So, you are looking for a way to turn your training into online learning courses. But the question is: How do you make online learning that can be used for a long time? And, how do you measure its success? Use this 15-step checklist to write a learning strategy.
You’ve searched for ways to make the courses. You even found a learning management system to store and share all of your content.
Should you start making the courses? Should you write the scripts? Or is it a better idea to hire an instructional designer to help you do all of this for you?
The simple answer is yes. You need an instructional designer to make “evergreen, measurable training.” But, you can also start doing it yourself by educating yourself on the process.
In this post, I’m going to show you 15 actionable steps that will generate evergreen, measurable online training.
The Instructional Design Process
To make a course or a program of courses, good instructional designers follow a linear yet iterative approach. Phase one includes developing a learning strategy, which I will show you how to do in the 15 actionable steps referenced in this post.
Phase 1: Discover & Prepare
- analyze the training need, create a learning strategy, map the content
Phase 2: Design & Author
- design how the training will be effective in addressing the performance objectives, write a script, create a prototype
Phase 3: Review & Iterate
- ask for feedback on prototypes, edit, improve, repeat
Phase 4: Deploy & Evaluate
- distribute to a focus group, review & iterate, deploy to the full learning audience, measure success
15-Step Learning Strategy
Successful training organizations use repeatable and scalable processes to help their organizations flourish. That being said, if you have not analyzed your training needs before trying to complete the 15 steps below, then stop here and go read about The Training Needs Analysis Guide. This is a part of a Training Playbook and Toolkit. I have developed.
Let’s get that sweet, sweet, strategy developed!
Name your program or course
Choose a name for your program or your course that is self-explanatory to your learners and the administrators. For example, if you are creating onboarding training, Then use a term like onboarding or orientation in the title. It’s easier to learn from something easy to find and understand.
Write a high-level overview
The overview is a high-level description of company goals. It should include the rationale for creating the training content. An overview may also include a description of past or current training and why it’s not meeting the needs. Remember, the overview should be brief and allow the reader to understand what the program is about in a few sentences.
Define the business need
The business need starts with the name of the company, defines what is needed, and provides the reason or reasons why it’s needed.
Structure: [name of the company], needs to create [name of course/program], [reason training is needed]
Example: Learning Carton needs to create instructional designer (ID) onboarding to increase the number of deliverables it can produce each quarter.
Next, the business need should include a sentence that explains how the course or program will connect to the learning culture.
Structure: [A sentence that explains how the course/program will connect to the learning culture]
Example: ID onboarding will help new hires understand the processes, expectations, and social norms utilized by all employees and contractors. Once you are on board, you are helping fly the ship.
To conclude the business need paragraph, state, or restate the overall purpose of the course or program.
Structure: [State or restate the overall purpose of the course/program]
Example: ID onboarding will enable the company to grow rapidly while maintaining the high level of professionalism and expertise that has defined the company since its inception.
If it’s relevant, your business need could conclude with a statement about the key performance indicators (KPIs).
Structure: Upon completion of [name of course/program], learners will:
[list high-level goals or KPI gains]
Generate performance objectives
Writing performance objectives is a required skill for any training or learning professional. These are an essential part of every learning strategy. Whether you follow the SMART model or one of the many checklists out there, the formula is threefold: performance, conditions, and criterion. Ask yourself these three questions:
- What is the condition under which your employee needs to perform?
- What task, duty, skill, or knowledge demonstration do they need to perform?
- How accurate do they need to be when they are performing it?
Writing Performance Objectives – NYSED.gov
Use this Structure:
Upon completion of [name of course/program], the learner will be able to:
- [verb followed by a task/duty/skill/knowledge/performance]
- [list as needed]
Target your learning personas
A learner persona is a fictional profile of the type of person you are trying to teach or train. It includes their skill and knowledge level, educational background, and their goals.
If you create these personas, then your training and learning development will improve.
You can focus on what specific people need when they need it, and how to help them when they can’t get it the first time.
What’s a Learner Persona? – VIDEO
Building Learner Personas for Instructional Design Effectiveness – Julia Huprich, Ph.D.
Develop a training recommendation
At this stage, you draft the direction of the program, state the level of requirement, and explain how it fits into the overall training plan for the individuals.
Structure:
[state the recommended direction for the course/program in a few sentences]
[state the level of requirement – mandatory/by when/self-directed – evaluated by whom]
[explain how the course/program will account for the 70-20-10 model (article): It holds that individuals obtain 70 percent of their knowledge from job-related experiences, 20 percent from interactions with others, and 10 percent from formal educational events.]
Outline the content
To create an outline, list the type and quantity of the deliverables. Be sure to identify how and when each deliverable will be consumed. This should be high-level. Do not start writing the content at this stage. Instead, give the “table of contents” or “menu” view of the course or program.
Let’s say you are making a 6 module online course. The course also includes a quick reference guide and an assessment that takes place outside of the online course. List these types of deliverables in your content outline exactly where they fit into the learning strategy.
Structure:
[Title of course/program]
[Module #] – [Name of module] (list as many modules as needed)
[Quick reference guide]
[In-person assessment name]
Estimate the training time
The time it takes to complete training includes seat time taking online courses, performance assessments, and the time “off-work” to complete the learning experiences. This is commonly given in one number like “30 minutes”. Beware of this as a creator of training! Just because it takes your learning 30 minutes to complete an online course, you need to plan for the lost time on the job. This is critical data for your C-suite to understand.
Try using the workload estimator to determine how long your training course or the program will take to complete. The estimator is focused on higher education; however, there are helpful tools to aid you in estimating the amount of reading material (elearning or books), hours of video, assessments, live meetings, and other assignments.
Structure:
[Time in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months]
[Estimate of time required off-work or removed from regular duties will be needed]
Build a development plan (how you will make it)
Describe how you plan to “develop”(make) the content. This section of your learning strategy should explain the specific components and techniques you will use in your program or course. The end result should be to engage your audience’s attention to increase retention and application. What does that mean? Well, to make “good” training you need to use a development process that is repeatable and rooted in instructional design. Use the structure below.
Structure:
We recommend an [name of approach] approach to content development utilizing the existing content, interviews with subject matter experts, and our instructional designers. The iterative process moves quickly; therefore, we suggest developing the content in [authoring tool]. As the training framework evolves toward best-in-class, [tool] will enable any member of the training team to quickly update content without the need for a programmer or developer.
Construct actionable and measurable learning objectives
The learning objectives should be written similarly to your performance objectives. Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to create actionable and measurable objectives. The learning objective should provide an action related to the knowledge, skill, and/or behavior related to the content the learner is about to encounter. A performance objective is very similar except it pointedly references the work outcome for the individual and/or the company.
Structure:
Once they have completed the [program/course], the learner will be able to:
-
- [bloom verb] + [how success will be measured] + [when]
List how to integrate with other training
You can make a list or write a short paragraph for this section. Briefly explain how this course or program will align with other training or learning initiatives or materials. For example, if you are upskilling a team, explain how this builds upon the onboarding and succession planning of that team.
Explain how to engage the learner
Elaborate on your already-written development plan by creating a brief description of how the training recommendation will engage the learner. Engagement is more than just attention span. It has to do with motivation. The goal of well-designed learning is always to teach new knowledge, skills, and behaviors or KSB – watch the video. The goal becomes a reality when we create a learning experience that leads to internal motivation. In other words, if our learners become self-motivated from our engaging learning designs, then we have reached our goal! The key to this is being explicit about the value that the specific training holds for the learner. What will it help them do? How will it make things better/easier for them?
Structure:
[Brief description of how the training recommendation will engage the learner:]
The [course/program] will engage the learner by doing the following:
[online courses with interactivity]
[communication plan to disseminate learning and stay in touch]
[how autonomy or learner choice is accounted for]
[how technology is being used]
[microlearning offers convenience]
[movitation-reinforcement-remediation is explained]
Determine the automations
Automation is the greatest power of online learning. Learn everything you can about automation. According to Andriotis, there are seven reasons your employees (and bottom line) need it. (Read the full article for an explanation of the reasons below).
- Automated Recognition Increases Engagement
- Learning Becomes Self-Driven
- More Feedback, More Often
- No More Duplication Of Effort
- Anticipate Your Employees’ Learning Needs
- Save Time And Money
- Set Up Surveys Once
Structure:
[brief explanation of how learnings will be put into practice with automation or triggers so that L & D can spend less time facilitating and more time improving and evolving]
List the assessment criteria
Here you describe the types of assessment you will employ as a part of your learning strategy. At a minimum, explain how you will use knowledge checks to provide coaching and whether or not the course will be scored by completion or mastery. If you are designing a course that will require mastery, 80% or higher on a quiz, then describe it as such. If your goal is to make people aware of new information, then completing the course is all the assessment criteria you need. However, I recommend you explain how the outcome of the course is tied to the pathway of the learner.
Structure:
[explanation of how assessment is handled via knowledge checks, practice simulations, graded assessments, completion v. mastery]
Tell how you will implement the program/course
Finally, explain how the course or program will be implemented. Describe how the learners will access the course or materials. Where is the course located – LMS or in-person or live virtual? Are there printed materials? How will the learner know how to access the content? Will the training be mentioned in any sort of internal communication plan?
Helpful Links
Conclusion
Writing a learning strategy is a lot of work that leads to dynamic learning. It can take several days or weeks to complete. If you use a template and follow this checklist you can reduce the planning time. Now I want to hear from you! How are you going to use this checklist? What do you need more help with that is not covered in this guide?
Join my learning pals
Join my learning pals. Please subscribe to my newsletter to receive free learning resources delivered to your inbox every two weeks.
THE END
