Chapter 34 Exercises: Designing Learning Experiences

Exercise 1: Audit a Course or Training for Learning Principles

Time required: 30-45 minutes Materials: A course syllabus, training curriculum, or lesson plan you have access to

Select a course, training program, or curriculum you currently teach, have taught, or are familiar with as a learner. Using the principles from this chapter, audit it:

Identify the two or three most impactful gaps. For each, write one specific change you could make.

Exercise 2: Design an Opening Retrieval Activity

Time required: 20 minutes Materials: Any topic you'll be teaching (or imagine teaching) in the near future

Design a 5-minute opening retrieval activity for the beginning of a class or training session. Requirements: - It should retrieve material from the previous session, not introduce new material - It should require genuine recall (not multiple choice recognition) - It should be completable without notes in 3-5 minutes - It should be low-stakes — no grade, just the learning benefit

Write the 3-5 retrieval questions. Then write a brief debrief: how would you review the answers and correct misconceptions in 3 minutes?

Exercise 3: The Extraneous Load Audit

Time required: 15-20 minutes Materials: One of your existing presentations, slides, or instructional materials

Open one set of slides or instructional materials you've created or used. For each slide or page, ask: - Is there text that competes with spoken explanation? (Split-attention effect) - Are there visual elements that don't contribute to the learning objective? (Seductive details) - Are there concepts introduced together that could be better separated? (Intrinsic load management) - Does the layout require mental reorganization before the content can be processed?

Identify your three worst slides/pages for extraneous load. Redesign them to minimize extraneous load.

Exercise 4: Design a Worked Example → Fading Sequence

Time required: 30 minutes Materials: A domain where you teach or could teach procedural skills

For one procedural skill in your domain (solving a type of problem, following a process, applying a technique), design a four-stage practice sequence:

Stage 1 — Complete worked example: Write out a fully solved example with each step explicitly explained and the principle behind each step labeled.

Stage 2 — Partially worked example: Same problem type, but stop halfway through and ask the learner to complete it.

Stage 3 — Problem with opening hint: Same problem type, with just the first step given. Learner does the rest.

Stage 4 — Independent problem: Same problem type, no scaffolding.

After designing the sequence, write a brief note: What are the signs that a learner is ready to move from Stage 1 to Stage 2? From Stage 2 to Stage 3?

Exercise 5: Redesign an Assessment for Learning

Time required: 20 minutes Materials: An existing test, quiz, or assessment

Select one existing assessment (your own or one you're familiar with) and evaluate it: - What percentage of questions are purely summative (measuring what students know) vs. formative (designed to produce learning)? - Does the assessment format require retrieval or just recognition? - Is feedback provided in a way that explains why answers are right or wrong, or just indicates correct/incorrect? - When is feedback returned — quickly enough to be useful for learning?

Redesign one section of the assessment to be more learning-promoting: require retrieval, add brief explanatory feedback for common errors, and consider whether the format should be changed.

Exercise 6: Design a Post-Training Reinforcement Plan

Time required: 30 minutes Materials: Any training or course you teach or have taught

Design a four-week post-training reinforcement plan using spaced retrieval. For each week: - How will you contact participants? (Email, app notification, scheduled session?) - What type of retrieval activity? (Short recall questions, scenarios, application problems?) - How long should it take? (5-10 minutes maximum for sustained engagement) - What material will it target? (Current week's material, previous week's material, integrated from multiple units?)

Design the first two weeks in detail (specific questions or prompts). Sketch weeks 3 and 4 as a plan.

Exercise 7: The Spiral Curriculum Design

Time required: 45 minutes Materials: A topic outline for a multi-session course or training

For a course or training program you teach or plan to teach, map out three levels of engagement with two of your key concepts:

Level 1 (Introduction): Where does the concept first appear? What's the simplest version of it?

Level 2 (Development): Where could the concept reappear at greater complexity or with greater application demand? (This should be at least 3 sessions after Level 1)

Level 3 (Integration): Where could the concept appear as part of a larger integrated problem, requiring connection to other course concepts? (This should be near the end of the course)

For each level, write one specific activity (question, problem, or scenario) that represents that level of engagement with the concept.

Exercise 8: Write a "Learning Science Rationale" for Your Course

Time required: 30 minutes Materials: Your course or training design

Write a 300-400 word explanation for your students or participants explaining why you've designed the course the way you have — specifically naming the learning science principles behind your design choices.

Example structure: - "You'll notice that every session begins with a retrieval quiz about the previous session. Here's why..." - "You'll notice the weekly assessments are cumulative, not just about this week's material. Here's why..." - "You'll notice the early problems come with worked examples, but the later problems don't. Here's why..."

This exercise has two benefits: it forces you to articulate the design rationale (which often reveals inconsistencies), and when shared with participants, it increases buy-in. Research shows that students who understand why they're doing demanding learning activities tolerate the difficulty better and perform better than students who experience the same activities without explanation.