Course design made simple

THERE IS ONE BEST WAY TO CREATE A training course, whether the course is long or short, technical or conceptual. Variations on this method are taught in any number of "train-the-trainer" courses. And all these courses that I have seen are good overall, although they share one shortcoming: They tend

At its simplest and best, the process consists of only three steps.

Step one

The first step is to create the course objectives. To me, after many years in the training business, this is self-evident. But junior trainers frequently want to rush into designing the training before they have clearly defined what they want it to accomplish.

Generally, training objectives fall into a three-tier hierarchy. The first, easiest and broadest is the overall objective of the course. As an example, for a Collection Specialist course, the overall objective might be: "Upon completion of the course, the participant will be able to perform all duties listed on the Collection Specialist job description."

Under that, in a full-blown, technical training course, there will be six to lo "module-sized" objectives. In my example, typical module-level objectives might be: "The participant will be able to list the laws governing collection activity and explain how they affect his/her job," or "The participant will be able to use the computer system to record collection activity and update files."

Under each of these objectives, in turn, are micro-objectives that define every single bit of knowledge or behavior modification contained in the course. Following my earlier examples, micro-objectives might be: "The participant will be able to log on to the system," or "The participant will be able to locate the borrower's account by using the borrower's account number, address or Social Security number." Each module will have scores of micro-objectives.

Three more points about this step: 1) Writing the objectives is the most intellectually demanding step in the process. 2) It seems to take forever, and while it is in process the internal customer (and the trainer, too) often feel like nothing is getting done- 3) Every conceivable stakeholder should sign off on the objectives.

Step two

Step two is to create lectures, exercises, simulations, etc., that actually teach whatever your objectives say you want the participants to learn. If the objectives are as clear, comprehensive and detailed as they should be, this is surprisingly fast and easy.

For example, suppose that you have as an objective "The participant will be able to log on to the system." How long will it take you to write up the relevant procedure and create a few practice exercises? Not long at all.

Step three

The third step is to determine for each micro-objective whether the objective has been achieved. In computer application training, this is easily done by having participants create a sample of whatever they have been learning (a letter or a spreadsheet). Conceptual skills are often measured via role play (interview me or qualify me for a loan). And technical skills often rely on an assessment exercise or test. Finally, it's also a good idea to have the questions on the participant course evaluation mirror the micro-objectives.

And that's it ... the rest is simply details.