Part of the British Institute for Learning & Development event series, Administrate CEO John Peebles was asked to speak on some of the fundamentals of great course design.

1. (Some) Fundamentals
of Great Course Design

2. Why Do We Care About Design?

3. Delivering Great Products
Courses is Hard

4. Exercise is Hard
Playing the Violin is Hard
2 Kinds of Hard

5. A Great Course Can
Change The World

6. John Peebles
CEO of Administrate
www.getadministrate.com
@johnpeebles
jpp@getadministrate.com

7. I’m Just a Guy Talking

8. Motorcycle racing and
the 80/20 rule

9. “Life is amazing: and the
teacher had better prepare
himself to be a medium for
that amazement.”
-Edward Blishen

10. “Most of us end up with no
more than five or six people
who remember us. Teachers
have thousands of people who
remember them for the rest of
their lives.”
-Edward Blishen

11. Teachers / Instructors
Transcend Courses

12. Get the
Best Teachers
Our Advice,
Based on Our
Experience,
On What Matters
Most :

13. A Course Should
Solve a Problem

14. The Fundamentals
1. Context.
2. Definition of Goals and Objectives.
3. Assessment.
4. Evaluation.

15. Also Important
Instructional Style
And Strategy Delivery Mechanism

16. We often lack context.
Context must exist for
deeper understanding.
Context can be created
(but takes time).
Teachers and Students both
need context.
Context

17. Goal: Be able to use Microsoft Word.
Objective: Create a document
including columns.
Objective: Format a document
according to specific directions
about font, spacing, etc.
Goals
And
Objectives:

18. When Writing
We Call This Outlining

19. A point of learning for the
student and teacher.
Transparency and
accountability helps.
Troubleshooting assessments:
“Everyone was driving
the wrong way”.
Incorporate some
alternative assessments.
Assessment

20. Evaluate
Most people ignore forms, unless things are
REALLY GOOD or REALLY BAD.
Consider a 1 question “Gate Keeper” evaluation.

21. Pro Tip
In Software: Bring your product up to a releasable
state as often as possible.
In Education: Bring your class up to testable state
as often as possible. Review!

22. Pro Tip
Always tell stories all the time.
Build these in when designing your course.

23. Delivery
What does the future hold?

24. 1. Better Content.
2. Less Teaching.
3. More techno-faff.
4. More connections.
5. Shorter education cycles.
6. Decoupling of courses
and assessments.
7. More self service by students.
8. Watch for the “developing
economy leapfrog”.
Education
Delivery
Trends

25. Opportunity

26. “We don’t know what
we don’t know.”
-Donald Rumsfeld

27. Keep Learning

28. Enjoyed This? Share It!
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