Before opening a course editor, try writing one sentence: after this learning, someone should be able to do what? Make the answer specific enough that a colleague could recognise it in a real piece of work. That sentence gives the course a practical purpose and gives its author a useful way to decide what belongs.

Existing slides, policies and recorded presentations can be useful resources. Start with the practical outcome, though, and you can judge which parts will help someone reach it. You may also discover that the missing support is a clearer process or an opportunity to practise.

Choose a task people recognise

Imagine a team that wants to improve project handovers. A broad brief might be to create a course on effective communication. A more useful brief would ask people to prepare a handover that allows a colleague to understand the current position and continue the work without avoidable uncertainty.

That gives the author something concrete to explore with the team. What must a handover contain? Where do people currently need clarification? Which decisions can the incoming colleague make, and which need referring back? The answers should shape the learning before anyone chooses a video or writes a quiz.

This follows the broad approach in Wiggins and McTighe’s Understanding by Design framework: decide the intended learning, identify evidence of understanding, then plan the teaching. Applying it to workplace learning starts with the task people will encounter. [1]

Decide what useful evidence looks like

For this handover course, ask learners to prepare a short handover from a fictional project brief. Include an unresolved issue so they have to exercise judgement. A colleague can then explain what they would do next and identify anything they still need to know.

Agree the review criteria in advance and share them with learners. You might look for clear ownership of outstanding work and an explanation of important decisions. A quiz can check knowledge of the process, while this practical activity gives you something closer to the task itself.

Give each piece of content a job

Once the task and evidence are clear, review the material you already have. Keep the explanation that helps someone make a decision. Include a worked example with a brief account of why it works. Link to detailed reference material where people can find it when they need it.

Resist adding every related policy to the required course. Explain which documents must be read and which provide further detail. An author should be able to say how each required section prepares the learner for the agreed task. If that connection is difficult to explain, reconsider its place.

Give the content an owner and a review point as well. In the handover example, someone should update the course when the project process changes, so people are not learning an approach that their colleagues no longer use.

Try the course with its intended learners

Before assigning it widely, ask a small group to work through the course and attempt the practical task. Notice where they need help. Ask whether the instructions make sense, whether the example resembles their work and whether the time estimate is realistic.

Use that feedback to revise the course. Then agree where learners will have a suitable opportunity to use the approach and who can help them afterwards. The course brief is ready when you can explain both the work it prepares someone to do and the support available when they try.

Source [1] Understanding by Design Framework — Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins, ASCD (2012)

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