A quick look at why this course is built the way it is — the problem it solves, the theory behind it, what it’s working toward, and how learning gets assessed.
Purpose
Designed for Doing helps people who already know their subject — but not necessarily instructional design — build workplace training that actually works. Rather than getting hung up on ID terminology, the course focuses on practical application: learners move from analyzing a real performance problem through designing, building, assessing, and evaluating a solution.
The Problem This Course Solves
Organizations often hand training development to whoever knows the subject best — a reasonable instinct, but subject-matter expertise and instructional design expertise aren’t the same skill. Without some grounding in the latter, well-intentioned training can end up long on information and short on real performance change. Research backs this up: SMEs who get even a light introduction to ID concepts tend to produce stronger training and communicate better with instructional design professionals (Leslie & Lizardo, 2023). This course also pushes back gently on the assumption that every workplace problem needs training — learners start by asking whether training is even the right answer before designing one (Giacumo & Breman, 2021).
Guiding Theory & Design Approach
The backbone of this course is constructivist learning theory — the idea that people build understanding through experience and reflection, not by passively receiving information (Savery & Duffy, 2001). In practice, that means every module anchors learning in a real workplace problem, hands learners actual design decisions instead of one “correct” path, and asks them to justify and reflect on those choices (Cacciamani et al., 2012). Design Thinking’s iterative mindset shapes things too — understand, define, generate options, prototype, test, revise — rather than treating instructional design as a straight line (Bailey et al., 2019). The Training Design Blueprint learners build throughout is the throughline for all of it: one evolving project, not a one-and-done assignment.
Course Goals & Objectives
Goal 1: Analyze. Examine a workplace performance problem, learner needs, and organizational context to determine whether training is even the right response.
Goal 2: Design. Build an aligned learning solution grounded in measurable objectives, evidence of learning, and sound instructional strategy.
Goal 3: Develop. Create a representative prototype — storyboard and all — that puts strategy into practice, applying basic accessibility and visual design principles along the way.
Goal 4: Assess & Evaluate. Design ways to measure whether learning — and workplace performance — actually improved.
Goal 5: Reflect & Revise. Use evidence, feedback, and theory to justify design decisions and revise the proposed solution.
How Learning Gets Assessed
Assessment here is about applying instructional design skills, not memorizing terms. Since the course is self-paced and asynchronous, learners get feedback through scenario-based activities with real explanatory feedback (not just correct/incorrect), guided self-assessment against clear criteria, and optional peer feedback.
The real assessment is the Training Design Blueprint — a cumulative, authentic project built module by module, not a single final test (Fergusson et al., 2022). Because real design problems rarely have one right answer, learners evaluate their own work against design criteria and revise it, capped off with a final self-assessment and instructor review using that same rubric.
See the full References for every source cited in this course.