After a decade of teaching in and managing university writing centers, I decided to go back to grad school for instructional design at Concordia University. My design philosophy is inspired by both my work as a writer and an education activist: that education needs to be designed for the real lives of real people, and needs to acknowledge all the real-world barriers to learning that stand in their way, whether they’re children who struggled in online school during the pandemic or adults logging on to finish their degree after a long day at work. The difference between education being “available” and “accessible” is the same as the difference between “equality” and “equity.” Education that doesn’t at least try to serve all of its learners is meaningless.