I think the fact that LXD takes into considerations learners' social and cultural background gives this model an edge over the traditional learner and contextual analysis. However, I also think in the traditional environment instructors who do care for their learners usually take the learners' backgrounds into consideration anyway in their instructions and those instructors are usually considered or seen as great instructors.

I think part of this came from the technology advancement. In the early days technologies were still in their infancy with slow processors and clunky coding. As a result humans have to adapt to the (limited) technology. These days things have advanced tremendously and at a rapid speed more than ever. With that technologies such as computers, automations, learning systems to name just a few can be customized to individual preferences. In other words technology advancement in a big part enables us to adopt learning experience design.

This might sound simple and logical enough to accomplish. However, when someone from one background looks inside or peek into another person's life/situation, the other person's life/situation will be viewed through the lens of that 'someone.' To truly understand someone from a different background or situation it takes living in that background or situation. The further apart the background of the subject from the observer, the more the distance from where the observer is to the point of full understanding.

This leads to the potential that the understanding that the observer (assumingly) places on the subject is not a true understanding even though with a good intention.

I feel that this is easily achievable in a homogenous society. For example, Thailand where I originally came from over 90% of the population are Thai. The main cultures (language, religion, values etc) are one and the same for the majority of the population. People think, behave, and live (based on the shared values) the same way for the most part. On top of that the culture of conformity and passivity reinforces similar thinking and thought process among the population. The primary divide element among population is the socio-economic status rather than the cultural one.

In comparison the US as diverse as it is plus a culture of individualism I can imagine empathic design might present more of a challenge here where learners in a class could come from so many diverse cultural background on top of different socio-economic level.

This sounds simple and straightforward, but in reality it might be a challenge to understand and be mindful of 'all' cultures especially within the diverse population we are in today. I had run into this issue myself when I adopted a hangman game in my training. I received a comment that it is highly offensive to the African American group. As a result I adjusted my training accordingly.<br> Image source: Wikimedia Commons

From my experience this could be a challenge especially for staff IT training where the level of prior knowledge and (computer) skills of participants could vary from 1 (low) to 9 (very high) on the 1-10 scale. What I found works best is the middle ground so not to lose the level 1 people and at the same time not to bore the level 10 folks.