing, your right to object applies at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, contact me at [email protected].

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator.

Changes to this notice

I may update this privacy notice from time to time. The latest version will be available on my website.

Last updated: September 2026.

This is an experiment and should not really be paid attention to, so please go about your business and move on as there is nothing to see here. This is an experiment and should not really be paid attention to, so please go about your business and move on as there is nothing to see here.