Forum Discussion
Learning Objectives for "Informational" Courses
I had a conversation about this very thing the other day and a friend shared a video that challenges some conventional wisdom on learning objectives. It differentiates different objectives for different audiences (designers, sponsors, learners, etc.) and whether or not there's benefit to putting the "...after completing this course you will be able to..." wording in courses. I liked the pragmatic perspective. See what you think Who Are Objectives For?
I think info dumps dumps are a fact of life for developers. I like SydneyClifton​ 's positive take on how to make the most of them! 😊
Unless the employee might lead a tour of a facility or do a presentation that requires discussing the organization, there is no "actionable" purpose for a course about the organization's history. As you already said, it "probably should not be a course."
- When SMEs or stakeholders want to insert "Did you know?" info into a course, I like to bring up cognitive-load theory. Extraneous info requires extra effort by the brain—which leaves less brain power for learning the actionable content.
But, yeah, sometimes an info-dump course is requested/required. If so, I think the learning objectives should reflect that the information is only "nice to know" (or, more accurately, just nice to sort of be aware of). Something like, "the learner will recognize the founding date of the organization."
No matter how you write the LOs for that type of course (or any course), I suggest you don't show them to the learner. Frankly, I think most learners immediately click Next (if they can) as soon as they see "At the end of this course, you will be able to..."
Instead, present them with WIIFM (what's in it for me?). Help them work more efficiently? Help them follow procedures to avoid getting into trouble? Or just let them know they can be proud to be part of such a wonderful org/company?
My guess is that the actual goal of that kind info-dump course is to somehow motivate the employee by showing how great the org/company is. So perhaps just let them know that you want to share the org's story with them, because now they are part of the story.