Imagine the following real-life learning scenario: Your sister is a nervous Nelly and has begged you to help your 15.9-year-old nephew Ben get the required 100 hours of on-the-road driving practice he needs before taking his driver’s test. You agreed. (Congrats! You’re a saint!) The desired goal is to make sure that he can drive safely and confidently in typical road and traffic conditions and in difficult ones. Which learning activities are most crucial for achieving the desired goal?

Editor’s Note: Parts of this article may not format well on smartphones and smaller mobile devices. We recommend viewing on larger screens.

This is pretty easy, right? Some of the most typical and difficult road and traffic conditions he’ll need to be able to confidently handle as a driver include thinking ahead to be ready to make the next turn, people driving erratically (changing lanes abruptly and the like), poor weather conditions, congested traffic, and needing to merge into traffic. So the most crucial learning activities will be driving in these conditions until he can do them well and with confidence.

Picking appropriate and effective learning activities for most instructional situations works exactly like the scenario I just described. Figure out what learners need to be able to do in the real world and then make sure they get plenty of practice doing it. I’ve given away the most important advice of this article in the last sentence and if you’re pressed for time, you could stop reading right now. But you should keep reading because...

Even though it’s almost that simple, a lot of instruction doesn’t do this. I see courses every day that claim to train people to do x or y that do not have learning activities where learners do much x or y. This is a situation in need of a remedy because we really can’t design courses to train people to do x or y when they don’t get adequate practice doing x or y. Am I right?

In this article, I’m going to discuss a simple process that will help you get to the following place each time you design instruction: Figure out what learners need to be able to do in the real world and then make sure they get adequate practice doing it during instruction.

This is a “play along” article in which you’ll be completing some activities and then comparing your answers to mine. Note that a variety of answers are “right” because there are numerous ways to practice, and numerous types of media that can support each selected activity. So don’t worry if you don’t have the exact same answers as I do, but rather worry that what you select gets you to the place described in the last paragraph.

A simple process

In the next three sections, I’ll describe a simple process that I follow with clients to make sure that courses have the most-crucial learning activities, learning activities that assure that learners get adequate practice doing (during instruction) what they need to be able to do on the job, after instruction.

Figure 1 shows what this simple process looks like. (“DO” is not an abbreviation – it’s the things people must DO in order to be successful in the real world.)

 

1. Uncover the DO's 2. Convert DOs into activities 3. Select media to support these activities

Figure 1. A process for connecting learning activities to real-life activities.

 

Let’s look at each of these steps individually.

1. Uncover the DOs

One of the hallmarks of good instruction is that it allows learners to practice doing what they need to be able to DO in real life, in a safe environment, with meaningful feedback and help, until they are able to DO what they need to be able to DO in real life effectively.

What do people DO in real-life? Table 1 shows the most typical DO types of real-life work, and some examples of each.

Table 1. Typical DO types and examples of each.

DO Types

DOs (examples)

1. Recall facts

Business hours

Pay dates

2. Find and make sense of information, often with the aid of tools, resources, etc.

Whether the caller’s service plan covers labor

When timesheets are due on weeks with a holiday

3. Understand underlying concepts

How databases work

Why you need overnight shipping for perishable items

4. Know how a process works

The travel expense reimbursement process

The hiring process

5. Complete needed steps

How to complete a new-hire request

How to check in new stock

6. Determine which course of action is needed

Ascertain the malfunction cause(s) and contact the appropriate department

Determine whether to give a refund or a credit

7. Create a product or produce a specific result

Write a discrepancy report

Transfer callers to another extension

8. Troubleshoot and fix problems

Find the damaged part and replace it

Analyze the reason for the delay and suggest solutions

 

As an example, Table 2 lists DOs (for each DO type) for a module of a customer skills course for telephone sales representatives.

Table 2. Example DOs for a customer service skills module

Course: Customer Services Skills

Module 4: Finding an Out-of-Stock item for a Customer

DO Types

DOs

1. Recall facts

When new shipments arrive

How long it takes to check new shipments into a database

What the database codes are for in-stock, out-of-stock coming in on [date], out-of-stock [no date], and out-of-stock discontinued

2. Find and make sense of information, often with the aid of tools, resources, etc.

Find item in database

Determine whether item is in stock, out-of-stock coming in on [date], out-of-stock [no date], or out-of-stock discontinued

Determine how many pieces are available in each location

3. Understand underlying concepts

How databases work

4. Understand how a process works

The stock check-in process

5. Complete needed steps

Place hold on stock in your location

Request stock from another location

6. Determine which course of action is needed

Help customer decide whether to wait for new shipment or get item from another location

7. Create a product or produce a specific result

Acquire desired item for customer

Satisfy the customer

8. Troubleshoot and fix problems

Reconcile database availability and on-shelf availability

 

If you don’t know what people DO in real-life, the pre-step is to learn what people do. That likely involves watching them work, asking questions, seeing what tools they use and what problems they deal with, and so on. Sounds like a lot of work, I know, but it’s impossible to understand a person’s job without doing this. And it’s impossible to design good instruction without understanding the work it impacts.

Here’s the first “play along” part that I told you about earlier. I want you to be able to DO this process after you read/do the article, so I built in some learning activities that will help you work the process.

Try it!

Throughout the rest of the article we’ll be working on the learning activities and media for module 2 of a Workplace Violence course. (Figure 2).

 

Screenshot from Threat Assessment module of Workplace Violence course

Figure 2. Screenshot from Threat Assessment module of Workplace Violence course (Source: Learning Peaks)

 

Your turn: Complete the DOs column for the Threat Assessment module of the Workplace Violence course. (A few are filled in to get you started. You can see my answers in the next Try It! Exercise, but don’t peek ahead!) For this exercise, assume that you know what a threat assessment is and how to do it, but realize that in real-life, you’d have to get a lot more information to do this.

Your turn:

DO Types

DOs

1. Recall facts

Determine when to perform a threat assessment

2. Find and make sense of information, often with the aid of tools, resources, etc.

Interpret company workplace violence policy

3. Understand underlying concepts

 

4. Understand how a process works

 

5. Complete needed steps

 

6. Determine which course of action is needed

 

7. Create a product or produce a specific result

Make sure that the threat assessment is complete

8. Troubleshoot and fix problems

 

 

Once you have a list of the most important DOs for each DO type, you can convert them into learning activities (which I’ll discuss next). This is a logical and relatively simple way of determining what learning activities to include in any given instructional situation, and because these learning activities tie directly to what the learner needs to be able to do in real-life, they are valuable and relevant activities that do not waste learners’ time (or your time to develop and build).

2. Convert DOs into activities

Learning activities should let the learner practice applying what they learned in real or realistic ways via exercises, tutorials, simulations, problems, experiments, and the like. Table 3 shows typical learning activities and the media used to build these activities for each DO type.

Table 3. Typical practice media used to support typical practice activities for each DO type

DO Types

Typical Learning Activities

Typical Media Used
to Support Activities

1. Recall facts

Recall facts

Classify facts

Use facts

Questions requiring recall

Puzzles or games

Interactive flash cards

2. Find and make sense of information, often with the aid of tools, resources, etc.

Locate needed information

Interpret information (what does this mean?)

Apply information to a specific issue, scenario, or problem

Evaluate application of information to a specific issue, scenario, or problem

Electronic copies of resources

Questions using information resources

Scenario graphics, documents, and audio or video clips

Forms

Interactive response and feedback

3. Understand underlying concepts

Develop or interpret a concept map

Identify examples and non-examples

Apply concept properties

Interactive classification, pairing, or sequencing

Interactive response and feedback

4. Understand how a process works

Sequence parts of the process

Interpret a model or map of the process

Analyze when the process applies and when it doesn’t apply

Analyze how the process applies in specific situations

Graphical analogy or model of process

Animation to show stages of process or changes over time

Interactive classification, pairing, or sequencing

Interactive response and feedback

Scenario documents, graphics, and other media

5. Complete needed steps

Analyze when to perform the steps and when not to perform the steps

Sequence the steps

Perform the steps

Use a job aid/decision matrix to perform the steps

Demo of steps being performed

Tutorial for performing the steps

Animation to show steps happening in order

Documents, with or without graphics, such as job aids

Classification, pairing, or sequencing elements

6. Determine which course of action is needed

Determine which policies, criteria, and guidelines apply

Apply policies, criteria, and guidelines to scenarios

Analyze when to apply the policy and when not to apply the policy

Solve problems that occur when the right course of action isn’t taken

Decision tools (matrix, flowchart, etc.)

Scenario documents, graphics, and other media

Charts, schematics, or other data representations

Branched scenarios with text, graphics, audio, and/or video

7. Create a product or produce a specific result

Evaluate product examples

Create the product

Create a checklist to determine if a specific result has been achieved

Use a checklist to determine if a specific result has been achieved

Documents or other items as a model of what is to be built

Pictures or other graphics showing product elements or results

Checklists to evaluate what is built

8. Troubleshoot and fix problems

Troubleshoot information resources, processes, procedures (steps), and actions

Determine when and where to get help

Decision tools (matrix, flowchart, etc.)

Scenario documents, graphics, and other media

Branched scenarios with text, graphics, audio, or video

 

Notice how the learning activities for each DO type align with the DO type. For example, for DO type, “Complete needed steps,” learning activities revolve around completing those steps. To work up to completing the needed steps, we may want the learner to start out analyzing when to perform the steps and when not to perform the steps. We may want them to sequence the steps so we can check their understanding of the order of the steps. And they will certainly need to practice performing the steps.

There is a direct tie between the DO and the learning activities, and this makes complete sense because in order to get adequate practice in instruction, learners need to practice doing, during instruction, what they will be doing in real-life.

Now it’s time for the second “play along” part.

Try it!

Your turn: Using Table 3 as a reference, complete the Learning Activities column for the Performing a Violence-Threat Assessment module that follows. (A few are filled in to get you started. You can see my answers in the next Try It! exercise but don’t peek ahead!)

Your turn

DO Types

DOs

Learning Activities

1. Recall facts

Determine when to perform a threat assessment

Questions about determining when to perform a threat assessment

2. Find and make sense of information, often with the aid of tools, resources, etc.

Interpret company workplace violence policy

 

3. Understand underlying concepts

None

 

4. Understand how a process works

The threat assessment process

Threat assessment process sequencing exercise

5. Complete needed steps

Perform a threat assessment

 

 

6. Determine which course of action is needed

None

 

7. Create a product or produce a specific result

Make sure that the threat assessment is complete

Complete threat assessment

8. Troubleshoot and fix problems

Get help with your threat assessment

 

 

One of the most common questions that comes up in workshops where we explore and practice these three steps is what media are used in these activities. I’ll discuss that next. And I’ll also show you some screenshots that show how these activities look (as developed by me).

3. Select media to support desired activities

The most critical consideration about media selection is that the media chosen adequately support needed practice activities (which, as a reminder, are the practice activities that let learners adequately practice needed real-life DOs). Here are some obvious other considerations:

  • Cost

  • Can be built with available tools

  • Ease of use

  • Ease of creation and maintenance

  • Works with players that learners have available (Flash, audio, etc.)

  • Bandwidth

There are many different types of media used to build and support learning activities. We create some in the course of building an activity. For example, you may build multiple-choice questions with an authoring tool, such as Articulate Quizmaker (http://www.articulate.com/products/quizmaker.php), that creates questions and feedback. You may create branched scenarios that allow learners to experience the results of decisions they make, using an authoring tool such as Adobe Captivate (http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/). You may use other tools to create images, audio, or video used in multiple-choice questions or scenarios. For example, in questions about a specific application, you might use SnagIt (http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp) to create screen captures to show in questions, or Jing (http://www.techsmith.com/jing/) to create application demos for application questions. You may edit Video with Premiere Elements (http://www.adobe.com/products/premiereel/) and encode it into the Flash video format using Articulate Video Encoder (http://www.articulate.com/products/video-encoder.php).

Try it!

Your turn: Using Table 3 as a reference, complete the Media column for the Performing a Violence-Threat Assessment module that follows. (A few are filled in to get you started. You can see my answers at the end of the article but don’t peek ahead!

Your turn

DO Types

DOs

Learning Activities

Media

1. Recall facts

Determine when to perform a threat assessment

Questions about determining when to perform a threat assessment

 

2. Find and make sense of information, often with the aid of tools, resources, etc.

Interpret company workplace violence policy

Use policy manual to answer threat assessment questions

 

Multiple choice questions

 

3. Understand underlying concepts

None

None

None

4. Understand how a process works

The threat assessment process

Threat assessment process sequencing exercise

 

5. Complete needed steps

Perform a threat assessment

 

[Offline] Use questionnaire to complete department threat assessment

 

6. Determine which course of action is needed

None

None

None

7. Create a product or produce a specific result

Make sure that the threat assessment is complete

Complete threat assessment

Use checklist to evaluate threat assessment completeness

Forms-based threat assessment

 

8. Troubleshoot and fix problems

Get help with your threat assessment

Determine who to call with questions

 

 

To see what some of these activities might look like, Figure 3 shows a screenshot from the policy manual question learning activity (DO type 2) and Figure 4 shows a screenshot from the complete threat assessment learning activity (DO type 7).

 

Screenshot – Policy manual question

Figure 3. Screenshot – Policy manual question (Source: Learning Peaks)

 

Screenshot – Complete threat assessment form

Figure 4. Screenshot – Complete threat assessment form (Source: Learning Peaks)

 

My completed chart is below. Your chart is likely to be different because there are many different ways to build these learning activities (media).

My completed chart

DO Types

DOs

Learning Activities

Media

1. Recall facts

Determine when to perform a threat assessment

Questions about determining when to perform a threat assessment

Multiple choice questions

 

2. Find and make sense of information, often with the aid of tools, resources, etc.

Interpret company workplace violence policy

Use policy manual to answer threat assessment questions

 

Multiple choice questions

 

3. Understand underlying concepts

None

None

None

4. Understand how a process works

The threat assessment process

Threat assessment process sequencing exercise

Drag-and-drop sequencing exercise

5. Complete needed steps

Perform a threat assessment

 

[Offline] Use questionnaire to complete department threat assessment

Downloadable threat assessment questionnaire

6. Determine which course of action is needed

None

None

None

7. Create a product or produce a specific result

Make sure that the threat assessment is complete

Complete threat assessment

Use checklist to evaluate threat as assessment completeness

Forms-based threat assessment

Assessment checklist

8. Troubleshoot and fix problems

Get help with your threat assessment

Determine who to call with questions

Determine who to call rollover

Downloadable who to call cheat sheet

 

This process is simple, logical, and gets you to fairly obvious conclusions about what learning activities are most critical in an instructional situation. First, figure out the DOs. Next, convert these into learning activities. Then, figure out what media you will use to support these activities. The results are courses that are more likely to get learners where they really need to be. Sweet.

References and Resources

Learning Peaks’ resource database: http://del.icio.us/learningpeaks


Alessi, S. M. & Trollip, S.R. (2001). Multimedia for learning: Methods and development (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.


Clark, R. (2003). Building expertise: Cognitive methods for training and performance improvement (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: International Society for Performance Improvement.


Mayer, R.E. (2001). Multimedia learning. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.


Mayer, R.E. (2003). The promise of multimedia learning: Using the same instructional design methods across different media. Learning and Instruction, 13, 125-139. http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/edpsych/External/EDUC_5080/Mayer.pdf


Merrill, D.M. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research & Development (ETR&D), 50(3), 43-59. http://www.indiana.edu/~tedfrick/aect2002/firstprinciplesbymerrill.pdf


Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (July 1, 1999). Cognition and multimedia design for complex learning. Inaugural address at the Open University of the Netherlands. http://bit.ly/9CBYBz