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This resource may focus on students. However, in my experience, adult learners are often just as happy to get up and move around with activities like "four corners" just as much as k-12 students. And, the use of graphic organizers is best practice at any age.

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22 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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Here are 22 simple assessment strategies and tips to help you become more frequent in your teaching, planning, and curriculum design.

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In 1956, Benjamin Bloom with collaborators Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl published a framework for categorizing educational goals: Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.

Familiarly known as Bloom's Taxonomy, this framework has been applied by generations of K-12 teachers, college and university instructors and professors in their teaching.

The framework elaborated by Bloom and his collaborators consisted of six major categories: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. The categories after Knowledge were presented as "skills and abilities," with the understanding that knowledge was the necessary precondition for putting these skills and abilities into practice.

The Revised Taxonomy (2001)

While each category contained subcategories, all lying along a continuum from simple to complex and concrete to abstract, the taxonomy is popularly remembered according to the six main categories.

A group of cognitive psychologists, curriculum theorists and instructional researchers, and testing and assessment specialists published in 2001 a revision of Bloom's Taxonomy with the title A Taxonomy for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment. This title draws attention away from the somewhat static notion of "educational objectives" (in Bloom's original title) and points to a more dynamic conception of classification.

The authors of the revised taxonomy underscore this dynamism, using verbs and gerunds to label their categories and subcategories (rather than the nouns of the original taxonomy). These "action words" describe the cognitive processes by which thinkers encounter and work with knowledge.

Course Objectives

Bloom's Taxonomy is a hierarchical classification of the different levels of thinking, and should be applied when creating course objectives. Course objectives are brief statements that describe what students will be expected to learn by the end of the course. Many instructors have learning objectives when developing a course. However, many instructors do not write learning objectives. The full power of learning objectives is realized when the learning objectives are explicitly stated. Writing clear learning objectives are critical to creating and teaching a course.

Evolution and Application

Read this Ultimate Guide to gain a deep understanding of Bloom's taxonomy, how it has evolved over the decades and how it can be effectively applied in the learning process to benefit both educators and learners.

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Blooms Taxonomy :: Resource for Educators

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A resource for educators or institutions utilizing Bloom's Taxonomy to structure the development or modification of curriculum and/or courses

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Our conversation this morning reminded me of this document that Kim W. shared with the team some time ago. So many theories! However, I find looking at them laid out like this is very helpful!

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Blog: 18 Ways to Make Your Presentation More Interactive

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Blog: 18 Ways to Make Your Presentation More Interactive

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It can be difficult to hold your audience's attention for the entire presentation. According to a Prezi study, half of the respondents said they did something other than listen during a co-worker's presentation, including:

Sending a text message (28%)

Checking emails (27%)

Falling asleep (17%)

An interactive presentation is much more likely to keep your audience's attention and build rapport with them, and there are a few simple ways to achieve this, from live polling to asking questions throughout.

This article explores several different effective strategies for making the audience feel fully involved in your presentation and keeping your audience's eyes away from their smartphones.

Why involve your audience?

Listening to a presentation for any length of time can be a difficult process. If you don't involve the audience, they'll start to play with their phones, talk to colleagues and generally lose track of what you are saying. Once this happens and you start seeing that the audience would rather be somewhere else, you'll start feeling anxious and might try to speed up the presentation.

To engage a large audience fully, the presentation needs to be energetic, purposeful and staged, as if it is a direct conversation between both you and your audience. That way, they'll absorb your ideas and insights and they'll have learnt something in an enjoyable way.

1. Plan from the audience's perspective

Before you start writing your presentation, think about these points:

What are the most interesting parts in my topic?

How much will the audience know about my topic? What level do I target it at?

Which members of the audience will most likely be disinterested?

How can I help them learn and understand my topic?

What is the size of the audience?

You can do this by researching the event or conference, investigating other speakers at the event and even contacting the organisers to find out more about the demographic.

By asking these questions about your audience and identifying answers, you are starting to think about your audience's interests and needs. Remember, the aim is to give the impression that your presentation has been planned according to your audience's specific interests.

2. Use an easy-to-follow structure

When building your presentation, focus on giving it a structure which people can easily follow. Start by introducing the core concepts and goals, then elaborate on the various points in a bit more detail, draw logical conclusions and leave your audience with a clear takeaway message. You want to flow naturally from one part to the next like you are telling a big story chapter by chapter.

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3. Get the audience immediately involved

You audience will come to your presentation in a range of different moods. Try using a simple ice-breaker to re-energise them and get them focussed on your presentation.

For example, ask people to stand up and introduce themselves to their neighbours, or have them identify two or three questions they would like to hear addressed during your presentation. By starting with an ice-breaker, you show your audience that your talk will be interactive and require their participation.

4. Ask the audience questions during your presentation

The audience's attention drops to zero after just 10-15 minutes of your presentation. To get their attention back, take a break from your presentation from time to time and interact with your audience. Ask for their questions and answer them during your presentation. This will help clear up any confusion the audience might have.

When planning your presentation, identify opportunities in your material for your audience to ask questions. If you're not comfortable breaking the flow of your presentation, mention that you'll be taking questions at the end so the audience can prepare some questions.

Asking rhetorical questions as you move through your presentation involves your audience by stimulating their own thought processes. This technique also helps move between sections of your presentation as it establishes a clear transition from one point to another.

If you're comfortable with taking questions throughout your presentation, use a tools such as Slido, which allows your audience to ask questions anonymously at any time, so even shy people can participate in the discussion.

Example of what can go wrong with audience interaction
Audience interaction:
Watch how the presenter tries but initially fails to get the audience to interact with the presentation. Notice how he encourages them to get involved and eventually they do join in.

5. Use storytelling to make it more memorable

Since our early ancestors, stories have always been a huge part of human culture and civilisation. Storytelling is the most universal way to captivate your audience's attention, no matter where they are from or what they do for a living.

Stories are much more engaging and memorable than lists of facts and figures, but you wouldn't think so looking at the majority of presentations (particularly academic ones).

People automatically tune in when you start telling your story because they want to know what happens next. A popular storytelling technique is when you present the status quo and then reveal an improved path to that end goal.

Think of your presentation as one arching narrative. As we mentioned earlier, give it the proper structure with a clear beginning, middle and end. Introduce conflict and provide a powerful resolution that reinforces your key messages.

6. Use non-linear presentation software

Instead of flipping through slide after slide, you can show the relationships between your ideas and give your audience the "big picture" view of your topic. Try letting your audience drive the presentation by laying out all of your main points, and then let them choose which topics they want to go to. Your audience will get a truly custom presentation based on their interests, which they will appreciate and more easily remember.
Prezi, shown above, is a popular non-linear presentation tool.
7. Add in a short video

Billions of hours of YouTube are consumed each month and advertisers have identified videos as having a high retention rate for users. However very few presentations ever use videos to engage with their audience.

Find a short video clip that reinforces your story or explains a concept better than words can. You can either embed the video directly into your presentation software or include a link to an external website. Just make sure you test your method on the day of the presentation and have a backup on a USB just in case you need it.

8. Invite people onto the stage

If you're preparing a particularly long presentation, consider having other people to come on stage and talk for a bit. This will help you narrate the story and make the whole presentation more interactive.

Steve Jobs never pulled off the entire presentation by himself; he always invited several speakers, including designers, partners, and other executives, to help him introduce their latest product. Of course, this technique should always be arranged with your colleagues in advance.

9. Poll the audience

Polls are similar to quizzes in that they engage the audience during the presentation. Polls encourage participants to think not only about your questions but also about their answers. Moreover, live polls help create mental breaks, so your audience can regain attention and stay focused throughout your presentation.

By including everyone in answering the question, you also create a group experience that leaves the audience feeling like they all have been part your presentation.

10. Use (appropriate) humour

Some of the best speeches and presentations in the world feature plenty of humour. No matter the subject, a great speaker will use natural charisma, humour and language to convey their points and get the crowd excited about what they are saying.

A great example of building rapport with the audience through the use of humour is Barrack Obama talking about the government building Iron Man.

Another example is when Morgan Spurlock offers individuals the opportunity to buy the rights to name his TED talk-which he refers to again at the end, where he reveals the title. He peppers the entire presentation with humorous commentary that nonetheless supports his point.

Create relevant jokes or find a way to bring out the humour in your subject, and your audience will be much more engaged and more likely to remember your words.

11. Practice your delivery, again and again

Practicing is the most important part of delivering an interactive presentation. You'll need to practice where to use live quizzes, when to accept questions, which points to emphasise with body language and many more. There are several options for practicing:

In front of a mirror - great for seeing and improving your body language, however it can be distracting to what you are saying.

To friends or colleagues - a useful way to get feedback on your presentation, try and action the feedback straight away to improve on it. You can also give the person some key areas to focus their feedback on if you believe you are weaker in those areas.

Virtual reality - practice in realistic public speaking environments, whether it be in a virtual conference room or boardroom. Receive feedback on your speech with voice analysis technology.

With all three of these, you'll want to work on your tone of voice, accent, pauses between sentences and facial expressions. The most important thing is to talk slowly and loudly enough to be heard and understood clearly.

A list of the best presentation skills courses you can practice with:

12. Try and relate to the audience

Make comparisons to events from everyday life that most people are more than familiar with. By making things look simple, not only will you help your audience get a better understanding of the subject by enabling them to visualize the information more clearly, you will also draw a connection between you.

After all, you are all just regular people with similar experience, you just happen to be performing different roles at the moment.

13. Strong body language (position, posture and gesture)

Non-verbal communication plays a large part in how we construct meaning, so it makes sense to consider how to use it in your presentation. You can make things more interesting for your audience by using your body language to enhance what you're saying.

Body language goes beyond reinforcing your messaging - it's useful from a biological standpoint. As discussed in her body language TED talk, Amy Cuddy's research found that using 'assertive' body language released testosterone and reduced cortisol in both men and women, thereby increasing confidence and decreasing stress.

An effective presenter pays close attention to the physical relationship with her/his audience. If you stand hidden behind an overhead projector or stand too far away from your audience, they will not develop a bond with you and this will limit the effectiveness of your presentation.

Your posture will also dictate levels of audience involvement. If you're too relaxed and sit slumped in a chair to deliver your talk, the audience might drift away. Find a comfortable but purposeful position in relation to your audience and adopt an upright sitting or standing posture that allows for movement and gesture.

Audiences respond well to the physical energy and enthusiasm being conveyed by a presenter, and thus the use of clear and controlled gestures will greatly enhance your presentation. Gestures that are open and reach out to your audience serve to extend your presentation to them and thus help them feel more involved.

Examples of good body language:

Use hand gestures when delivering key points

Use calm, deliberate movements when highlighting certain information

Keep arms and legs uncrossed

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14. Maintain eye contact with all sections of the audience

Making eye contact is one of the most powerful techniques for involving your audience. If used well, eye contact can serve to make your address much more personal and thus more effective. If eye contact is avoided, the presenter can appear to be nervous and unconvincing.

It is important to share eye contact with all members of a small audience or all sections of a large audience. Avoid making eye contact with just the people you know, taking particular care not to deliver your entire presentation to the person who's assessing your work. Remember that you will need to involve the whole audience if you are to make an effective presentation.

If you are nervous, eye contact can be very difficult to establish and maintain. Remember that some eye contact is better than none and that you should try to build your confidence over time.

15. Use live quizzes to better understand your audience

Live quizzes are a great way to understanding your audience better get them engaging with the material.

For example, if you're giving a presentation on autonomous vehicles, you could ask questions such as:

When do you think autonomous vehicles will become mainstream?

Are you concerned by safety issues?

If someone is injured or killed by the car, who is to blame?

These will surely create some interesting results which you, as the presenter, can talk about and discuss.

16. Use physical props if possible

You don't need to be giving a product demo to use props during your presentation. Props are a great way to help the audience visually picture what you are talking about. While talking through your presentation, you can refer to the prop at certain points to highlight your point or make it clear to the audience.

Kenny Nguyen does this will in his TEDx talk on 'The Art of Saying No'. He refers to the "sword of yes" and "shield of no." Naturally he picks up a sword and shield from the table to help demonstrate his points.

Another great example is when Jill Bolte Taylor brings a real human brain on stage during her TED talk to explain to what happened to her when she had a stroke. She touched the audience with this demonstration and left the audience in complete awe.

17. Extend your usual vocal range

Your tone of voice, your volume, and other vocal aspects affect how people listen and hear your message.

Julian Treasure's TED talk on 'How to speak so that people want to listen' is all about this, and at the end offers several tips 'in our toolbox' for how to master the use of voice, from changing your speaking pace to speaking in a different pitch.

Get feedback from a friend or colleague to see what works best for you.

18. Use language and literary techniques

Your use of language has a huge influence on the way you engage your audience. It's important to use language your audience understands and is familiar with.

Avoid using language that is too formal or informal, too technical or too simplistic depending upon the nature of your talk and the knowledge base of your audience. Pitching your presentation at the right level can be a challenge but it is very effective for making the audience feel involved.

There are various literary techniques you can use, such as the Power or Three, to give greater impact to your message.

Summary

Involving your audience is essential to making an impact. Your presentation should pull them in, get their attention and stimulate their thoughts and understanding. This can be done in a number of ways.

The way that you plan your presentation will be critical in terms of using language and ideas that your audience will understand. You must also ensure that there is sufficient time for questions and discussion. The way that you deliver your presentation should create a bond with your audience.

Your use of eye contact, body language, spoken words and energy should communicate effectively and enthusiastically with all areas of the room, thus ensuring that the audience receives positive messages about you and your material.

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18 Ways to Make Your Presentation More Interactive

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Involving your audience with an interactive presentation is much more likely to keep your audience's attention and help them understand your message.

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Blog: How to Start a Presentation: 22 Powerful Strategies

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Blog: How to Start a Presentation: 22 Powerful Strategies

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Learning how to start a presentation is just as important as knowing how to finish it. It is the beginning of the conversation that can make or break it in capturing your audience's attention. We forget that there are many ways to start a presentation that will engage the hearts and minds of the people you want to convey your message to.

At , we value the importance of design and slide management, and we also understand that the delivery can be just as important as the slides you may use. We wanted to list 22 power tips and tricks that anyone from marketers and sales people to the common man can use to nail the CustomShow beginning of their next presentation. We have a list of 22 strategies to consider, but we want to share a video that provides some more great insights on how to start powerful presentations:

Start Your Presentation By Getting People's Attention

Getting your audience's attention from the beginning is the most important thing one can do in starting a presentation. Yes, you want to introduce yourself and complete the formalities as quickly as possible, but without grabbing their attention, you've already lost them. Remembering the importance of capturing the attention of who you're speaking to will set you up for the many other strategies we convey.

Welcome Them With A Thank You

Another important formality is welcoming your audience with a thank you. It shows both sincerity and appreciation and additionally establishes the sense of community with your audience. A great example of this is welcoming them coupled with a thank you for the opportunity to speak, pitch or share.

Memorize Your First Opening Line

In general it is not a good idea to memorize your entire speech. It is however a good idea to memorize the beginning 4 - 10 sentences. This is critical because it allows you to feel confident and ride the wave of confidence as you continue your presentation. Even marketers and sales people can benefit from this approach with slides they use to further buttress their messaging. Most people think the best presenters wing it. While this is true, they typically practice and memorize the beginning and ending of their talks. This is a professional practice you should always leverage to your advantage.

State The Purpose Of Your Presentation

Generally your audience will know your purpose or why you're there but you want to be sure make it clear to them. For example, as a sales person you may be pitching to win a marketing and leasing assignment of a building in New York. As you begin to pitch the owner's management team, they'll know you're there to talk about how you can help market and lease their building. But another approach can be changing the purpose to "I'm here discuss our team's capabilities but more importantly discuss strategies you can implement and why they would be effective." Thinking about the purpose gives you that northern star to point throughout your presentation and they'll constantly revert back to it.

State how you want to deal with questions

Always remember to let the audience know how you will handle questions. If you are in a marketing or sales presentation, I would not bring this up. Simply give them the free will to ask questions when they best see fit.

Silence...Nothing More

We are all uncomfortable when there is silence. Yet incorporating silence into your presentation can be a valuable tool causing the audience to be attentive to what you are going to say next. We got this one from Scott who wrote a great post on 5 ways to open a presentation.

Tell A Joke

As a followup to silence or as a standalone, tell a joke to elicit laughter form the audience. Even for marketing and sales representatives, this can be a way to lighten the room and become more connected with the audience. Don't overdo this as it can steer people away from your purpose, but proper usage of this technique can be effective in starting any presentation.

Start Your Presentation In Future Or Past

Many directors use this approach in their storytelling. They will start a scene in the far past or in the future and then always connect it back to the main story. This is a power tool to arouse the attention of the viewer, or in the presentation's case, your audience. There are many great examples of this. One approach that marketers can use is displaying market activity from the past yet showing how your strategies can impact that performance.

Quote Someone

Quoting someone is a great way to start any presentation. Just be sure to make it relevant to the purpose of your speech and presentation. If you are using slides, adding a picture of the person you are quoting to add more texture and breadth to your presentation.

Open Up With Being Vulnerable

We know that great speakers can be tough as nails, but those who upon up about their lives or their story builds a deeper relationship with their audience. When you start your presentation showcasing your ability to be vulnerable,you are giving yourself more chances to maintain the attention and interest of your audience.

Tell Your Audience A Story

This is as basic is it gets, but story telling is the best way to connect with an audience. You can start a start at the beginning of your presentation and then connect it to the purpose of why you're there. Many great presenters use this technique and it remains one of the most critical pieces to becoming an effective presenter. Nick Morgan wrote an interesting post on this in Forbes.

Point To Their Problem

If you are pitching for business, this is a great strategy. You don't want to come across as negative but thinking about problems that the company may not have thought of can be even more effective than simply stating what they already know. Some of the best marketers and salespeople (including Steve Jobs) employs this philosophy regularly.

Point To Their Opportunity

The flipside is showcasing what opportunities they face. Show them the many benefit they could achieve by following your lead or the action you want them to take. This sense of optimism can perk up the audience and get them engaged pretty quickly.

Ask Questions (Direct or Rhetorical)

To start a presentation you can begin with direct questions to the audience. It's a great way to wake up their senses, get them engaged and get you more connected with them. Jon Marshal did a good job with this point in this post.

Start With Video

Video remains a powerful mechanism to begin a presentation. In an industry roundup we did at CustomShow, we asked presentation experts for their thoughts on video. They all agreed that it is an important prop but should be used sparingly. Keep in mind you want to use video to further your message, not overtake your message.

Shock The Audience

There can be a plethora of ways to shock the audience. You can show a funny video that showcases or furthers your purpose, state something that is contradictory to most people, make fun of something....the sky is the limit. Remember to be smart about how you choose to shock your audience as it could backfire if what you do is offensive to the majority.

Statistics & Data

Showcasing data and statistics to prove a point remains a a critical strategy not just at the beginning but also throughout. Use research and data only to further your points. Statistics can be boring but if there is some compelling information that can help further the conversation, statistics and data can be a powerful tool, whether used at the very beginning or end of any presentation.

Use These Words: "Imagine, Think of, Close Your Eyes"

Another powerful mechanism used by many speakers is getting the audience to imagine or think of something. This technique can be useful in starting off a presentation.

Use The Power Of "What If"

What if you knew how start any presentation and capture your audience? What if your audience could really be connected to your message and the words you say? The power of "what if" gives people the sense of how things can be if they follow your lead or your message. Again, that is why understanding your purpose and stating it gives people something to point to.

Show of Hands - Poll The Room

Just as if we're asking the audience a question, we also want to get them engaged with a "show of hands" question. This is another technique many presenters use to create context and commonality.

Project And Speak From The Gut

Now we're back to formalities that can help maintain and capture the audience. If the audience cannot hear you, you will lost them. Speaking from the gut (not in a low pitched voice/from your throat) will add more volume and breadth to your speaking from the very beginning. While this is oftentimes overlooked, it's one of the most important techniques speakers can use.

Eye To Eye Contact With Audience Members

For those who tend to get nervous in larger audiences, picking different people in the audience to speak to can ease those nerves. Start this at the beginning of your presentation speaking to them directly. Pick different people to speak to in the room and everyone will think you are talking directly to them.

We would love to hear from you - what other techniques have you employed over the years? There are many tips and tricks presenters can use, but these some of the most powerful ones that the very best presenters have used over the years.

If you are interested in presentation software that can help with your presentations, view CustomShow's product video below:

If you're looking for more design tips and tricks check out our partner SalesGraphics.

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How To Start A Presentation Tips And Tricks - 22 Powerful Strategies

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Learning how to start a presentation is just as important as knowing how to finish it. It is the beginning of the conversation that can make or break it in capturing your audience's attention. We forget that there are many ways to start a presentation that will engage the hearts and minds of the people you want to convey your message to.

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Blog: 30 Tips to Help you Improve Your Presentation Skills

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Blog: 30 Tips to Help you Improve Your Presentation Skills

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An email from your boss pops in your inbox--she's asking you to give a talk at an upcoming conference. You groan and your stomach flips at the thought of speaking in front of such a large group.

Public speaking can be a nerve-wracking experience, but it doesn't have to be. With good preparation, delivering a presentation is empowering. Not only are you sharing knowledge, but you're also establishing yourself as an expert on your presentation subject.

Whether you're giving a speech to hundreds or showing a PowerPoint to five co-workers, we're here to help you deliver a powerful, engaging presentation. In this post, we'll highlight 30 tips to help you plan, write, and deliver a presentation that is clear, thoughtful, and engaging.

Planning your presentation

Once you learn that you're delivering a presentation, it's time to plan what exactly you're going to present. Figure out the scope of your topic early on, and you'll make the most of your time when creating the presentation

1. Create a mind map to explore the sub-topics of your topic.

Rekindle your knowledge of the subject by creating a mind map, or diagram, that shows all of the different ideas relating to the topic. Refreshing your understanding will help you feel more confident about delivering the presentation and will give you ideas for points you want to make.

2. Connect your subject matter to audience needs.

Your presentation will be full of useful information if you connect your audience's interests and needs to your topic. Identify the details of your audience-their profession, industry, interests, etc. - so you know how to frame your subject in a relevant way.

3. Avoid covering too much material.

Covering a long list of ideas will overwhelm, rather than educate, your audience. Decide whether you need to narrow the scope of your topic by considering the time you've been allotted for your presentation and the complexity of your subject.

4. Watch other presentations.

Observe how other professionals give talks - from their body language to their flow of ideas - to find tactics that you can use in your own presentation. You can watch more presentations by attending conferences, or you can watch recordings of good presentations online. For example, the TED Talks channel on YouTube is an excellent free resource for watching great presentations.
This presentation "How to speak so that people want to listen" is one of the most popular TED Talks on YouTube with over 20 million views.
By doing this prep work, you'll know what you want your presentation to cover and achieve and will be able to create it more efficiently.

Writing your presentation

Writing for speaking situations is different than writing content that is meant to be read. You have to make sure the language of your presentation flows when spoken without cutting down on its substance. Here are a few tips to help you assemble a rough script for your presentation.

5. Start with an outline.

Before you draft a full speech, jot down the main points of your presentation. Seeing a basic sketch of your ideas gives you an opportunity to quickly change or switch certain topics without investing much energy and time.

6. Include personal anecdotes to connect to your audience.

"Great stories expose our flaws and our struggles," says Nancy Duarte, CEO and communication strategist. "This is what makes them inspiring, and not sharing them is such a missed opportunity to connect with your audience."

7. Throw in some humor.

Besides being entertaining, a joke here and there reminds the audience that you're human. The audience is more likely to listen if you seem relatable to them.

8. Say lines aloud as you write.

A compelling speech doesn't necessarily follow the clear-cut grammar and usage rules of written language. Say your presentation aloud as you write it to maintain a conversational, yet engaging tone.

9. Build in repetition.

As you write, make sure that you're planning to repeat the core ideas of your presentation throughout the talk. Frequently mentioning the key ideas of your presentation boosts your audience's memory of these concepts.

10. Create several takeaways.

Great presentations are useful, so explicitly point out the valuable lessons of your talk for your audience. Along with writing these takeaways in your speech, you can emphasize these tips with visual aids (more on that later).

Spend time figuring out the words you want to say, and you'll be able to express your ideas and expertise in a concise, clear way to your audience.

Establishing a presence

Beyond words, your presence as a speaker - body language, volume - has a huge impact on whether your audience pays attention and understands your ideas.

11. Be authentic.

Audiences can tell when a speaker looks or sounds insincere. You have to be yourself to connect with your audience and hold their attention. Imagine that you're talking to your best friend, and you'll appear natural and comfortable on stage.

12. Make eye contact with audience members.

This non-verbal tactic keeps you and the audience engaged with each other. They can see that you're paying attention to them, and you can read their facial expressions to see if you need to adjust your delivery to boost their attention.

13. Demonstrate confident body language.

Maintain a straight posture with your hands out of your pockets to show your audience that you are at ease. Even if you're actually feeling a bit nervous, this body language can reduce those anxious feelings and help you feel more comfortable on stage.

14. Interact with the audience.

Encouraging audience participation-whether it's asking everyone a question or getting a volunteer on stage-is a simple, yet powerful way to connect with everyone watching. It makes each listener an active audience member rather than a passive one.

15. Articulate and project when you speak.

A great presentation is wasted if you aren't heard by the audience. Not to mention, you will feel more confident and seem more confident to your audience if your voice is loud and clear. Present your speech with confidence, and the audience will see that you're a subject matter expert who is comfortable expressing their ideas.

Engaging with slides

Your audience is more likely to remember the information you share if they can hear it and see it with visual aids. Add slides to your presentation to help them retain more of your content.

16. Limit text.

Fill your slides with words and bullet points, and your audience will be too busy reading to pay attention to what you're saying. Minimize your text and share knowledge by saying it aloud. The audience will be more likely to stay engaged, and you'll be able to showcase your expertise.

17. Use high-quality graphics.

Grainy, low-quality images on slides hurt your presentation - they're difficult to see and they make the presentation seem unprofessional. Aim for the highest image resolution possible, especially if you're presenting on a large screen.

18. Create your own theme.

PowerPoint templates are used so frequently that they aren't worth using. Show that your presentation is original by creating your own background theme, or you can browse online to find custom templates created by others.
Here at Vyond, we adapted a conference's custom template to fit our branding:
Add movement to your slides with video and your presentation will be more eye-catching and engaging. For example, you might introduce yourself in an early slide with a video bio, or turn dry statistics into an animated GIF to capture attention.

20. Keep your slides simple.

If you include too many elements on each slide, your audience won't know where their eyes should focus. Guide your audience seamlessly through each slide with a simple, minimal design that has a clear focus.

21. Coordinate audio-visual (AV) support beforehand.

Whether you're speaking in your office or at a conference, figure out the technical details of showing slides beforehand. Preparing for the set-up process will help you avoid hiccups when you need to present. With visual aids, your audience will be more likely to understand and remember your presentation content. Rehearsing your presentation will minimize any stress or fear you feel around public speaking. The more you've practiced, the more confident you'll feel in your ability to deliver the presentation.

22. Don't read your slides.

If you're constantly turning back to see your PowerPoint, your audience won't be able to see your face and you'll seem less knowledgeable. Practice your presentation facing forward with your content memorized, and your audience will be able to see your expressions and feel more confident in your expertise.

23. Write cue cards.

Remember what you want to say in your presentation by writing your main talking points on flashcards. Include a limited amount of text and write in large letters to make your notes easy to read on stage. As you practice more, try to look down at your cards fewer times and focus on keeping your gaze towards the audience.

24.Time yourself.

Most conferences have time limits for each talk, and if you're giving an internal company presentation, your boss will have a sense of how long your meeting presentation should last. Make sure you're within these time frames by timing your presentation as you practice. If you're consistently running over, review your presentation to find areas that you can cut.

25. Slow down.

People tend to talk more quickly when feeling nervous during public speaking. However, rushing through your sentences can make your presentation difficult to understand as an audience member. Focus on speaking at a steady pace as you practice your presentation.

26. Have a practice run in front of someone else.

Find someone you trust - a friend, family member, co-worker - who can watch you deliver a practice presentation. Delivering in front of someone else will prepare you for facing an audience, and they will be able to provide useful feedback for improvements as an observer. Start practicing a few weeks prior to your presentation. By the time you're ready to give the talk, you'll have ingrained these tips in your delivery style. Delivering your presentation Even after practicing your presentation, standing in front of an audience can still be nerve-wracking for some. Use these tips to relax and feel comfortable right before and during your presentation. Feeling calm, you'll be able to share your expertise with poise and confidence.

27. Take deep breaths.

Right before delivering a presentation, it's normal to feel a bit nervous - your heart beats quickly and your palms may even feel a bit sweaty. Calm down by taking several deep breaths. Inhale for three counts and exhale for three counts for each breath. Slowing down your breath and becoming aware of it will help you relax before presenting.

28. Think positively before it starts.

Take a moment before you deliver your presentation to imagine it going extremely well. You showcase your knowledge beautifully, and your audience stays engaged. Picturing this positive vision will boost your confidence before you begin, so you're more likely to deliver the great presentation that you imagined.

29. Drink water

Your mouth may get dry after speaking for such a long time. Bring a bottle of water on stage in case you need to refresh yourself during the presentation.

30. Smile!

A simple, yet essential tip. Smiling makes you seem approachable and friendly to your audience, so they're more likely to pay attention. For those with a fear of public speaking, putting on a grin can even help lower your stress levels, according to research. Using these tips, you can calm your nerves and keep your cool throughout your presentation.

Giving a great presentation is a process

Public speaking isn't an inherent talent-it's a skill that you have to develop. Brainstorming and practicing your presentation well in advance enables you to deliver it in a powerful, memorable way. Use the tips in this guide to plan your content and practice your delivery, and you'll be ready to showcase your expertise on presentation day.
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Blog: How to Structure Your Presentation, with Examples

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Blog: How to Structure Your Presentation, with Examples

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Updated August 03, 2018 - Dom Barnard

For many people the thought of delivering a presentation is a daunting task and brings about a great deal of nerves. However, if you take some time to understand how effective presentations are structured and then apply this structure to your own presentation, you'll appear much more confident and relaxed.

Here is our complete guide for structuring your presentation, with examples at the end of the article to demonstrate these points.

Why is structuring a presentation so important?

If you've ever sat through a great presentation, you'll have left feeling either inspired or informed on a given topic. This isn't because the speaker was the most knowledgeable or motivating person in the world. Instead, it's because they know how to structure presentations - they have crafted their message in a logical and simple way that has allowed the audience can keep up with them and take away key messages.

Research has supported this, with studies showing that audiences retain structured information 40% more accurately than unstructured information.

In fact, not only is structuring a presentation important for the benefit of the audience's understanding, it's also important for you as the speaker. A good structure helps you remain calm, stay on topic, and avoid any awkward silences.

What will affect your presentation structure?

Generally speaking, there is a natural flow that any decent presentation will follow which we will go into shortly. However, you should be aware that all presentation structures will be different in their own unique way and this will be due to a number of factors, including:

Whether you need to deliver any demonstrations

How knowledgeable the audience already is on the given subject

How much interaction you want from the audience

Any time constraints there are for your talk

What setting you are in

Your ability to use any kinds of visual assistance

Before choosing the presentation's structure answer these questions first:

1. What is your presentation's aim?

2. Who are the audience?

3. What are the main points your audience should remember afterwards?

When reading the points below, think critically about what things may cause your presentation structure to be slightly different. You can add in certain elements and add more focus to certain moments if that works better for your speech.

What is the typical presentation structure?

This is the usual flow of a presentation, which covers all the vital sections and is a good starting point for yours. It allows your audience to easily follow along and sets out a solid structure you can add your content to.

1. Greet the audience and introduce yourself

Before you start delivering your talk, introduce yourself to the audience and clarify who you are and your relevant expertise. This does not need to be long or incredibly detailed, but will help build an immediate relationship between you and the audience. It gives you the chance to briefly clarify your expertise and why you are worth listening to. This will help establish your ethos so the audience will trust you more and think you're credible.

Read our tips on How to Start a Presentation Effectively

Start Practicing Now

2. Introduction

In the introduction you need to explain the subject and purpose of your presentation whilst gaining the audience's interest and confidence. It's sometimes helpful to think of your introduction as funnel-shaped to help filter down your topic:

1. Introduce your general topic

2. Explain your topic area

3. State the issues/challenges in this area you will be exploring

4. State your presentation's purpose - this is the basis of your presentation so ensure that you provide a statement explaining how the topic will be treated, for example, "I will argue that..." or maybe you will "compare", "analyse", "evaluate", "describe" etc.

5. Provide a statement of what you're hoping the outcome of the presentation will be, for example, "I'm hoping this will be provide you with..."

6. Show a preview of the organisation of your presentation

In this section also explain:

The length of the talk.

Signal whether you want audience interaction - some presenters prefer the audience to ask questions throughout whereas others allocate a specific section for this.

If it applies, inform the audience whether to take notes or whether you will be providing handouts.

The way you structure your introduction can depend on the amount of time you have been given to present: a sales pitch may consist of a quick presentation so you may begin with your conclusion and then provide the evidence. Conversely, a speaker presenting their idea for change in the world would be better suited to start with the evidence and then conclude what this means for the audience.

Keep in mind that the main aim of the introduction is to grab the audience's attention and connect with them.

3. The main body of your talk

The main body of your talk needs to meet the promises you made in the introduction. Depending on the nature of your presentation, clearly segment the different topics you will be discussing, and then work your way through them one at a time - it's important for everything to be organised logically for the audience to fully understand. There are many different ways to organise your main points, such as, by priority, theme, chronologically etc.

Main points should be addressed one by one with supporting evidence and examples.

Before moving on to the next point you should provide a mini-summary.

Links should be clearly stated between ideas and you must make it clear when you're moving onto the next point.

Allow time for people to take relevant notes and stick to the topics you have prepared beforehand rather than straying too far off topic.

When planning your presentation write a list of main points you want to make and ask yourself "What I am telling the audience? What should they understand from this?" refining your answers this way will help you produce clear messages.

4. Conclusion

In presentations the conclusion is frequently underdeveloped and lacks purpose which is a shame as it's the best place to reinforce your messages. Typically, your presentation has a specific goal - that could be to convert a number of the audience members into customers, lead to a certain number of enquiries to make people knowledgeable on specific key points, or to motivate them towards a shared goal.

Regardless of what that goal is, be sure to summarise your main points and their implications. This clarifies the overall purpose of your talk and reinforces your reason for being there.

Follow these steps:

5. Thank the audience and invite questions

Conclude your talk by thanking the audience for their time and invite them to ask any questions they may have. As mentioned earlier, personal circumstances will affect the structure of your presentation.

Many presenters prefer to make the Q&A session the key part of their talk and try to speed through the main body of the presentation. This is totally fine, but it is still best to focus on delivering some sort of initial presentation to set the tone and topics for discussion in the Q&A.

Other common presentation structures

The above was a description of a basic presentation, here are some more specific presentation layouts:

Demonstration

Use the demonstration structure when you have something useful to show. This is usually used when you want to show how a product works. Steve Jobs frequently used this technique in his presentations.

Explain why the product is valuable.

Describe why the product is necessary.

Explain what problems it can solve for the audience.

Demonstrate the product to support what you've been saying.

Make suggestions of other things it can do to make the audience curious.

Problem-solution

This structure is particularly useful in persuading the audience.

Briefly frame the issue.

Go into the issue in detail showing why it 's such a problem. Use logos and pathos for this - the logical and emotional appeals.

Provide the solution and explain why this would also help the audience.

Call to action - something you want the audience to do which is straightforward and pertinent to the solution.

Storytelling

As well as incorporating stories in your presentation, you can organise your whole presentation as a story. There are lots of different type of story structures you can use - a popular choice is the monomyth - the hero's journey. In a monomyth, a hero goes on a difficult journey or takes on a challenge - they move from the familiar into the unknown. After facing obstacles and ultimately succeeding the hero returns home, transformed and with newfound wisdom.
Storytelling for Business Success webinar, where well-know storyteller Javier Bernad shares strategies for crafting compelling narratives.
Another popular choice for using a story to structure your presentation is in media ras (in the middle of thing). In this type of story you launch right into the action by providing a snippet/teaser of what's happening and then you start explaining the events that led to that event. This is engaging because you're starting your story at the most exciting part which will make the audience curious - they'll want to know how you got there.

Remaining method

The remaining method structure is good for situations where you're presenting your perspective on a controversial topic which has split people's opinions.

Briefly frame the issue.

Go into the issue in detail showing why it's such a problem - use logos and pathos.

Rebut your opponents' solutions - explain why their solutions could be useful because the audience will see this as fair and will therefore think you're trustworthy, and then explain why you think these solutions are not valid.

After you've presented all the alternatives provide your solution, the remaining solution. This is very persuasive because it looks like the winning idea, especially with the audience believing that you're fair and trustworthy.

Transitions

When delivering presentations it's important for your words and ideas to flow so your audience can understand how everything links together and why it's all relevant. This can be done using speech transitions which are words and phrases that allow you to smoothly move from one point to another so that your speech flows and your presentation is unified.

Transitions can be one word, a phrase or a full sentence - there are many different forms, here are some examples:

Moving from the introduction to the first point

Signify to the audience that you will now begin discussing the first main point:

Shifting between similar points

Move from one point to a similar one:

Internal summaries

Internal summarising consists of summarising before moving on to the next point. You must inform the audience:

What part of the presentation you covered - "In the first part of this speech we've covered..."

What the key points were - "Precisely how..."

How this links in with the overall presentation - "So that's the context..."

What you're moving on to - "Now I'd like to move on to the second part of presentation which looks at..."

Physical movement

You can move your body and your standing location when you transition to another point. The audience find it easier to follow your presentation and movement will increase their interest.

A common technique for incorporating movement into your presentation is to:

Start Practicing Now

Key slides for your presentation

Slides are a useful tool for most presentations: they can greatly assist in the delivery of your message and help the audience follow along with what you are saying. Key slides include:

An intro slide outlining your ideas

A summary slide with core points to remember

High quality image slides to supplement what you are saying

There are some presenters who choose not to use slides at all, though this is more of a rarity. Slides can be a powerful tool if used properly, but the problem is that many fail to do just that. Here are some golden rules to follow when using slides in a presentation:

1. Don't over fill them - your slides are there to assist your speech, rather than be the focal point. They should have as little information as possible, to avoid distracting people from your talk.

2. A picture says a thousand words - instead of filling a slide with text, instead, focus on one or two images or diagrams to help support and explain the point you are discussing at that time.

3. Make them readable - depending on the size of your audience, some may not be able to see small text or images, so make everything large enough to fill the space.

4. Don't rush through slides - give the audience enough time to digest each slide.

Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur and author, suggests that slideshows should follow a 10-20-30 rule:

There should be a maximum of 10 slides - people rarely remember more than one concept afterwards so there's no point overwhelming them with unnecessary information.

The presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes as this will leave time for questions and discussion.

The font size should be a minimum of 30pt because the audience reads faster than you talk so less information on the slides means that there is less chance of the audience being distracted.

Here are some additional resources for slide design:

Group Presentations

Group presentations are structured in the same way as presentations with one speaker but usually require more rehearsal and practices. Clean transitioning between speakers is very important in producing a presentation that flows well. One way of doing this consists of:

Briefly recap on what you covered in your section: "So that was a brief introduction on what health anxiety is and how it can affect somebody"

Introduce the next speaker in the team and explain what they will discuss: "Now Elnaz will talk about the prevalence of health anxiety."

Then end by looking at the next speaker, gesturing towards them and saying their name: "Elnaz".

The next speaker should acknowledge this with a quick: "Thank you Joe."

From this example you can see how the different sections of the presentations link which makes it easier for the audience to follow and remain engaged.

Example of great presentation structure and delivery

Having examples of great presentations will help inspire your own structures, here are a few such examples, each unique and inspiring in their own way.

How Google Works - by Eric Schmidt

This presentation by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt demonstrates some of the most important lessons he and his team have learnt with regards to working with some of the most talented individuals they hired. The simplistic yet cohesive style of all of the slides is something to be appreciated. They are relatively straightforward, yet add power and clarity to the narrative of the presentation.

Start with why - by Simon Sinek

Since being released in 2009, this presentation has been viewed almost four million times all around the world. The message itself is very powerful, however, it's not an idea that hasn't been heard before. What makes this presentation so powerful is the simple message he is getting across, and the straightforward and understandable manner in which he delivers it. Also note that he doesn't use any slides, just a whiteboard where he creates a simple diagram of his opinion.

The Wisdom of a Third Grade Dropout - by Rick Rigsby

Here's an example of a presentation given by a relatively unknown individual looking to inspire the next generation of graduates. Rick's presentation is unique in many ways compared to the two above. Notably, he uses no visual prompts and includes a great deal of humour.

However, what is similar is the structure he uses. He first introduces his message that the wisest man he knew was a third-grade dropout. He then proceeds to deliver his main body of argument, and in the end, concludes with his message. This powerful speech keeps the viewer engaged throughout, through a mixture of heart-warming sentiment, powerful life advice and engaging humour.

As you can see from the examples above, and as it has been expressed throughout, a great presentation structure means analysing the core message of your presentation. Decide on a key message you want to impart the audience with, and then craft an engaging way of delivering it.

By preparing a solid structure, and practising your talk beforehand, you can walk into the presentation with confidence and deliver a meaningful message to an interested audience.

In summary

It's important for a presentation to be well-structured so it can have the most impact on your audience. An unstructured presentation can be difficult to follow and even frustrating to listen to. The heart of your speech are your main points supported by evidence and your transitions should assist the movement between points and clarify how everything is linked.

Research suggests that the audience remember the first and last things you say so your introduction and conclusion are vital for reinforcing your points. Essentially, ensure you spend the time structuring your presentation and addressing all of the sections.

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How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples

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The structure of your presentation plays a crucial role in whether your audience understands your message. We cover why structure is important, provide a template for your presentation and highlight good examples.

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How to Deliver a Great Presentation: Project Management

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Teacher by Day, Author by Night: Morgan Summer

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Preparing Instructional Objectives, Robert Mager

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Preparing Instructional Objectives, Robert Mager

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A Bob Mager classic! Before you prepare instruction, it is important to be able to clearly state what the desired outcomes of that instruction should be. In the largest selling book ever written on this subject, Bob Mager gives you the tools to do that by describing the characteristics of well-stated objectives and showing you how to write objectives that match the instructional results you are seeking to achieve. Preparing Instructional Objectives is your systematic guide to identifying, selecting, and writing well-stated objectives that create the foundation necessary to reach your instructional goals. The book will help you master the essential elements of writing a well-stated objective, including how to: * Describe performances you expect to achieve, * Identify the conditions under which you expect the performance to occur, and * Set criteria for acceptable performance. The book also includes a new Objectives Checklist to help you distinguish good objectives from those that need work.

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A Bob Mager classic! Before you prepare instruction, it is important to be able to clearly state what the desired outcomes of that instruction should be. In the largest selling book ever written on this subject, Bob Mager gives you the tools to do that by describing the characteristics of well-st...

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Bloom's Taxonomy was created in 1956 under the leadership of educational psychologist Dr Benjamin Bloom in order to promote higher forms of thinking in education, such as analyzing and evaluating concepts, processes, procedures, and principles, rather than just remembering facts (rote learning). It is most often used when designing educational, training, and learning processes.

The Three Domains of Learning

The committee identified three domains of educational activities or learning (Bloom, et al. 1956):

Since the work was produced by higher education, the words tend to be a little bigger than we normally use. Domains may be thought of as categories. Instructional designers, trainers, and educators often refer to these three categories as KSA ( Knowledge [cognitive], Skills [psychomotor], and Attitudes [affective]). This taxonomy of learning behaviors may be thought of as "the goals of the learning process." That is, after a learning episode, the learner should have acquired a new skill, knowledge, and/or attitude.

While the committee produced an elaborate compilation for the cognitive and affective domains, they omitted the psychomotor domain. Their explanation for this oversight was that they have little experience in teaching manual skills within the college level. However, there have been at least three psychomotor models created by other researchers.

Their compilation divides the three domains into subdivisions, starting from the simplest cognitive process or behavior to the most complex. The divisions outlined are not absolutes and there are other systems or hierarchies that have been devised, such as the Structure of Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO). However, Bloom's taxonomy is easily understood and is probably the most widely applied one in use today.

Cognitive Domain

The cognitive domain involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills (Bloom, 1956). This includes the recall or recognition of specific facts, procedural patterns, and concepts that serve in the development of intellectual abilities and skills. There are six major categories of cognitive an processes, starting from the simplest to the most complex (see the table below for an in-depth coverage of each category):

The categories can be thought of as degrees of difficulties. That is, the first ones must normally be mastered before the next one can take place.

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy

Lorin Anderson, a former student of Bloom, and David Krathwohl revisited the cognitive domain in the mid-nineties and made some changes, with perhaps the three most prominent ones being (Anderson, Krathwohl, Airasian, Cruikshank, Mayer, Pintrich, Raths, Wittrock, 2000):

The chart shown below compares the original taxonomy with the revised one:

This new taxonomy reflects a more active form of thinking and is perhaps more accurate. The new version of Bloom's Taxonomy, with examples and keywords is shown below, while the old version may be found here

Table of the Revised Cognitive Domain

Cognitive Processes and Levels of Knowledge Matrix

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy not only improved the usability of it by using action words, but added a cognitive and knowledge matrix.

While Bloom's original cognitive taxonomy did mention three levels of knowledge or products that could be processed, they were not discussed very much and remained one-dimensional:

Factual - The basic elements students must know to be acquainted with a discipline or solve problems.

Conceptual - The interrelationships among the basic elements within a larger structure that enable them to function together.

Procedural - How to do something, methods of inquiry, and criteria for using skills, algorithms, techniques, and methods.

In Krathwohl and Anderson's revised version, the authors combine the cognitive processes with the above three levels of knowledge to form a matrix. In addition, they added another level of knowledge - metacognition:

Metacognitive - Knowledge of cognition in general, as well as awareness and knowledge of one's own cognition.

When the cognitive and knowledge dimensions are arranged in a matrix, as shown below, it makes a nice performance aid for creating performance objectives:

The Cognitive Dimension

However, others have identified five contents or artifacts (Clark, Chopeta, 2004; Clark, Mayer, 2007):

Facts - Specific and unique data or instance.

Concepts - A class of items, words, or ideas that are known by a common name, includes multiple specific examples, shares common features. There are two types of concepts: concrete and abstract.

Processes - A flow of events or activities that describe how things work rather than how to do things. There are normally two types: business processes that describe work flows and technical processes that describe how things work in equipment or nature. They may be thought of as the big picture, of how something works.

Procedures - A series of step-by-step actions and decisions that result in the achievement of a task. There are two types of actions: linear and branched.

Principles - Guidelines, rules, and parameters that govern. It includes not only what should be done, but also what should not be done. Principles allow one to make predictions and draw implications. Given an effect, one can infer the cause of a phenomena. Principles are the basic building blocks of causal models or theoretical models (theories).

Thus, the new matrix would look similar to this:

The Cognitive Dimension

An example matrix that has been filled in might look something like this:

Next Steps

Review

Useful Links

References

Anderson, L.W., Krathwohl, D.R., Airasian, P.W., Cruikshank, K.A., Mayer, R.E., Pintrich, P.R., Raths, J., Wittrock, M.C. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon.

Bloom, B.S. (Ed.). Engelhart, M.D., Furst, E.J., Hill, W.H., Krathwohl, D.R. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc.

Clark, R., Chopeta, L. (2004). Graphics for Learning : Proven Guidelines for Planning, Designing, and Evaluating Visuals in Training Materials . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.

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Bloom's Taxonomy was created under the leadership of Benjamin Bloom in order to promote higher forms of thinking in learning and education, such as analyzing and evaluating, rather than just remembering facts.

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Infographic: How to Write Learning Objectives

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A Look at Outcomes-Based Performance Management by CMR Institute

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What exactly is a performance outcome? In this podcast, we explain how managers and leaders can focus on performance outcomes to drive accountability and empower employees to achieve departmental and divisional goals.

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I am a victim of to-do lists. Yep. It feels like I can't help myself but to make to-do lists and then live my life from them. Saturday morning. What's there to do today? Make a list. Do it.

Then there are days I get tired of writing to-do lists. So what I do is rebel. No list. Just do what I want. That works for a single day. String a couple of those days together though and I produce no results.

I'm self employed, so my income depends on my performance. No performance, no food. Very simple. With a job, no performance, no job, no food. But you can string out your job far longer than when self employed before someone notices and fires you.

So how do I perform and produce? To-do lists are only a management tool. They are a way of remembering and focusing on things. How do I make the list? Now we are looking at the source.

When I'm reacting to life, I just make a list that includes everything that I think would help me survive life. In other words, I am putting items for my commitments, for things that are urgent but have no value, and for things that I have no business doing but for other people wanting me to.

A better way: Performance Outcomes

A more powerful context: create performance outcomes. Then create a list from those outcomes. And say NO to items that don't make a difference to the outcomes in your life.

What you are out to cause

A performance outcome is a statement of a result. What is most powerful is when it is written about people or groups of people. Examples:

1. People will be able to connect with more people with less effort.

2. Business will be able to reach more customers in less time.

3. Each member of a group will have an intimate connection to the purpose of the group and be willing to take actions to support the group.

How do you measure it

Once you have written a performance outcome, then quantify it with a specific measurable result. The result is specific in space and time and it is measurable with a number of method to know if it has happened. Examples to continue the above:

1. Phone calls per day per person

2. Quantity of sales per month

3. New members per month

We can see that each measurement is a way to measure how effective we are at producing the performance outcome. There is no one right measure - we get to make up any measure that works for our situation. Some measures may be more effective than others, however the trick is to choose a measure that you can commit to actually tracking.

What is the acceptable performance

Now that you have a performance outcome and a way to measure it, you need to set a level of performance that is acceptable. Or perhaps you choose two levels - one is minimum acceptable performance, and another is a stretch goal. For the above examples:

1. 3 phone calls per person per day minimum, 6 as a stretch goal

2. 10 sales per month, 15 as a stretch goal

3. 5 new members per month, 10 as a stretch

The above levels represent a specific performance to achieve.

Creating actions: the pitfall

Given the above structure, the tendancy is to look at the measurement and performance level, and then use that as a tool to plan your actions. This may achieve your measurement, but it may not achieve your performance outcome. Some example actions that result by looking at the measure, and not the performance outcome are:

Tell people to contact more people because you want to improve your numbers.

Offer a financial reward for people who achieve your measure.

Can you see that these actions will not alter "people being able to connect with more people with less effort?" It will achieve your measure but not cause your outcome.

Creating actions around the outcome

Remember, you created the measurement as a way of knowing if you are achieving the performance outcome. That's the real result. The "People will be able to connect with more people with less effort." part of it. Having 3 phone calls per person per day minimum is how you know if you achieved it.

Instead of thinking about "how to achieve the measurement," think about "what actions are necessary to cause people to connect with more people with less effort." Some actions could be:

Create a central contact list that people can access - this decreases the effort of connecting by making information easier to find.

Give everyone a Skype account with a subscription to call all phones in North America - this decreases the effort of connecting by removing a cost barrier.

Create a method of growing the contact list - this increases the amount of people one could contact.

Create a method of converting business cards into the contact list - this is "more people" available to contact.

Can you see that if you created the above actions, the result will be people connecting more with less effort? That's the outcome you sought.

Tracking the measurement

As you take action, your action will have an impact or not on the outcome you seek to achieve. To know if your actions are effective, you must track what's happening with respect to your measurement.

In our example with "People will be able to connect with more people with less effort," you may keep a spreadsheet each day where people write in how many phone calls they did each day. Then your spreadsheet can take an average, and show a bottom line number.

You may automate this process, or look at the skype records at the end of the month, count the calls and divide by the number of working days that month.

How you track the measurement will depend on available data and practicality. You may need to alter your measurement to work with available data if you cannot get the data you need.

Evaluating progress

Now that you have tracking data and can compare against your measurement, you can determine if your actions are effective or not.

In the above example, on Day 1, we did not achieve the minimum outcome. We then create new actions to see what the impact is.

On Day 2, Jay achieved the minimum, Melissa did not, and overall we did not on average. We may let our current actions take effect or change our actions.

On Day 3, Jay achieved the minimum, Melissa achieved the stretch goal, and overall we achieved the performance. Now we can continue to perform these action that lead to our success, or take new actions to achieve greater performance, or focus our attention on other performance outcomes.

What there is to do is to:

continue doing the same actions if they work

stop doing actions that don't work

create different actions to improve results

It's a feedback loop. Alter Action. Track. Evaluate. Repeat.

The total process

The process for creating the system is:

Write your performance outcome.

Define a measurement to know if you achieve the outcome.

Define a performance level for the measurement.

Create a method to track the measurement.

And to operate and achieve your result:

Create actions in alignment with the performance outcome, not the measurement.

Track the measurement

Evaluate your progress

Determine new actions

If you would like for me to guide you through this process with yourself or your organization, please contact me.

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I am a victim of to-do lists. Yep. It feels like I can't help myself but to make to-do lists and then live my life from them. Saturday morning. What's there to do today? Make a list. Do it. Then there are days I get tired of writing to-do lists.

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Overview

SCALE works with school organizations and stakeholders to identify the core subject-specific performance outcomes that students are expected to demonstrate in performance tasks. These performance outcomes - vital competencies and skills needed for college success and the workplace - are based on state, national, and international standards and provide the blueprint for designing performance tasks.

Definitions

Performance outcomes: The academic knowledge, behaviors, and skills that students areexpected to learn and demonstrate in a performance task.

Unlike content or skill standards, performance outcomes do NOT represent the totality of all academic behaviors and skills that are valued and desired, but represent a subset of valued learning outcomes that will be measured in the performance task. Performance outcomes are written so that they can be applied across courses and topics/units of study within the discipline. Outcomes may include enduring understandings, essential skills, or habits of mind, explained below.

Enduring Understandings - Big ideas that have lasting value beyond the classroom,are central to the discipline, and are transferable to new situations(Wiggins & McTighe, 1998). Examples include:

English language arts: Writing and speaking are shaped by audience and purpose; texts are embedded within their cultural and historical contexts.

Mathematics: Mathematical relationships abound in the world around us and can be applied to everyday decisions such as figuring out whether buying in bulk is a better deal, calculating how much our 401k has dropped, designing our living spaces, or even critiquing art.

Science: Engaging in a systematic method of inquiry leads to more accurate explanations of natural phenomena.

Essential Skills - The skills that are necessary to do work in the discipline.Examples include:

English language arts: Develop a thesis statement, supported by arguments and/or evidence; demonstrate a command of the conventions of the English language.

Mathematics: Reason deductively; use mathematical symbols and language to explain mathematical relationships or ideas.

Science: When engaging in inquiry, describe objects and events, ask questions, construct explanations, test those explanations against current scientific knowledge, and clearly communicate ideas to others.

Habits of Mind - Ways of knowing and thinking in the discipline; approaches tothinking or problem-solving. Examples include:

English language arts: In building an argument, consider counterclaims and opposing positions; consider multiple interpretations of a character, motive, or theme.

Mathematics: See mathematical ideas in one's mind's eye; generalize from specific cases to test whether a relationship holds true in all cases.

Science: In conducting inquiry, identify assumptions, use critical and logical thinking, and consider alternative explanations.

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SCALE works with school organizations and stakeholders to identify the core subject-specific performance outcomes that students are expected to demonstrate in performance tasks. These performance outcomes - vital competencies and skills needed for college success and the workplace - are based on state, national, and international standards and provide the blueprint for designing performance tasks.

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Needs Assessment: How to Move Forward w/ Your Needs Assessment

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How to do a Training Needs Analysis -
for existing and future training content

The L&D department is situated in the 'support' zone of any company so naturally, when asked for a certain learning intervention, it responds positively. Yet there are instances when problems can't be fixed with training, where there are existing modules that can very well do the job or when something altogether new needs to be created. In order to positively identify the most appropriate course of action, a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) has to be conducted.

1. Things to do before conducting a TNA

Get job performance information
Identify the required performance levels and the actual performance levels.

Conduct a performance analysis
Identify performance gaps and most importantly what is causing them.

Conduct a cost-benefit analysis
Quantify the value of improved performance and give an estimate of ROI.

Communicate the decision
Make recommendations for a training proposal or an alternative solution.

2. Doing a TNA for existing training content

Make a comprehensive inventory
Even if it's clear that more recent programs are still very useful, they should be the subject of scrutiny just as all the others.

Determine what still has value and what needs to go
Answer questions like "What was the original need that the module was designed for?" or "Why is it still being offered?"

Decide what stays and what goes
Any recommendation should be done with the consensus of responsible managers and a clear proposal about where the resources will be reallocated.

Adapt and transform
The instructional material and media, the content, the marketing strategy or the assessments can be refreshed and reused in future training programs.

3. Doing a TNA for future training content

Get the necessary information
Take a look at current trends and recent innovations within the industry, online or not. Check the company's annual reports, the declared business plans and brand strategy. Dig for facts about what the competition is planning.

Get the relevant opinions
Hear what the main stakeholders have to say to questions like "What future innovations, products or services will require training support?" or "What knowledge sets or skills will employee require to move the organization forward?"

Get the priorities straight
Think out plans to address the issues that surfaced as important by means of learning and development, base any recommendations on what types of training should be deployed on these findings, and make a plan for the costs.

Prepare for the future
Running a general TNA when there isn't one particular burning area gives L&D specialists time to be thorough and look at the big picture rather than figuring out how to quickly patch-up something.

Resources

Visit the MATRIX Blog for insightful posts on training and e-learning.

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Infographic: Training needs analysis " MATRIX LMS

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The L&D department is situated in the 'support' zone of any company so naturally, when asked for a certain learning intervention, it responds positively. Yet there are instances when problems can't be fixed with training, where there are existing modules that can very well do the job or when something altogether new needs to be created.

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Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM): Simply Said

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This video is targeted for K12, but ideas are useful for HE and Corp as well.

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4 Design Tips for Building Better Learning Materials

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When adults learn, they want engaging, useful, and convenient training content. This means short, sharp, and practical materials that they get to access anytime, anywhere.

But if you've developed online training courses before, you know that creating eLearning content can be the trickiest part of the course design process. So, hands up if you're looking for some great training content development tips.

How to create eLearning content your learners will love

The list of tips and tricks that make some eLearning course content better than others is, well, long! But we have a few favorites.

These are our top picks for ways to ensure that your course content leads to more engaged learning and even a little fun.

1. Start with "why"
2. Find your "who"
3. Create an intuitive learning path
4. Cater to all learning styles
5. Try active learning
6. Keep it short and simple
7. Make quality a priority
8. Speak the right language
9. Be original

Let's look at them one by one and explore how they can help you create eLearning courses that will hook employees' attention.

1. Start with "why"

Everyone is busy. Including your learners.

This means that your target audience needs to understand what they'll learn, how they'll learn it, and why it will be useful to them before they start their course. Once they understand the "why", they'll be more emotionally invested and engaged in learning.

A useful way to demonstrate the purpose behind training is to organize eLearning content into learning outcomes (LOs). Using verbs from Bloom's Taxonomy, you can develop focused learning objectives that guide the choice of content.

If you're unfamiliar with Bloom's Taxonomy, you can learn more about the classification tool here.

But first, here's an example.

Imagine that the LO is to create an employee development plan. The word "create" tells us that a set of online notes probably won't be enough, because we're expecting learners to apply their skills.

So we might also include an online workshop or webinar, where learners get to practice their skills by tackling a case study with the help of a subject matter expert.

2. Find your "who"

Ah, the SME! The subject matter expert (SME) often plays a 'behind the scenes' role in creating eLearning courses. Many courses won't require that SMEs host live workshops, or record video lectures. But mask on or mask off, a subject matter expert is a critical tool for creating good eLearning course content.

An SME with oodles of insight, knowledge, and experience is bound to create an online course that is current, relevant, and probably downright addictive. Their own passion coats the eLearning content in a sort of glitter that makes it difficult to look away. Like that good book you just couldn't put down. But there's something else, too.

Make sure that your SME has enough of that little old thing called time! Great content takes careful thought and planning. So avoid an SME who's already operating overcapacity, and might feel the need to rush.

Build your online training courses in minutes with TalentLMS
The learning management system that's easy to set up, easy to use and easy to customize.

3. Create an intuitive learning path

Creating an online course isn't just about the content itself. It also matters how it's structured. Content that covers similar topics, and meets related LOs, should be grouped together in modules.

Start an eLearning module with simpler content, and then gradually increase the difficulty level until learners are able to practice their new skills or knowledge. This way, learners will build their knowledge at a manageable pace that makes them feel confident and rewarded for their learning efforts.

For example, the first content in a module might aim to equip learners with a basic understanding of a concept, or the ability to recall information. So, include definitions and explanations, and perhaps a few simple examples in the form of notes or an infographic.

As the module progresses, you can create eLearning content that's more focused on practice and opportunities for learners to gauge their own learning. Here you might try more practical content like quizzes with automated feedback.

4. Cater to all learning styles

To develop eLearning content that sticks, you simply have to be stylish! Because it's just about guaranteed that learners will have a variety of learning styles and preferences. Some people are visual learners, others prefer audio, and then there are those who like to get their feet wet. We call them kinesthetic learners.

A balance of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic eLearning content elements is the best way to involve everyone in the learning process and ensure all feel engaged. Present skills, knowledge, and concepts through a variety of video content, graphic content, written notes, and activities like branching scenarios and group assignments.

Most of the time, an LO is better suited to a specific content format. Like LOs that require learners to "list" information are better suited to written notes. But there can be some repetition when presenting content to cater to all three learning styles. Don't worry! Because this repetition can actually lead to better retention and improved understanding.

5. Try active learning

A lot of corporate training content is about as exciting as a rice cracker. But it doesn't have to be! By balancing the proportion of passive and active content, learners can actually become actively involved in their own learning process.

Passive content is content that simply needs to be consumed. Listening to a podcast, watching a video, or reading notes are all examples of passive learning content. On the other hand, active content is content that engages learners in thinking, problem-solving and practicing their knowledge and skills.

So, how do you create active content? Simulations are a good start. For example, in customer service training, present your team with a role-playing activity where one member is an unhappy customer and the other members need to find a solution.

You could also try making use of discussion forums and group assignments that get learners brainstorming and solving an issue together. Or, branching scenarios that allow learners to make decisions (and mistakes) so that they can learn from the outcomes.

Here are four examples of how to create an online course with interactive elements that engage learners:

When designed to encourage exploration, experimentation, and risk-taking, active eLearning course content can result in boosted motivation and performance, and a stronger community of collaboration.

6. Keep it short and simple

When it comes to online training content less is more. Based on research, learners prefer short training content over long, one-time training events. But creating less content can often be trickier than creating more of it. Because less content needs to be more focused, more concise, and more carefully selected.

So, one of the key stages of the eLearning course development process is deciding what to leave out. Only include content that is necessary for achieving learning outcomes. Nice-to-haves? Chuck 'em out! You can also leverage microlearning principles to create bite-sized chunks of content for a quick and flexible learning experience.

Remember, learners are busy, too. So, estimate the amount of time it would take to complete all content in the course (such as reading notes, watching videos, completing a quiz, etc.). If the total estimated time would send learners into a panic attack, you might want to consider cutting your content down.

7. Make quality a priority

Nobody wants to watch a poorly produced film, or read a book that's scattered with typos. So why would learners want their eLearning content to be any different? Besides, errors are distractions to the learning process and can result in an unpleasant learning experience.

So, whether it's filming a video, recording a podcast, developing an infographic, or writing notes, always add a sufficient level of quality assurance. Where there's voice (like talking head videos and podcasts), there should be no background noises that create distractions. For written content, get a fresh set of eyes to proofread. This will help to avoid those nasty spelling and grammatical errors.

8. Speak the right language

Learning content is only engaging when it speaks the language of the audience it's targeting. This means that it needs to be both understandable and relatable for the learner. Because when learners have to re-read a sentence or rewind a video until the penny drops, you risk losing their attention.

So, be sure to create content that's pitched at the right level, and uses terminology that your learners will understand. It's always a good idea to do some background research on your audience. But, if you're still not completely sure whether they'll have prior knowledge of a concept, rather take the simpler approach. If learners feel you're covering something that they already understand, they'll just skip on over to the next activity.

In courses that are very specialized, using industry lingo can make content more relatable, too. For example, in a specialized software engineering course, you could use terms like "noob" and "yak shaving" to speak the language of your learners.

9. Be original

We live in a world of content curation. With an endless supply of great videos, articles and online resources, it can be tempting to simply pick the content that relates to your topics and call it a course!

Now, content curation is not all bad. It can actually be very efficient, and often gives learners a more varied perspective and interesting collection of learning activities to engage with. But if your online course is truly going to skyrocket, you'll need it to be original.

Make sure that at least 50% of your eLearning course content is uniquely crafted by your subject matter expert. Write notes, create infographics, and film videos that learners wouldn't be able to find anywhere else!

Bonus tip: Pick the right tool. Discover our own suggestions on content creation tools in our Cheatsheet!

Conclusion

Sure, content creation can often be the most challenging of the eLearning course development process steps. But, you've never shied away from a challenge! So use these easy tips on how to create an online course, mix various content types, and watch your eLearning programs launch to success.

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9 Ways To Create eLearning Content Your Learners Will Love

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When adults learn, they want engaging, useful, and convenient training content. This means short, sharp, and practical materials that they get to access anytime, anywhere. But if you've developed online training courses before, you know that creating eLearning content can be the trickiest part of the course design process.

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Sooner or later, every company or organization needs to create a training manual. Often, they need to create multiple manuals to cover both internal and external training needs.

Internally, training manuals help all employees remain efficient and productive in the course of doing their jobs.

Externally, training manuals are critical content pieces for customer education, training, and, most importantly, satisfaction.

But, if you're like me, the term "training manual" conjures a drab mental picture. A thick, corporate looking booklet bound in a bland cover. Maybe it has some stock imagery on it, or maybe it's just the title on a solid cover.

So, first, let's erase that picture from our minds. The old booklet format still has its place in the world (e.g. the glovebox of your car), but there are so many more options now. The training manuals of today don't look or function like training manuals used to. It's also possible for anyone to create one.

In this post, we'll go over how you can write a great training manual and some of the options you have as you create it.

What is the purpose of a training manual?

While the packaging of the traditional training manual has changed, its noble purpose remains consistent.

A training manual is a set of instructions that improve the quality with which a job, process, or task is performed. Companies use training manuals with in-person, remote, on-demand, and just in time training. A few common applications include:

Onboarding new employees

Rolling out new software and systems

New protocol or process documentation

Sharing standard operating procedurs

Customer training and education

Product instructions and information

Companies create employee training manuals to increase organizational productivity and ensure everyone has the tools and information necessary to excel at their jobs.

On the flip side, companies and organizations create training manuals that support their customers, too. They teach how to use their products, when certain features come in handy, and demonstrate key workflows.

Training manuals for customer education help users get the most out their purchase. They are a critical resource, and every successful company provides them.

The best training manuals are easy to follow, informational guides. They lay out concepts in clear language, using relevant examples and imagery. Done right, a good training manual becomes a trusted resource for employees and managers or customers and clients.

How to write a training manual

Creating a great training manual can be intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. With the right approach, you can quickly go from outline to production, and provide your co-workers or customers, whomever your audience may be, with a helpful, easy to use resource.

Here's how.

Step 1: Define your audience

The first thing when you start working on your training manual is knowing for whom you are writing. To do this, develop a picture of when, where, and how people will access your training content.

To understand your audience, you might ask and answer questions like:

What will bring them to your training manual?

What is their level of expertise?

In what industry do they work?

How much time do they have?

Do they have a preference for written or visual content?

Are there language or cultural references that you need to be aware of?

Answering these questions helps you to right-size your content. With an understanding of things like audience skill level, their context, and their content preferences, you can build your content to fit their expectations and needs.

It's easy to skip this step and tell yourself you have an implicit understanding of your audience. And, while you probably do, spending some time to flesh it out and bring the picture into clear focus will help you craft training content that truly solves your audiences problems.

Step 2: Plan your content

A great training manual is easy to navigate. Someone encountering it for the first time feels comfortable discovering the information they need and a returning user is able to quickly find specific content and topics.

You can make sure this is the case for your training manual by strategically planning your content. Simply put, this means laying out all of your training material and organizing it in a logical fashion.

There are different themes you might use to organize and categorize the topics in your training manual. You could organize them by:

Beginner to advanced topics

Jobs to be done

Product features

Usage frequency

Popularity among the audience

This can be a quick process for short, one-off training content, or it might take some more time if you're creating a comprehensive guide.

If you do have a lot of topics, consider placing them in groups and using headings and sub-sections to create a logical flow and organization within your manual. Use this structure to create a table of contents in the final manual.

Step 3: Determine content presentation format

You know your audience, and you know what you want cover, so now it's time to determine just how you will present your content.

In many cases, there will be ideal ways to deliver your content. Figuring out which it is requires thinking about both your audience and your content. You have a number of options for delivery. Common delivery mediums for training manuals include:

Knowledge base articles

Video tutorials

Online courses

PDF guides

Printed guide book or pamphlets

When it comes to your audience, consider their context.

Where are they as they consume this training manual?

What tools and resources do they have at their disposal?

What will they not have access to?

How much time do they have?

Questions like these will tell you if things like video, interactivity, and particular assessment strategies are viable techniques to include in your training material.

At the same time, some topics are more suitable to video, while others are better for text and imagery. If you're showing complex processes that need to be seen in action, you may consider using video. If you're working with a number of discrete, simple sequences, then using a written format supported by images might be ideal.

One nice thing is that today's training manuals are often delivered online. You can combine different formats in one and provide rich, media supported content.

Step 4: Develop your content

At this point, you're ready to start developing your content.

For video based training manuals

If you're creating videos for your training manual, this is when you can start storyboarding, scripting, recording, and editing videos.

If you've never created videos before, don't be discouraged from taking this approach. TechSmith Camtasia is a great tool used by professional video creators, but is easy for beginners to get started with. There are also tons of great tutorials that will get you creating in no time.

Additionally, we offer TechSmith Academy, a free resource where everyone from aspiring to advance creators can find all the resources they need to get started and level-up their skills. Find content on tons of topics around training, video creation, and more.

For text and image based training manuals

Training manuals that will be built using written text and imagery might seem antiquated, but they're not. In many cases, this will fit your audience and your content best.

If your manual covers a process that is computer-based, capture screenshots of each step. Alternatively, for real-world processes, photos demonstrating the process or graphical illustrations are ideal.

Annotate images for clarity

Screenshots and images often need a couple tweaks to truly get their point across. Usually this means adding annotations like arrows, shapes, and other callouts. Another nice touch is to remove or hide sensitive or unnecessary information.

Use the drawing and editing tools in Snagit to edit your images so they convey the right message and have unnecessary or sensitive information blurred or removed.

Edit all of your images to prepare them for inclusion in your training manual.

Step 5: Assemble and deliver your manual

Now is when creating a training manual usually becomes tedious. The process of adding images to a template, document, or another source involves formatting frustrations, image sizing issues, and other similar, unforeseen challenges.

In this case, an easy solution is to create from templates in Snagit. This lets you select the images you want to include in your manual, add text, arrange the order, and make selections about the appearance in one quick process.

Snagit comes with a number of professional templates you can choose from, and you can find more free and premium templates and other resources in TechSmith Assets for Snagit.

This is a great method to use because you can take on each process or task you need to cover and create a separate section of the manual.

Then you can save the each as a PDF or an image for sharing, compiling into a complete guide, or posting individually in a company intranet.

Of course, making individual stand alone documents might not be the right approach. In this case, you might consider using tools like Zendesk or MadCap Flare to create a knowledge base support center or a help file document.

If you are creating an online knowledge base, you should be able to use video, image, and written content all at the same time. So, get creative and make content that covers everything your audience might need.

The final step to creating a training manual is to elicit feedback and keep it updated.

If you interact with your audience, listen to their feedback about the help you provide. Based on what they say, see if there are topics that need to be expanded or ones that are not yet covered at all.

As always, systems will change, products and features will be updated, and your content will need updates to stay relevant and helpful. Make sure to keep source files for all your work so you can easily return to it and make updates.

Conclusion

A training manual no longer needs to be the thick, boring tome it once was. People are used to learning online, and they often prefer it over analog sources of information.

Online training manuals are also easier to access and navigate than their paper ancestors. They're searchable and allow users to bookmark particular pages for easy and quick access to often-used content.

With the right tools and the process shared here, you can create great training manuals for colleagues or customers alike.

Easily create training manuals (Free template)

Snagit's templates are the fastest way to create training manuals. Create step-by-step training for anything with training manual templates!
Download Editor's Note: This post was originally published in July 2019 and was updated in September 2020 for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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How to Create a Training Manual: Steps and Tools that Make it Easy

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Sooner or later, every company or organization needs to create a training manual. Often, they need to create multiple manuals to cover both internal and external training needs. Internally, training manuals help all employees remain efficient and productive in the course of doing their jobs.

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marekuliasz/Shutterstock.com

Online Training Content Development

The phrase "content is king" is widely used in the marketing world, but it can refer to the eLearning as well. Do you know why?

1. Content can help you build the authority of your training.

2. Content can encourage learners' engagement.

3. Content can add value to your training.

So, let's see how you can make your training content great.

Imagine that you are in the following situation. You've already started working on your new eLearning course. You have completed the following steps:

1. You've defined the learning goals.

2. You've analyzed your target audience and its training needs.

3. You've defined the learning objectives.

The next step is the topic analysis. That's the point where you need to start working on your course content. What is the information you need to include in your eLearning course?

Topic Analysis

To succeed at this stage, you have to work with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). They will provide you with their knowledge and existing training materials, such as PowerPoint presentations, presenter notes, reference documents, web resources, test questions, etc. It's your responsibility to analyze these training materials (with the help of the SMEs) and to create content that is short, clear, concise, and engaging. Each learning objective needs to be presented with (key) information, case studies, real-life examples or scenarios, and a reference to additional learning resources covering the topic.

To analyze your training's topics, you can ask your SMEs the following questions:

What do learners need to know to meet the learning objective?

What skills do learners need to perform the learning objective?

What are the activities (tasks, exercises, case studies, scenarios) that can help learners understand the content?

What are the most common mistakes people make (related to the topic)?

What are the most common questions that people ask (related to the topic)?

What is the information that is considered "obligatory"?

How will you assess the learners' knowledge?

To analyze the existing training resources, you can use the following questions:

Are there any existing training materials that can ease the content development process (presentations, documents, manuals, specifications, videos, etc.)?

Do these materials contain all the necessary information? Are they outdated? Are there any inaccuracies? Are they interesting and engaging?

Is there any previous feedback on the quality of the training materials? What learners liked/disliked before?

Is there any missing information?

Why wasn't the training considered successful before?

Practical eLearning Content Development Tips

So, you already defined the topics of your eLearning course, now it's time to continue with the content development. Here are 6 simple tips that will make your text useful, interesting and easy to read.

1. Your text should be easy to understand, clear and consistent throughout the training.

2. Don't use phrases or jargon that some learners may not understand.

3. Use consistent formatting-choose one font and font size for titles, one font and font size for paragraphs, use consistent row length, use consistent font color, etc.

4. Place instructional text in the same place on each screen.

5. Leave enough white space between text blocks.

6. Each screen in your eLearning course should contain a limited amount of text, but enough to present all the necessary information.

Additional Tips

Here are some additional tips that will ease your training content development process.

Usually, SMEs will provide you with a PowerPoint presentation or any other type of text document. Take time to get acquainted with the topic and the existing content. Find additional resources on your own. Make questionnaires to use during the meetings with the SMEs.

The provided training materials might be well-structured, clear and organized. However, the situation might be the opposite. Keep this in mind and don't panic if the second happens to you. Talk with the SMEs and discuss the difficulties you're experiencing.

The training might cover a topic that includes very specific terminology. Take time to understand it. Make a dictionary to serve you as a reference, if necessary.

If the training plan includes a narrator, keep in mind that it is a good practice for the on-screen text and the narrator's script to be different.

If the training will include audio and video files, you are the one that will be responsible for their text development.

If there will be a dialogue scene in your training, you need to change the tone. You have to create a conversation that sounds easy and natural.

All exercises, tasks, and tests should be related to the training content. Instructions should be short and clear.

Don't include information that is not related to the problems that the training aims to solve. Any unnecessary information will overwhelm the learners. It may even irritate them, and your efforts will be in vain.

Talk with your SMEs about the deadlines. When will they send you the training materials? When do you need to send the first draft for review? And so on.

Don't take criticism personally. On the contrary, ask your SMEs for feedback. This will help you succeed in your job and create effective eLearning content.

Of course, proofread and edit your text.

Use tools such as Google Drive, Google Docs, Grammarly, etc. They will help you create, archive and edit your content.

The Theory Behind Successful Training Content Development

The Adult Learning Theory Of Malcolm Knowles

One of the main things you need to keep in mind while working on your eLearning course is the fact that your training targets adult people. Adults have different training needs and expectations compared to kids, so you need to get acquainted with the main principles of andragogy. Malcolm Knowles defined them some time ago and they are as follows:

Adults need to know that the training will have a direct and immediate impact on their daily job duties.

The training needs to be problem-oriented. Your content has to focus on defined problems and how they can be solved.

Adults prefer to learn through their experiences. Your job is to provide them with a safe environment where they can test new things, make mistakes, progress, and use their knowledge.

Adults prefer to have a say in the training development and assessment process.

Robert Gagne's 9 Events Of Instruction

To create effective training that focuses on the results and changes in learners' behavior, you can use Gagne's 9 Events of Instruction.

1. Gain learners' attention right at the beginning of the training. To achieve this, you can use an interesting example or a task that they need to complete.

2. Present the learning objectives. Your learners are adults, and adults want to know why they need to take the training, what's in it for them, how the training will ease their day-to-day job duties, etc.

3. Make learners use their current knowledge. Include activities that will make them apply what they already know.

4. Present the content. Provide learners with new information.

5. Guide the learners. Supplement the content with examples.

6. Make learners use what they've just learned. Include tasks and exercises that relate to the real-life.

7. Provide feedback. Give learners regular feedback about their performance.

8. Test learners' knowledge. Assess what they have learned during the training.

9. Help learners remember and use their new knowledge and skills. Provide learners with additional resources-documents, web resources, etc.

These are the main tips I can give you regarding eLearning content creation. Remember, content is the king to whom all other training elements obey.

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marekuliasz/Shutterstock.com The phrase "content is king" is widely used in the marketing world, but it can refer to the eLearning as well. Do you know why? Content can help you build the authority of your training. Content can encourage learners' engagement. Content can add value to your training.

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The following video will walk you through the "Design" phase of instructional design:  https://youtu.be/ppey76XJKZw

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If you'd like information on ways to design for diverse pathways to learning, this article will provide you with insights.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Once you understand accessible eLearning and inclusive design, you can't turn back. That's because changing your design habits is not only easy, it has a big impact on the lives of others. A focus on inclusive design makes learning more accessible so it benefits everyone.

Today I'm speaking with Brian Dusablon, from Learning Ninjas. Brian works in many roles, helping clients apply existing and emerging technologies to support process and business improvement.

As an advocate, he teaches how inclusive design and accessible learning experiences improve the lives of others. He's the person many turn to, to get answers to their accessibility questions. In this episode, Brian provides actionable steps you can take to start an inclusive design practice in general and accessible eLearning in particular.
WE DISCUSS:

Difference between accessibility and inclusive design

Limits of the accessibility guidelines

Methods for adopting an inclusive design mindset at the start of a project

Creating your own standards for inclusive design

Lenses for creating and evaluation accessible eLearning

Inclusive animation design

Inclusively for standard graphics and the challenges of infographics

How to design inclusively for audio and video

Looking at the lens of time in terms of inclusive design

How to get started quickly

What to do if management is resistant to inclusive design

Biggest challenges regarding eLearning accessibility

TRANSCRIPT: Download the ELC 061 Transcript

RATE: Rate this podcast in Apple Podcasts

TIME: 33 minutes
INCLUSIVE AND ACCESSIBLE ELEARNING RESOURCES:
A few sources for free diverse photos:

Get the latest articles, resources and freebies once a month plus my free eBook, Writing for Instructional Design.

SEND EBOOK NOW

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ELC 061: Getting Started With Inclusive Design

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download Once you understand accessible eLearning and inclusive design, you can't turn back. That's because changing your design habits is not only easy, it has a big impact on the lives of others. A focus on inclusive design makes learning more accessible so it benefits everyone.

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This tutorial is specifically created for the Thinkific course site; however, there are some course design gems here.

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What does Sequential Learning mean?

As an expert on the topic of the course(s) you want to teach, you have a comprehensive 360-degree view of your course material. You've spent many years, maybe a lifetime, mastering your subject matter. And now you want to share your expertise with your chosen target audience. You want to provide lots of value, so it would be great to share everything you know. That you've learned in a lifetime. All at once.

Here's the problem with that: due to the very tight limits of working memory (the part of the mind we use to process and store information), people can only take in, absorb, and process a small amount of information at a time.

An expert on a topic didn't acquire their 360-degree view of the material all at once, and learners can't either. The only way to take in, process, and learn information is one (SMALL) step at a time, in a sequential manner.

A helpful metaphor for understanding how we can take in and process large amounts of information, step by step, is to think of a mosaic. Mosaics can be very large... they often cover the entire floor, walls, or ceiling of a building. But each tile in the mosaic is tiny. Put the tiny tiles together in the right order and they create a beautiful, comprehensive picture... but it's a picture that has to be built up one small step at a time.

Why is the sequencing of learning so important?

Continuing the mosaic metaphor, you might ask: why can't the small pieces of our (mental) mosaics be laid down randomly, in any order we want? Why do we have to learn each small piece in a specifically sequential order, in addition to learning one step at a time?

The reason for that is that the steps in a learning sequence build on each other. Complex skills (like mastering artisanal baking) depend on the prior learning of simpler skills (like properly combining wet and dry ingredients, or performing smooth wrist motions for beating air into batter).

In order to effectively use the higher-order thinking skills described in Bloom's taxonomy (skills such as analyzing, evaluating, and creating something new), learners must first master lower order thinking skills relating to the same material (such as remembering, understanding, and being able to apply what's being taught).

If you've ever experienced what it's like to be shown how to do something once, by an expert, and then asked to perform that same skill or activity yourself, right away, you know the "deer in the headlights" feeling that being asked to perform a skill without enough preparation and guidance, can cause.

Gagné's nine events of instruction can be used for effective lesson planning. Both logic and experience show that it's not effective to go directly from presenting the instruction (event 4) to expecting independent performance (event 6). Event 5 (guided practice) is missing in that learning sequence, and guided practice is needed to help learners succeed in performing on their own.

Another factor to consider is cognitive load, which describes the difficulty involved in learning something new. The inherent difficulty (intrinsic cognitive load) of a specific learning task is relative to the learner's prior knowledge. If a learner has been studying organic chemistry for years, taking a new step into a specific area of related research will not be a big leap for them. But for someone who's never studied chemistry at all, that same new research step would be far too difficult for them to perform.

Gagné defines teaching as arranging a series of events that promote learning[1]. We can understand these "events" as referring to the 9 events of instruction within ONE lesson, and also as referring to the sequence of lessons within a course, the sequence of courses within a bundle, or the sequence of bundles within an academy.

Online learning has to be designed

The closer an online course is to being "evergreen", the more carefully it has to be designed in order to produce real learning. That's because to the extent the instructor is not actually present in real-time (either in person or live online), the course ITSELF has to stand in for the instructor by anticipating and responding to the learner's needs.

Instructional design involves anticipating and planning for the needs of learners as they move through a learning experience step by step. Sequencing the learning properly provides a smooth, incrementally progressive learning journey where each small step allows the learner to be successful in a continuous way.

Learners experience a feeling of self-efficacy (being able to take effective action on their own behalf) and achievement, when each part of the learning journey builds on the previous step and prepares for the next one. Gagné identified self-efficacy and achievement as important motivational factors that keep learners moving forward and engaged in the learning process.[2]

Experts often try to fit everything they know into a single online course, only to realize that it's too much information for learners to absorb at once.

More important, there are pre-requisite skills learners need to master, before they can achieve the learning goal ("Point B") for a whole course or program.

Learners MAY need to have certain skills, behaviors, and attitudes in place before they are even ready to ENTER your course or program (at "Point A", the starting point of your course).

Instructional designers use a process called a task analysis to break learning down into target learning objectives and then determine the pre-requisite learning objectives needed to achieve the target learning goal. There are two types of pre-requisite learning objectives:

Enabling objectives (which are essential to ENABLE learners to eventually achieve the target objective)

Supportive objectives (which are helpful and nice to have, but not 100 percent required for the learner to eventually achieve the target objective).[3]

If you are teaching someone how to decorate a cake, an enabling objective would be "learn how to bake or otherwise obtain a cake". That objective is essential because course participants can't decorate a cake if they don't have one to work with.

A supportive objective would be, "Learn how to mix your own cake icing colors". That objective is supportive because being able to mix their own colors would greatly enhance the decorating experience. But it's not essential because learners will also be able to successfully achieve the target objective of learning how to decorate a cake using pre-mixed icing colors.

The process of sequencing learning objectives can get technically complex and requires a high level of learning design skill. If you'd like to read about it in detail, the following sources go into depth:

So how can you get great results in your online course, without going to school to get a degree in instructional design?

How do you decide the scope, scale, and sequence of what you want to teach?

Let's look at what many course creators go through, and then reverse-engineer the process to streamline and simplify the way YOU determine the pre-requisite skills your course participants will need at every level of your online program.

Here's what many course creators go through:

They sit down to plan out a course to teach people how to perform a skill.

As they start writing down the steps involved in performing the skill, they have an "aha" moment:
they realize that before course participants can even begin performing the skill, they'll have to improve their mindset about doing it. Otherwise, they won't even try.

There are so many problems that could stop learners from even trying to perform the skill. Which mindset problem do they even HAVE? Do YOU know? Do THEY know? How can you find out?

One idea is to put a quiz on your website that helps people figure out what their worst problem or pain point is that is getting in the way of performing the skill. That way, you could send them follow up emails or create a special group for them (or even a pre-requisite course), to help them get into the right mindset needed to perform the skill.

And THEN you can start teaching them the skill.

So it turns out that before you can even START to teach anything to anyone, you have to understand the entire SEQUENCE of learning needed to get from where your course participants are starting from, to where they want to end up.

Your course is the way learners will get from Point A to Point B. So the first step is to define what point A is for them.

But wait...what do we mean by "THEM"? Who is your target audience for the course you're creating? What relevant prior knowledge do they already have about the topic, and what (if anything) are you going to have to teach them before they are ready for the main topics you want them to learn?

It turns out that there are a lot of pre-requisite skills that you, as a course creator, need to use, before you start actually planning your course. These pre-requisite skills include:

And that's all before you even begin creating your course. It can feel overwhelming, but having a clear plan of action can help you create a learning sequence you can use to design not only any specific course, but your entire online school.

One of the first big ideas to understand (and sometimes this only becomes clear after you've thought through what you want to teach, for a while), is:

What is the SCALE of the learning you are trying to design?

Interestingly, getting clear on the scale of what you are building helps the pre-requisite steps needed at every level of your program, fall into place. So let's explore this issue of scale, and how it can help you set up your program on Thinkific both quickly and easily.

Your whole online academy or school

At the largest scale, you could be trying to create a whole online ACADEMY, unified around a single learning goal. Examples of an academy learning goal would be:

Become a master of the culinary arts

Build great relationships with your children as they grow

Enhance your study skills for graduate school

As you can see, these are LARGE, comprehensive learning goals. Each of them requires multiple smaller learning goals that course participants need to master before they can achieve the overall comprehensive learning goal. Fittingly, Gagné and Merrill (2005) refer to this type of large comprehensive goal as an "enterprise".[4]

Many course creators start out thinking they can teach all the skills needed to achieve their top-level learning goal (their entire enterprise), all in one course. This soon starts to feel overwhelming to the course creator, and far more so to any potential students.

Instead of a single course, breaking down the top-level learning goal into multiple pre-requisite learning goals makes this a much more do-able exercise.

Each smaller learning goal becomes the "Point B" of its own complete course. You can set up an academy on Thinkific as an entire Thinkific school or membership site, containing multiple courses.

Bundles of courses within your school

The next level down in scale is the Bundle level.

Let's see how this works for "Become a master of the culinary arts".

Working backwards using a process of backward design, if we analyze the "enterprise level" learning goal of "becoming a master of the culinary arts" we can see that there are several questions we need to ask ourselves:

What are the culinary arts?

What does it take to master them?

(Let's say you determine that it requires becoming both a master baker and a master chef).

What skills does a master baker need?

What skills does a master chef need?

Do baking skills and chef skills build on each other, or are these two parallel tracks?

What other skills would someone already have to have in order to develop master baking/chef skills?

How can learners obtain those earlier skills?

Do you want to teach the earlier skills, or set them as pre-requisites that someone entering your online program must already have?

If you want to teach the skills, how will you do that?

Let's say that you want to teach the skills yourself, and you determine that the pre-requisite skills for becoming a master baker are:

Learn how to source ingredients

Learn artisanal baking techniques

Learn artistic decorating secrets

Each of those skills can become the learning goal for its own course.

Courses within bundles within your school

As you start working on the ingredients course, you realize that there's a lot to it. You are going to have to help your course participants understand supply chains, sustainable farming, weather patterns, pricing issues, customer food sensitivities, and many other issues.

Each of those topics could become a whole course in itself... in which case you could turn "How to source ingredients" into a bundle of courses on Thinkific. Or each of those skills could become the learning goal for a specific CHAPTER inside one integrated course.

The scale you are going to use is a design decision that you as an instructor will need to make.

Let's say you go for the CHAPTER option, because while sourcing ingredients is important, it's not your main focus: baking is... and you want to get to that as soon as possible.

Thinkific offers you a lot of flexibility in how to structure your program, depending on the learning design decisions you make. Let's say that you decide you just want your learners to take ONE course about sourcing ingredients, rather than go super granular on that topic by creating a whole bundle of courses (which would take your learners more time to go through).

Chapters within courses within bundles within your school

The CHAPTER level

So you're going to create ONE course about how to source ingredients for masterful baking, and within that course you will have a chapter about sourcing ingredients based on customer food sensitivities.

Continuing to work backwards, you'd be thinking about what your course participants need to understand about the current landscape of customer food sensitivities and how that affects ingredient sourcing for master baking. Within that chapter you might have a LESSON on gluten- free baking products and where to source them, a lesson on bulk sourcing for alternative flours, a lesson on seasonal availability of alternative products, and so on.

Lessons within chapters within courses within bundles within your school

The LESSON LEVEL

Within each lesson you will have one or more MEDIA ITEMS.

Media items are the most granular level of digital media for online courses. If we were building with Legos, media items would be the individual Lego blocks.

A single video, PDF, or Word doc is a media item. A lesson might consist of just ONE media item, or might have more than one.

In terms of sequencing the learning in your course, it's important to always start from the level above what you're creating and ask what learners must be able to do to get there.

So if the lesson's learning goal is "understand bulk sourcing for alternative flours", you might need a guide to the different types of alternative flours (which might be a PDF for example), a video explanation of the best bulk sourcing practices, and a directory of bulk sourcing providers for alternative flours. So that one lesson would contain three media items.

Media items within lessons within chapters within courses within bundles within your school

The MEDIA ITEM LEVEL

There are several important concepts to keep in mind with respect to media items. One is the idea of making them RE-USABLE. For example, if you create a video about bulk sourcing best practices, and later create your master chef program in addition to your master baking program, you might be able to re-use the same video as long as it explains bulk sourcing practices in a way that applies to both baking and cooking in general. The Thinkific video library makes it fast and easy to upload and store videos in ways that allow you to re-use them in multiple courses.

Another important idea relating to media items is the importance of making them accessible, so that everyone can use them. Adding close captions to videos makes your videos accessible for those who are not able to hear, and also enhances the usability of your videos for those who are non-native speakers or who are watching the video in an environment where audio needs to be kept off. The Thinkific video library makes it fast and easy to upload captions to your videos.

Using learning sequences to set up your entire online school

Let's recap:

If the goal of your entire academy is to teach people to master the culinary arts, you might have:

A bundle of courses on how to become a master baker

a course on how to source baking ingredients

a chapter about how to source baking ingredients for alternative food preferences,
a video about bulk sourcing practices

A bundle of courses on how to become a master chef

a course on how to source cooking ingredients
a chapter about how to source cooking ingredients for alternative food preferences,
a video about bulk sourcing practices

The great thing is, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Thinkific makes it fast and easy for you to:

re-use videos from your video library in multiple lessons and courses

copy lessons from one course to another

copy courses

copy bundles

We've created a handy chart you can use to map out your entire academy.

First, think about the learning sequence you want to build into each level of your online program.

ACADEMY LEVEL: The overall, highest level, learning goal of your entire enterprise

BUNDLES: The major learning tracks/paths you want to provide

COURSES: Specific attitudes, behaviors, strategies, skills being taught within each learning track

CHAPTERS: Large chunks covering major topics within each course

LESSONS: Small chunks covering a specific aspect of each major topic

MEDIA ITEMS: Granular media artifacts within each lesson that provide the actual instruction

Learning sequence examples and template
Imaginary Academy: Masterful School Of Culinary Arts

BUNDLE: MASTER BAKING PROGRAM BUNDLE: MASTER CHEF PROGRAM

Course: How to source ingredients for baking Course: How to source ingredients for cooking
Chapter: Sourcing alternative cooking ingredients
Lesson: Bulk sourcing alternative cooking ingredients

Media item: bulk sourcing practices video

Chapter: Sourcing alternative baking ingredients
Lesson: Bulk sourcing alternative baking ingredients

Media item: bulk sourcing practices video

Course: Artisanal baking techniques

Course: Top tier cooking techniques

Course: Artistic decorating secrets

Course: Secrets of sauces and garnishes

Then, use a chart like the one below to plan the learning sequence for your whole academy. Use the template for yourself!

If you understand the scale of what you're creating, and follow a process of backward design from the most comprehensive skill to the most granular, you'll be using the structural features built into Thinkific to perform an on-the-spot task analysis of your own.

As you work backwards from your highest level learning goal, ask yourself: What smaller skills must learners master in order to be ready to learn this?

Keep going all the way down from the most comprehensive whole academy level to the most granular media item level.

After you design and plan your program backwards, you can then build it forwards... starting to create digital media from the most granular media items such as individual videos, and working your way up to lessons, courses, and bundles as you create your online school. This way of working will ensure a smooth, well-designed learning journey for your course participants, and an efficient course creation process for you.

Summary and Recap

Let's return to our mosaic metaphor for a moment: in designing the sequence of instruction for your online program, start by standing back to get the big picture view of the whole mosaic. What is the overall learning goal you want your program participants to achieve?

Then break that large enterprise learning goal down into smaller component parts, getting more and more granular as you work backwards from the level of bundles or tracks within your overall program, to individual courses within bundles.

For each course, start with the learning goal for the course as a whole. Then use a learning design process (such as the Course Design Formula®, which helps you structure your course and lessons using research-based best practices) to structure the chapters within your course, the lessons within your chapters, and the media items within each lesson.

Taking this enterprise/academy-wide view will enable you to see where some of your media items can be re-used for various courses, which will simplify and streamline your work once it comes to actually creating your digital media. Most importantly, you'll see how every part of your online program can work smoothly with all the other parts to ensure a clear, effective, and engaging learning journey for your course participants, helping them reach the learning goals you set for them, each step of the way.

[2] Gagné & Driscoll, 1988, pp.64-66.

[3] Gagné, Wager, Golas, & Keller, 2005, p. 151

[4]Gagné, R.M., Merrill, M.D. Integrative goals for instructional design. ETR&D 38, 23-30 (1990).

Gagné, Wager, Golas, & Keller, 2005, p. 151.

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How to Create Powerful Lessons with Learning Sequences

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As an expert on the topic of the course(s) you want to teach, you have a comprehensive 360-degree view of your course material. You've spent many years, maybe a lifetime, mastering your subject matter. And now you want to share your expertise with your chosen target audience.

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Adult Learners Need Engaging Course Design Infographic - e-Learning Infographics

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This infographic shares what affects the attention span of adult learners and how engaging course design can be a powerful tool in meeting their needs.

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9 Challenges In Designing Training Interventions Solved By Letting Form Follow Function

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Check 9 challenges in designing training interventions solved by letting form follow function and learn how to get more from your corporate training.

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In many of my blogs on www.gamingworks.nl I have stated that we are still wasting a lot of training budget. The reason: HR and management are not able to design effective training interventions and training organizations have difficulties analyzing the learning demand and transfer this into an effective solution. Managers just chose a (cheap) training from the catalogue and sent there employees to this training and fail to focus on the transfer of knowledge.

But how can we create an effective training intervention.

1. We have to focus on solving a work related problem.

2. We need to work towards a clear and shared picture of desirable behavior.

3. We need to work of a mixture of competences on the levels: Knowledge, understanding and application.

4. We need to create an challenging, active, effective, pleasure and save learning intervention.

5. We must focus on transfer of knowledge to assure new knowledge will be used to change behaviors in the work situatie and solving problems.

6. We must evaluate our learning outcomes even on the ROI-level

To support this process, we are using the so called 8-fields model.

This model created by Kessels and Smit http://www.kessels-smit.nl/. The purpose of this model is to design effective learning interventions.

Goal/Problem - We must define the goal we want to achieve or the problem we want to solve. If there is no real problem, we should ask ourselves if it's needed to spent money on training. For example: "Project managers are not proactive, as a result we lose precious time to fix the issue and we need to force workers to work in overtime."

Wish Situation - If we have a clear picture of the problem, we should also have a clear picture of what we want achieve in terms of desirable behaviors. For example: "Project managers will receive weekly reports from PMO, analyze them and act on this"

Competences - Now it's time to check the gap in competences to decide which competences we have to develop during the training intervention. For example:

PMO is able to create timely and accurate reports

Project Manager is able to analyze the information and translate this into a effective intervention

Project Manager is able to get the team together and communicate the measure to correct the issue

Learning Intervention - We will now design an effective training intervention. For example:

We will organize a 3 hours training to teach PMO how to use the tool to create the report. Organized by the tool vendor.

We will organize a short session with PMO and project manager to discuss the information and explore possible interventions.

We will hire a trainer for 1 day to train our team of project managers how to communicate to working teams

The right part of the model focus on the evaluation of the learning process and outcomes and is based on Kirkpatrick.

Learning Process - This step will evaluate the learning process. Did students like the training? Did we design challenging and exited exercises? Were sessions organized well? Did the trainer did a great job?

Test - We will build in some exercises (tests) into the training to measure if the project manager learned the competences? We could organize the following exercise during the training: "Pick an action to correct delay which you expect not to be popular in your team, present this to your colleagues in the training. The colleagues will 'act' like realistic team members in the project".

Functioning - The big challenge is to transfer the competences learnt during training into day to day work. This requires coaching by managers, action learning, practice, reflection etc. We have to design and implement these activities to support this transfer. We want to make sure we will develop step by step the defined 'Wish situation' from the left side of the model.

Impact - This is the highest level of evaluation. We want to know if we finally solved the problem or reached our goal. This is very difficult. This requires measurements and ROI analysis. But, it's very important to focus on this to make sure our Transfer of Knowledge was effective.

Using this model (or the inspiration) will help managers, HR, trainers, consultants to design more effective training interventions.

I hope training organizations will start helping managers to explore their learning needs and will offer effective and challenging training interventions including a mixture of competences and focused on solving the problem of the manager.

I hope managers will start organizing interventions to support the transfer of knowledge and help employees to create value into the day to day work.

I hope HR will become more involved in designing effective training interventions and will support managers during their transfer activities.

If you like to learn more, follow my posts that i will post the upcoming months or check on www.gamingworks.nl

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In the 21st Century, we need creative approaches to learning design that help us meet the needs of the modern workplace. Furthermore, many of us are required to be creative on demand in our daily work. In light of these concerns, you may find that a Design Thinking model suits your needs. Design Thinking is an approach for deeply understanding the audience and their challenges, in order to generate creative and effective solutions. It resembles Agile models in its methods of prototyping and testing. It differs in its emphasis on human-centered solutions. I'm facilitating a Design Thinking Workshop at the Learning Solutions Conference on March 30, 2020.

Design Thinking is Human-centered

It places a great value on empathy for your users. The practice of Design Thinking seems to be sorely missing from instructional design university programs, professional training and workplace practices.

If Design Thinking has the potential to help us come up with better design solutions, then let's make room for it as we design and promote learning experiences.

Solutions for the 21st Century

Those of us who feel hampered by current models may already practice some Design Thinking techniques. The more we understand these practices as a framework, the more likely we are to leverage Design Thinking in our daily work.

This is critical at this time because the solution to many problems may be much more complex, broader and more integrated into work than one training course can provide. Perhaps the solution to a problem requires developing a community of practice-not formal training; or perhaps there is a need for performance support combined with a user interface redesign; or a change in organizational processes as well as interactive training.

This is why I often speak of the practitioners in our field as "solution finders" rather than course builders. Design Thinking is more in line with the complex problems a learning experience designer might need to solve.

There are many variations to the Design Thinking framework. Generally, there are between three and six steps. Here is one of the original methods as taught by Stanford's d.school modified with an approach that can work with learning experience design. You can extend the Define Phase to include your instructional design practice for identifying and writing measurable performance objectives.

A Design Thinking Process

EMPATHIZE

Empathy involves more than just analyzing an audience or users and this is one of the keys to Design Thinking. Empathy is about experiencing the feelings of others. You are attempting to understand what it is like to be in their job and to have their challenges.

You are researching the audience as an ethnographer, studying and recording the viewpoint of a group of people. In the workplace context, it is to discover the needs of a target population and to explore their universe.

Through the empathetic experience, you are able to create more effective solutions than when you are simply an order taker. Empathy may even involve collaborating and co-designing with the audience.

Industrial designer and design educator, Paul Backett, writes that, "Great designers are great empathizers. It's what separates a design that has soul from one that's simply well-realized."

Tools that will help you research users and their challenges:

Field Research: talk to and observe audience members in their jobs and imagine what it would be like to have that job. Discover problems that may not be obvious.

Interviews: speak with both supervisors and staff to understand the issues they face and the characteristics of the people you want to help.

Personas: fictitious person with the collective characteristics and attributes of your audience or a subgroup of your audience (see Learner Personas for Instructional Design)

Empathy Maps: a visual tool to collect what the persona thinks, feels, says and does when faced with the challenge of your focus

Attitude Research: run focus groups to find out what motivates the audience and what demotivates them.

During this phase, you can go ahead with a traditional analysis too. It is likely that the empathy and research you bring to your analysis will change the perspective you bring to your analysis.
DEFINE THE PROBLEM
Research and empathy ultimately help you define the real problem. How often have days of training been developed based on an incorrect understanding of a problem? In Design Thinking, the problem space begins to evolve by understanding the challenges of the target audience.

If you spend time specifically defining a problem, you may discover that a simple solution, like one training course, will not be effective. That's why defining the problem through research-looking at it from many angles and perspectives-can set you on the right track. Without correctly defining a problem, it's nearly impossible to generate a corresponding solution.

When the problem is defined, I recommend writing it as a measurable performance goal. Then you can determine if training is an appropriate solution or partial solution. If so, apply your go-to instructional design method, such as SAM, Action Mapping or ADDIE to tease out the learning objectives that will help people reach the performance goal.

Tools that will help you define the problem:

Root Cause Analysis

"How Might We" statements: statements that redefine the problem from another viewpoint, such as "How might we help staff remember to wash their hands?" or "How might we help sales reps quickly access the information they need?" or "How might we help international students feel comfortable at our school?"

Instructional design analysis practices that lead to measurable performance objectives, such as Action Mapping, Dick & Carey method, etc.

IDEATE
The practice of conceiving ideas, or ideation, is a critical step of Design Thinking. This is where you and ideally, a cross-disciplinary team, generate potential solutions to the performance problem defined during research. Although many companies won't allow for this, getting ideas from audience members is very valuable. Try to generate as many ideas as possible because more ideas means more potential solutions. All ideas are considered and there are no constraints or restrictions.

Tools to help you generate possible solutions include:

Brainstorming with Sticky Notes: Brainstorming involves conceiving lots of ideas while suspending judgement. The technique has its critics. But brainstorming with sticky notes is a different matter. Team members write potential solutions on sticky notes and post them on a board or wall. The process of writing and posting continues until there are no more ideas left. This approach is more anonymous than brainstorming, as everyone is busy writing and posting. At the end, the team organizes the sticky notes into some type of coherent structure and discusses all of the ideas. It's a fun and energetic approach to finding solutions.

Sketching: For many people, sketching short-circuits the judgement side of the brain and helps them tap into a flow of ideas. Sketching is visual brainstorming. Using stick figures and geometric shapes is completely acceptable and gets the job done. Sketching is exploration.

Manipulative Verbs: From the creator of brainstorming, Alex Osborn, comes an exercise using a list of action verbs that are applied to various ideas or problems. This works particularly well when sketching. You can make up a long list of verbs and see what ideas are generated from this approach.

Mind Maps: mind maps, which are radiant drawings showing connected ideas, are good for exploring many aspects to a problem. You can create these alone or with a team.

"How Might We" statements (see above)

PROTOTYPE
A prototype is a preliminary model of an approach. Prototyping involves hands-on exploration. It provides a way to rapidly try out ideas without a large investment of time and money. Think of a prototype as a low-resolution or low-fidelity version of an idea.

In the world of industrial design, a prototype might be constructed from cardboard. For graphic design, a prototype might include a series of sketches. In learning experience design, a prototype could involve storyboarding an interaction. They say it's better to fail early and often with your prototypes because with each failure comes a better understanding of what will work.

Some ways to prototype or to create form include:

Sketching: Using pencil and paper or a digital drawing tool, prototype sketches are more involved than in the previous phase. They might include storyboarding a scenario or visualizing all possible responses to an interaction.

Mock-ups: A mock-up is a simulated version of an idea, that replicates how it will look and behave. These can range from a Styrofoam model to a working user interface.

Small Implementation: If your idea involves something that isn't physical, such as learning with social media or a face-to face instruction, then your prototype would involve building a very small and rough implementation of the approach that would work for a small group of people. Or in the case of face-to-face instruction, create a short pilot program and test it on sample audience members.

TEST
Testing is all about seeing what works in the real world, getting feedback from learners and stakeholders, and refining (or ditching) prototypes. It's important to test your innovative approach with the target population through all of its iterations. You can see how Design Thinking is an iterative process that involves lots of testing and adapting.

Some ways to test include:

Provide learners/users with a task and watch as they perform it

Ask users to think aloud as they work

Prepare a list of questions and discuss the person's reactions to a program

Closing Words

Design Thinking isn't a silver bullet, but it's one model for dealing with the "be creative on demand" requirements in our line of work. And it might provide valuable solutions for the learning problems of the 21st Century. You can join me at a full-day Design Thinking Pre-conference Workshop at Learning Solutions on March 30th.
Would love to hear your thoughts. Comment below.
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How To Use Design Thinking In Learning Experience Design

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In the 21st Century, we need creative approaches to learning design that help us meet the needs of the modern workplace. Furthermore, many of us are required to be creative on demand in our daily work. In light of these concerns, you may find that a Design Thinking model suits your needs.

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SAM (The Successive Approximations Model) for eLearning Development | Allen Interactions | Custom Learning Solutions

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The Successive Approximations Model, SAM, is an agile instructional design model, is used for elearning development for performance-changing learning.

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Lisa Fleming Haile, DSS counselor Appointment phone: 531-622-1416 Phone: 531-622-1416 Fax: 402-403-3313 lrfleminghaile@mccneb.edu Kim Rhen, DSS counselor Appointment phone: 531-622-1415 Phone: 531-622-1415 Fax: 402-403-3313 krhen@mccneb.edu Judy Gouldsmith, Coordinator Phone: 531-622-2854 Fax: 402-403-3313 jgouldsmith@mccneb.edu

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Clark Quinn ( blog, website, Twitter) recently cited some of my thinking about instructional objectives in the instructional technology forum of AECT ( ITFORUM). I wrote a long email to Clark in response, thanking him, and going into more detail. I am reprising my response to Clark here:

In a recent post to this list, Clark Quinn rightly notes that objectives for learners and objectives for instructional designers need not be identical. Indeed, as both Clark and I have previously noted, the probably shouldn't be identical.

Here's the thinking: Objectives are designed to guide behavior. So, how can it be that identically-worded objectives can adequately guide the behavior of two disparate groups of individuals (learners and instructional designers)? It just doesn't make any sense!!

And indeed, Hamilton (1985) found that presenting learners with learning objectives in the way Mager suggested, PRODUCES NO BENEFITS AND MAY BE HARMFUL. Here's what Hamilton wrote:

"[An instructional] objective that generally identifies the information to be learned in the text will produce robust effects. Including other information (per Mager's, 1962, definition) will not significantly help and it may hinder the effects of the objectives"

(Hamilton, 1985, p. 78).

Objectives are not only designed to change behavior for a particular set of individuals, but they are also designed with particular purposes in mind-or they should be.

So, when we talk of instructional objectives, we also need to think about what purpose we have for them.

The quote above from Hamilton is focused on how well learning objectives focus the attention of learners. Interestingly, this is the only area in which extensive research has been done on learning objectives. You might be surprised to know that learning objectives help learners focus on the information targeted by learning objectives, but actually diminish their attention on information in the learning materials not targeted by learning objectives. For example, in two experiments using specific objectives, Rothkopf and Billington (1979) found that when focusing objectives were provided to learners, performance on material related to the objectives improved by 49% and 47% over situations when focusing objectives were not used. However, the material not related to the learning objectives was learned 39% and 33% WORSE than it would have been if no learning objectives were used!

These types of instructional objectives-presented to learners prior to subsequent learning-I call "focusing objectives" because they are designed for the purpose of focusing learner attention on critical learning material. As the Hamilton (1985) review pointed out, it does NOT help to add Mager's criterion information to focusing objectives, because it doesn't help learners focus on the critical material.

NOW, here's an important point (I say to focus your attention): We don't necessarily need to use focusing objectives with learners if we have other means to focus their attention!! We can use a relevant, gripping story. We can do a shout-out (example, "Here's an important point..."). We can have them attempt to answer a relevant scenario-based question and struggle with it. Etcetera.

Here's another important point: Focusing objectives are only one type of objective we might want to utilize. I have a whole list, and I'm sure you can think of more of them.
Instructional Objectives for Learners:

1. Table-of-Contents Objectives
To give learners a big picture sense of what will be taught.

2. Performance Objectives
To let learners know what performance will be expected of them.

3. Motivation Objective
To ensure learners know why they might be motivated to engage the learning or application of the learning.

4. Focusing Objective
To guide learner attention to the most critical information in the learning material.

Instructional Objectives for Developers:

1. Instructional-Design Objective
To guide developers toward the ultimate goal of the learning intervention.

2. Evaluation Objective
To guide developers (and other stakeholders) to the ultimate measurable outcomes that the learning intervention will be measured by.

3. Situation Objectives
To guide developers to the situations that learners must be prepared for.

4. Organization To guide developers to the organizational effects targeted by the instruction.

Questions:
So, here's some questions for you:

Is it okay to use the word understand in an "instructional-design objective"?

How about in a "focusing objective"?

Answer: It's okay to use the word understand in a focusing objective-because it does not hurt the learner in setting them up to focus attention on critical concepts. But it is NOT okay to use the word understand in an instructional-design objective-because the word "understand" doesn't have enough specificity to guide instructional design.

My point in asking these questions is to show that over-simplistic notions about instructional objectives are likely to be harmful to your instructional designs.

As usual, the research helps us see things we wouldn't otherwise have seen.

Hope this helps!!

= Will

Will's Note:
References
Hamilton, R. J. (1985). A framework for the evaluation of the effectiveness of adjunct questions and objectives. Review of Educational Research, 55, 47-85.

Mager, R. (1962). Preparing Instructional Objectives. Palo Alto, CA: Fearon Publishers.

Rothkopf, E. Z., & Billington, M. J. (1979). Goal-guided learning from text: Inferring a descriptive processing model from inspection times and eye movements. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(3), 310-327.

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Rethinking Instructional Objectives " Work-Learning Research

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Clark Quinn (blog, website, Twitter) recently cited some of my thinking about instructional objectives in the instructional technology forum of AECT (ITFORUM). I wrote a long email to Clark in response, thanking him, and going into more detail. I am reprising my response to Clark here: In a recent post to this list, Clark Quinn [...]