Comments on: The 3 Essential Questions Every Learner Wants Answered

By: sheri Padgett

sheri Padgett — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:58:47 +0000

The challeng is to maintain motivation and engagement. I think the use of Pod Quests will hlep, but I also need to find away for my students to better demonstrate knowledge other than essays.

By: Shehri Padgett

Shehri Padgett — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:47:04 +0000

I see the challenge to motivate my students. I feel that PodQuests and more interaction will help keep them involved. I also see the need to find alternative assessments rather than the standard essay for students to demonstrate learning.

By: BN

BN — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:57:29 +0000

Hi,
I have been reading some interesting posts on rapid eLearning, instructional design etc. These have been excellent and very useful.
This is nothing directly or specifically related to this post, but I nevertheless thought it a point worthy to raise in the context of elearning and SMEs.
One real-time scenario and a big challenge that we all face is the readiness of content for eLearning development, more specifically, for Instructional Designers. SMEs have it all in their heads as tacit knowledge, and are often either not aware, or unwilling or have no time to put it down as content that can be very valuable for effective instruction in the elearning mode of delivery.
How do we bridge this gap? Is there a guideline and tips and tricks that we can share, or job aids that we as instructional designers share with the SMEs to simplify this exercise and capture the vast SME knowledge?

Thanks!

By: “The 3 Essential Questions Every Learner Wants Answered” » David Hopkins, Bournemouth University

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:52:59 +0000

[...] http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/the-3-essential-questions-every-learner-wants-answered/

By: SaravanaBabu

SaravanaBabu — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:05:59 +0000

Hi Tom,

You are simply great Tom. You had put it across the whole eLearning in just three steps and its true that if the course centred around these, the course comes great….Thanks a lot for your lovely tips….

By: Annelise Berger

Annelise Berger — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:03:24 +0000

Hi, Tom-

I am a recent blogfan- thanks for the helpful tips! Thanks especially that they are so simple and yet so very practical.

Thanks also to those who mention starting with the end in mind- how does the learner prove what they have learned? However, if I may be so bold as to add my own $0.01 to that- please make certain your assessment really assesses the right things. Otherwise, the learner has only proved that he/she can pass the assessment, not that there has been learning. I taught school for years and must confess to my shame that it took far too long to learn to write valid assessments. Writing good ones is an art- if you can dash ‘em off left and right, I would humbly suggest that you might need to take another look.

Recent case in point- one of my master’s professors graded our papers more strictly on APA-style adherence than content (ironically, in an Adult Learning class). My question is this: does she want to know that I can follow a set of rules, or does she want to know what I’ve learned? Even more important, the limited feedback regarding content left me wondering whether or not I really had picked up the salient points of the class.

Thanks again for the helpful tips.

By: Vijay Shriram

Vijay Shriram — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:46:05 +0000

Tom, the first thing that was taught to me when I started designing courses and writing content, was the strategy – Why What How.
Approach the topic setting the learning context. Explain to the learner “Why” it is important to learn the topic. This could be done using a simple scenario that reasons out the “Why” part.
Once the context is set, it is lot easier to make the learner internalize the concept being taught. That’s the What part.
How – could be the steps to perform (if it is a level 3 objective) or could emphasize how/where this knowledge could be put to use.
Needless to say, a strong cohessive summary will be required at the end that paints the complete picture.
I find this technique very effective irrespective of the subject in discussion.

By: Karyn Romeis

Karyn Romeis — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:51:07 +0000

I am working very hard to ensure that the question “Why am I taking this course” is not one that the user wants answered. In fact, I would rather see a situation in which the moderator can ask the learner “Why are you taking this course?” Because if they haven’t got a reason coming in, it means they’ve been ’sent’, ‘done to’. We need to be looking to empower our users so that they come on this course because they have identified that it addresses an area in which they want development. I would like to see them taking greater ownership of their personal development.

I would also hope that question 2 never arose, because the ‘course’ (hate that word!) didn’t contain screeds of information, but instead pointed to what the learner is supposed to do rather than dumping content on them that they may or may not ever need (and are likely to have forgotten if it turns out they do need the information at some point).

Lastly I would hope that the user didn’t feel the need to jump through a hoop, but instead felt equipped to do his/her job better. I touched on this recently.

By: John McConchie

John McConchie — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:07:23 +0000

Tom, I am not sure I have read a more important blog that this one. After reading it, I threw everything aside from my “day job” and wrote a new introduction to my fledling course on Workplace Duties. The challenge, which I was not meeting head-on, is to explain to managers and human resources professionals why a DUTY is a more powerful tool in the manager’s hands for effecting constructive change than a RIGHT (people are initially much more excited about learning about their rights and entitlements — they mistake the concept of duty with an imposition — its not an easy sell). After re-writing the introduction as you suggested, I felt like taking my own course! (And probably will if I ever complete it). Keep this up please! I learn something important from every one of your blogs.

By: Greg Friese

Greg Friese — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:00:42 +0000

“How would you design your courses to answer these questions?” is a challenge to break-up the current production process. Hundreds of hours of lessons in I have a writing, design, and production process that works for instructional designers, authors, and content distributors.

Posing the three questions from the learners perspective is an interesting challenge to make a new recipe.

Design changes I would make:
- start with the knowledge and skill quiz. If you pass the quiz the content is optional. Fail and it is required.
- invite the students to share their knowledge or experience after the lesson is completed, much as you do with this blog
- challenge the student to create an action plan at the end of the lesson to apply the information. This could potentially be a requirement for completion.