learning-design

Learning Design — Learning Design Methodology

Expert knowledge used by the curriculum-designer and content-writer agents when designing curricula and lesson plans.

Why Learning Design Theory Matters

"I'll teach you this" and "I'll design this so you can learn it" are fundamentally different. Learning design is a systematic educational structuring technique grounded in cognitive science.

Bloom's Taxonomy — Practical Application

Six Cognitive Levels

Level	Verbs	Learning Objective Example	Assessment Method
1. Remember	Define, list, identify	"List the 4 HTTP methods"	Multiple choice, fill-in-blank
2. Understand	Explain, compare, summarize	"Explain the difference between REST and GraphQL"	Written response, comparison table
3. Apply	Use, implement, execute	"Write a Flask route"	Coding lab
4. Analyze	Classify, distinguish, examine	"Identify design issues in a given API"	Code review
5. Evaluate	Judge, critique, recommend	"Argue which of two architectures is more appropriate"	Essay, discussion
6. Create	Design, develop, build	"Design and implement your own REST API"	Project

Per-Lesson Bloom's Level Distribution

Course Phase	Recommended Bloom's Levels	Proportion
Early (Lessons 1-3)	1-2 (Remember, Understand)	60%
Middle (Lessons 4-7)	3-4 (Apply, Analyze)	60%
Late (Lessons 8-10)	4-6 (Analyze, Evaluate, Create)	70%

Backward Design (Understanding by Design)

UbD Three Stages

Step 1: Determine desired results -> "What should learners ultimately be able to do?"
Step 2: Determine assessment evidence -> "What tasks/assessments prove they can do it?"
Step 3: Plan learning experiences -> "What must they learn to pass those assessments?"

Practical Application

[Wrong order]
"Let's teach Python variables" -> "How do we assess?" -> "Make some test questions"

[Correct order (Backward)]
"Learners should be able to build a simple calculator program"
-> "They submit a working calculator program"
-> "Therefore they need to learn variables, I/O, conditionals, and functions"

Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

Design each lesson's structure using these nine events:

#	Event	Purpose	Practical Example (Programming Education)
1	Gain Attention	Motivate learning	"With just 3 lines of code, you can create a web server"
2	State Objectives	Set expectations	"By the end of this lesson, you will be able to..."
3	Stimulate Prior Knowledge	Connect to existing knowledge	"Remember the variables we covered last lesson?"
4	Present Content	Deliver new material	Lecture, demo, code walkthrough
5	Provide Guidance	Support understanding	Diagrams, analogies, step-by-step breakdowns
6	Elicit Performance	Hands-on practice	Guided lab, follow-along exercise
7	Provide Feedback	Confirm performance	Automated tests, code review, answer comparison
8	Assess Performance	Independent task	Quiz, mini project
9	Enhance Retention & Transfer	Apply in other contexts	"How would you use this concept in a real project?"

Cognitive Load Theory

Three Types of Cognitive Load

Type	Description	Management Strategy
Intrinsic	Inherent complexity of the learning content	Chunking, prerequisite verification
Extraneous	Unnecessary load from poor design	Remove irrelevant information, improve structure
Germane	Cognitive effort contributing to learning	The goal is to maximize this

Cognitive Load Reduction Strategies

1. Chunking Principle: No more than 3 new concepts per lesson
2. Redundancy Principle: Don't present identical information in text + audio simultaneously (choose one)
3. Spatial Contiguity Principle: Place explanations near related diagrams
4. Pre-training Principle: Learn component parts before the complex process
5. Progressive Complexity: Start with simplified versions, gradually add complexity

Learning Path Design Patterns

Linear Path

L1 -> L2 -> L3 -> L4 -> Project

• Each lesson is a prerequisite for the next
• Best for: Cumulative skills (programming, mathematics)

Hub and Spoke

      L2
     /
L1 -> L3 -> Project
     \
      L4

• After L1, L2/L3/L4 can be taken in any order
• Best for: Independent topics (design tools, marketing channels)

Spiral

L1(basics) -> L2(basics) -> L3(basics) -> ...
L4(advanced) -> L5(advanced) -> L6(advanced) -> ...
^ Same topics revisited at deeper levels

• Revisit the same concepts with increasing depth
• Best for: Complex systems (database design, architecture)

Learning Objective Writing Formula: ABCD

A (Audience): The learner
B (Behavior): will be able to [action verb]
C (Condition): given [condition]
D (Degree): to [success criterion]

Example: "Beginner learners (A) will be able to implement a CRUD API with Flask (B),
          referencing the official documentation (C), completing 4 endpoints within 30 minutes (D)"