How to Deliver Learner Motivation & Mastery at Scale

Three design principles to motivate your learners & drive mastery, even if you can't be there

We need to talk about learner motivation, mastery and MOOCs (aka large scale, low-responsive-support online courses).

Often we assume that there is a mission-critical relationship between the degree of instructor presence (i.e. the quantity of live teaching hours, responsive office hours & tailored feedback) and learner motivation and mastery.

If there’s too little instructor presence, the experience will ultimately fail - right? This is why the MOOC will never work, right? Well, not quite.

While responsive instructor presence and support can be a highly effective tool for driving learner motivation and achievement, it’s not a prerequisite for learner motivation & mastery.

Some of the most successful courses I have designed, reviewed and participated in are large scale “low touch” or even “no touch” experiences - i.e. they have very little (if any) responsive instructor presence.

So, how do we design for learner motivation & mastery, even when we’re teaching hundreds of students and have no responsive instructor presence?

Principle 1: Design & Record Problem Sets

Build a video game, not a library

Most courses deliver facts and information followed by tests. This approach only supports superficial recall and “test-pass” performance.

To properly understand what’s being taught and to be able to translate learning into  skills behaviour, we need to use information to do something - i.e. solve a problem / tackle a challenge.

Great courses are problem spaces (like video games), not information spaces (like libraries):

• The goal is to solve a problem.

• There is a clear win state: it is clear what success looks like.

• They model something, then you have a go and get instant feedback on how you did.

How To Deliver @ Scale:

• Design a problem or challenge with a clear win state, e.g. write a website landing page hook, using practices proven to optimise for page hits.

• Record a short walkthrough of an example of great, narrating & correcting common errors [“I do”].

• Set clear instructions on what the learner needs to do and in what timeframe, then set them off [“You do”].

• Record summative feedback which walks through common errors and key lessons learned. Provide a rubric for learners to self-assess against “great”.

• Ninja tip: enhance motivation by providing a structured communal space, e.g. discussion area, Slack or Discord, for learners to share and compare their outputs for each challenge. Provide a rubric for learners to peer-assess against “great”.

Principle 2: Use Content as a Tool to Solve Problems

Deliver content in the flow of problem-solving, not up front

Most courses deliver information up front, often with little context - e.g. a 12 minute lecture on gravity, followed by an activity.

This content-first makes it challenging for our brains to process it, which in turn significantly increases the likelihood of drop-out - especially when instructor presence is low.

Think about a manual for a board game: you can read it and get a sense of the overall gist, but it’s only once you start to play the game that the manual takes on its meaning and delivers value.

Great courses deliver content as a tool to resolve a problem, not as an end in itself:

• The instructor explains and models a problem or challenge [prompt content].

• The learner tackles the problem.

• Content is delivered in two ways:

  • Just in Time: short-form content delivered in the flow of the problem to apply on the spot with immediate effect, e.g. hints, tips, examples.

  • On Demand: content delivered at the point of need. E.g. learner X realises that in order to solve they problem, they need to understand more about Y concept. In this scenario, learners are motivated to engage with longer form content because the value and purpose of doing so is clear.

How To Deliver @ Scale:

• Design a problem or challenge with a clear win state, e.g. write a website landing page hook, using practices proven to optimise for page hits.

• Record a short walkthrough of an example of great, narrating & correcting common errors [“I do”].

• Set clear instructions on what the learner needs to do and in what timeframe, including [“You do”].

• Break the challenge into sections and provide formative “as you go” recorded feedback or prompt questions, hints, tips or examples, to coach learners through the experience.

• Create a “dig deeper” on-demand resource bank attached to each challenge, structured by known pain points.

• Ninja tip: enhance motivation by inviting learners to add resources they find helpful to the On Demand resource bank in a structured communal space, e.g. discussion area, Slack or Discord.

Principle 3: Position the Instructor as Coach, Not Sage

Focus more on questions & feedback than content & answers

Most courses reproduce the lecture-style, sage on the stage model of teaching.

This content-first, inactive approach runs a high risk of cognitive overload and disengagement, which significantly increases the likelihood of drop-out - especially when the lecture is online.

Great courses position the instructor as a coach, not a sage on the stage:

• The instructor raises meaningful questions for the learner to explore.

• The learners generate solutions, supported by regular, targeted feedback [recorded or responsive] to keep them on track.

• Resolutions are co-created and confirmed by the coach through summative feedback [recorded or responsive] which magnifies and aggregates common errors and key lessons learned.

How To Deliver @ Scale:

• Design a problem or challenge with a clear win state, e.g. write a website landing page hook, using practices proven to optimise for page hits.

• Record a short walkthrough of an example of great, narrating & correcting common errors [“I do”].

• Set clear instructions on what the learner needs to do and in what timeframe, including [“You do”].

• Break the challenge into sections and provide formative “as you go” recorded feedback or prompt questions, hints, tips or examples, to coach learners through the experience.

• Provide summative “end of challenge” recorded feedback which magnifies and aggregates common errors and key lessons learned and celebrates effort.

• Ninja tip: enhance motivation by providing a structured communal space, e.g. discussion area, Slack or Discord, for learners to share, compare & upvote their outputs for each challenge. This helps build connection and supports comparative learning.
  
  

  Happy designing! 👋

  ---

  One more thing…. Do you want to get hands-on and design a course with me? Great!
  
  Check out my course design accelerator, a three week, hands-on adventure where we work together to design or redesign a course of your choice.