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Some very light notes on course design strategy

Some very light notes on course design strategy…

• Design for Breaks every 90-120 minutes
o The brain needs a little time to relax and digest. And the body appreciates it as well.
o If you follow this guideline, in an 8h day, with 1h for lunch, that leaves, oh, 4, maybe 5 ‘chunks’ of 90 minutes or so.

• Modules / Topics within each ‘chunk’
o Figure out the sequencing of modules or topics, and rough their arrangement within the ‘chunks’ between breaks. Think of this as storyboarding the movie that is the workshop. This is the content you want to cover

• Structure Modules
o One good way of leveraging brain science for accelerated learning is to use the “4Cs” taught within Training from the Back of the Room (TBR):
Connections > Content > Concrete Practice > Closure / Celebration
http://bowperson.com/2016/09/the-4cs-of-brain-based-learning-agile-style-by-christine-brautigam/
o In each module, attempt to connect the students to the topic. TBR has some techniques and ideas for how to do this
o For Content, think of teaching for only about 10 minutes
o Use Concrete Practice (an activity or Exercise) to further learning through Kinesthetic styles (vs. Content, Content and more Content)
Design of the Concrete Practice AND the debrief of an exercise is the magic element in a really great training
This goes WAY beyond a team building activity
Concrete practice can really engage students in the materials AND help them get the ‘aha’ experience
o Closure / Celebration
a real simple way is just to have students log what they learned. Again, TBR has a good selection of ideas to do closure. One of my favorites, on the fly is a ‘speed round’: how many of the things just learned can the class identify by standing and verbally stating within a tight timebox (like 1 minute)
Here again, debrief from a trainer to fill in gaps can really make or break an exercise

I’m a Trainer of TBR, so if the 4Cs and the ideas taught there for activities interest you, I’m happy to give ideas as well as pointers to other articles on the concepts

Bernie Maloney
m: +1.650.492.5977 | linkedin.com/in/berniemaloney