Project Breakdown: Designing Learning When the Format Is Predetermined

Learning designers often work within fixed formats to maintain consistency across an existing portfolio. Much of an instructional designer's job is navigating those constraints while still the most effective learning experience to improve performance outcomes.

In a recent project, I started with content from a live four-hour workshop and partnered with the subject matter expert (SME) to develop an interactive and much shorter eLearning course. At the start of this project, the SME said something I hear often: "You can just record the workshop and turn that into an on-demand course!" That comment provided an opportunity to clarify what the course needed to accomplish, what it should look like, and why translating a live session into eLearning takes more than hitting "record." Once we were aligned on our process, we focused on creating a learner-centered experience.

Learning Objective

First, we focused on the learner behavior that needed to change. This course focused on SEO, and we wanted learners to be able to identify and prioritize target audience search terms and integrate them into content titles, FAQs, and calls to action to boost search rankings. After we clarified the learning objective, we evaluated what content was essential and what was not essential.

Essential Content and Design Decisions

With this performance objective in mind, I worked with the SME to review the content and determine the most essential knowledge to include in our course. We eliminated lengthy context and decided to keep only the background necessary to begin identifying target audience search terms: a definition of SEO and the layout of a blended search engine results page (SERP). The workshop discussed the anatomy of a SERP and showed how it can vary from search engine to search engine. To manage cognitive load, we decided to focus on Google SERPs to eliminate information overload. We also decided to focus on Google Keyword Planner as a tool for identifying target audience search terms. Since our target audience was junior to mid-level learners from a variety of organizations with access to a variety of technologies, Google keyword planner stood out as the most direct source of real search behavior. It also can be used to build foundational skills without overwhelming learners so that they can then apply these skills to whatever MarTech platforms their companies use. By focusing on Google's SERP and keyword tool, we were able to prioritize building transferable skills through a job aid and aligned opportunities for practice.

Build for Transfer

Working with the SME, we built the course to emphasize learning transfer by focusing on helping learners create an SEO content development plan, which was a job aid that learners would be able to use in their own work setting. The course was structured around five-step process to establish a target persona, define their search terms and research behavior, and create content and blog titles tailored to appear in their search results. This ensures that learners can transfer the process to their own content.

Examples and Practice

As the content guided the learner through each step of the process, we provided examples and immediate opportunities to apply the steps by completing their SEO content development plan. This allowed learners to practice the real behavior we want them to perform back on the job.

Instead of filling the runtime with content, I worked with my SME to provide the learner with enough context to be able to learn how to perform the task, a job aid for them to take away from the course, multiple examples, and safe opportunities for practice. It may take more time than recording a workshop, but thoughtful eLearning instructional design ensures that learners stay engaged and acquire the skills they need to perform their jobs better.