Content Sources and Activity Templates

Content and activity are the yin and yang of training. You need both to produce effective and engaging learning. Content without activity produces sterile knowledge. Activity without content results in wasted effort.

It is not enough if you have both content and activity. These two have to be carefully balanced, aligned, and integrated.

We have access to different sources of training content:

  • Some of them are in a stable and recorded form as in the case of books and video recordings.
  • Other sources of content are in a live and spontaneous form as in the case of lectures from subject-matter experts and discussions with fellow participants.
  • Within recorded and spontaneous categories, content comes in different formats such as job aids, stories, or graphic illustrations.

Over the past several years, we have been exploring different types of learning activities that can be used with different sources of existing content.

The list below presents different content sources and the related types of learning activities. another document titled 20 Types of Training Activities displays brief one-page descriptions of each type of training activities, along with an illustrative sample of the activity.


Recorded (Consistent) Sources


Text

Textra Games combine the effective organization of well-written documents with the motivational impact of games. The participants read a handout and play a game that uses peer pressure and peer support to encourage recall and transfer of what they read.

Audio Recording

Replay Activities enhance the instructional value of audio recordings. In a typical replay activity, participants listen to an audio recording (for example, a podcast) and participate in an exercise that involves interactive evaluation, analysis, synthesis, application, and similar processes.

Video Recording

Double Exposure Activities enhance the instructional value of training videos. In a typical activity, the participants watch a video and then play one or more games that help review and apply the new concepts and skills.

The Internet

4-D Activity is an approach to e-learning that uses four metaphorical doors: library, playground, café, and assessment center. This approach combines the effective organization of online content (in the library) with the motivational impact of web-based games (in the playground), the power of collaborative learning (in the café), and authentic performance tests (in the assessment center).

Real Object

Object Lessons incorporate physical objects and equipment as the main source of training content. Working individually or in teams, the participants explore the components and functions of the object. As a result, they master skills and knowledge associated with effective use of the object.

Environment

Field Studies and Expeditions require participants to explore the environment of another country, culture, or time period. Teams of participants are given a set of objectives to achieve, information to collect, or objects to obtain. In the process of completing these tasks, participants acquire new knowledge about the environment and new skills for relating to the local people.

Live (Spontaneous) Sources

Subject-Matter Expert

Interactive Lectures involve participants in the learning process while providing complete control to the instructor. These activities enable a quick and easy conversion of a passive presentation into an interactive experience. Different types of interactive lectures incorporate built-in quizzes, interspersed tasks, teamwork interludes, and participant control of the presentation.

Coach

Coaching Activities involve an individual coach supporting and improving the performance of a learner by asking questions and by providing guidance and feedback. Most of these activities feature just-in-time and just-enough presentations, demonstrations, and feedback.

Informant

Brain-Pick Activity involves one or more “informants” who share a common background. Participants interview these informants (and with each other) to learn about relevant topics and issues.

Fellow Learners

Structured Sharing is a special type of activity that facilitates mutual learning and teaching among participants. Typical structured sharing activities create a context for a dialogue among participants based on their experiences, knowledge, and opinions.

Diversified Learners

A Mutual Learning Activity involves a heterogeneous group of participants with different knowledge and skills. Working in mixed teams, participants teach and learn from each other until everyone has acquired all the desired knowledge and skills.

Fellow Participants

Debriefing Games are interactive strategies that are used for encouraging reflection and dialogue about an earlier activity or event. These games require processing of a common experience to extract key learning points from it. They generally encourage participants to identify and express emotions, recall events and decisions, share lessons learned, relate insights to other real-world events, speculate on how things could have been different, and plan for future action.

Different Formats

Graphics

Graphics Games involve photographs, paintings, drawings, or cartoons as essential elements. Some graphic games require participants to create these visuals. In others, participants review the graphic, analyze its elements, discover relationships, and discuss their findings. Training objectives for these games are not limited to graphics; they can relate to other types of skills and concepts.

Job Aids

An Application Activity involves supplying participants with copies of a job aid for performing a specific procedure. In a typical application activity, different participants learn different steps and organize themselves into teams to share their step and learn the other steps.

Tables

Table Activities help participants to learn from reviewing tables of information and recalling useful facts, discovering interesting relationships among variables, identifying key trends, and predicting outcomes. Some table activities require participants to organize information from other sources into structured tables.

Tests, Questionnaires, and Other Instruments

Assessment-Based Learning Activities (ABLA) require participants to complete a test, a rating scale, or a questionnaire and receive a score (and other feedback) about their personal competencies, attitudes, or personality traits. In some ABLAs, participants' responses are combined to identify the perceptions, opinions, or characteristics of a team, a workgroup, or an organization. Whenever appropriate, ABLAs encourage interaction and discussion among participants to analyze their responses and to apply the results to future action.

Samples

A Sampling Activity involves a collection of different examples (such as email subject lines, conference session descriptions, lead paragraphs of articles, or names of popular products). Participants analyze the samples, arrange them in different groups and sequences, identify key features, and list quality standards. Later, they apply their discoveries to create new products that meet their needs.

Cases

The Case Method involves a written account of a real or fictional situation surrounding a problem. Participants work individually and in teams to analyze, discuss, and recommend appropriate solutions and to critique each other’s work. In some cases, the facilitator may recount the actual decisions implemented in the real-world situation on which the case was based.

Stories

Interactive Storytelling involves fictional narratives in a variety of forms. Participants may listen to a story and make appropriate decisions at critical junctures. They may also create and share stories that illustrate key concepts, steps, or principles from the instructional content.

Unorganized Information

In an Item-Processing Activity, the participants organize bits of information, ideas, facts, questions, complaints, or suggestions. In some cases, the participants themselves generate these items. Item processing results in deeper understanding and easier recall of different types of information.

20 Types of Training Activities

Here's a set of articles that provide examples of different types of training activities that are most suited to different types of content resources.

Each page identifies a training activity that is associated with a specific type of content source (such as books, videos, subject-matter experts, or coaches). The page also displaysa brief description of a sample training activity.

 

Sample Module Design Outline

Title of your module

How To Tell a Story

Entry Level

In the previous modules, the participants have learned how to create and adapt a 2-minute story that is relevant to their training topic.

Content

  • Checklist: 10 Tips for Telling a Story
  • Story clips from TED talks
  • Video recordings of stories told by different people

Activities

1. Interactive Lecture: Mastering the Checklist

  • Distribute the checklist.
  • Play a video of a person telling story.
  • Ask the participants to apply the checklist items to your story.
  • Discuss the rating of each item from the checklist.

2. Application Activity: Storytelling Exchange

  • Listen to a story told by someone else. Evaluate it using the checklist.
  • Tell your story, applying the guidelines from the checklist.
  • Receive feedback from your partner.

Test

  • Tell a story and have a friend record it.
  • Evaluate the story using the checklist.
  • Submit the video and your evaluation.

Activity + Content

  • The checklist contains key storytelling principles. This is the major content source. It is aligned with the activity as the tool for evaluating different stories.
  • The checklist also provides guidance to the participants as they plan their presentation.

Activity + Content + Test

  • The test activity is similar to the learning activities.
  • The test performance is evaluated by the checklist.

 

 

The Fourth Element

In this module, we emphasized the importance of aligning these three elements in training: content, activities, and tests.

Actually, there is a fourth training element that should be aligned with these three.

Can you figure out what this missing element could be? Why do you think this is an equally important element?

Type your answer in the COMMENTS area below.

Review other people's answers and write positive supportive comments about them.

Another Content Resource

We talked about 20 types of content resources, classified into archived, live, and formatted.

Obviously there are several other content resources such as infographics, mind maps, and comics and mangas.

Can you think of a distinctly different type of content resource? Name your type and provide a brief description.

Type your answer in the COMMENTS area blow.

Review other people’s answers and comment on them.

Rapid Design Assignment 4. Prepare a Module Design Outline

No more imagining the future. Time to get down to the real world.

Review

Study these items in the library:

  • Content Sources and Activity Templates
  • 20 Types of training Activities
  • Sample Module Design Outlines

Prepare

Prepare a Design Outline for one of your modules.

Include these items in your outline:

Title. What is the working title of your training module?

Entry Level. What skills and knowledge do the participants bring to the module? What have they learned in the previous modules?

Content. What different sources present the relevant content?

Activities. What are the different training activities used in the module?

Test. How are the participants’ mastery of the skills and knowledge measured?

Activity + Content. How are these two elements of the training module aligned with each other?

Activity + Content + Test. How is every element of the module connected to everything else?

Submit

Send your outline in an email to thiagi@thiagi.com. Put Rapid Design Assignment 4 as the subject line.

 

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