Unlocking Learner Potential

We undertook an assessment of learner comments and pre-/post question data for a number of our online activities and found that knowledge/practice gaps were not being completely addressed. A secondary analysis using pivot tables showed this was occurring among the target audience, as well as learners in other specialties and professions.

Possible explanations included a) content that did not adequately address the gap, b) suboptimal application of content to practice, and c) poor alignment of the pre-/post-activity questions with the content. Key factors were found to be that the activities included too much information, ie, data overload, and that the key concepts (which aligned with the gaps/learning objectives) were not clearly conveyed to learners.

Educational Strategy:

We implemented specific planning and educational design changes to a case-based activity format. We then compared aggregate change in competence data for five activities that incorporated these changes to five activities that did not.

The changes we implemented included:
1. Addition of two new items to our internal planning document:

• A list of key educational concepts intended by the activity, and


• The potential practice change expected after participating

2. The activity design was modified:

• Key educational concepts were called out or highlighted to learners within the activity. Callouts were positioned within the content as it was being presented (e.g., on the slide or expressly stated by the speaker)


• A summary slide at the end of each content chapter was modified to focus on key educational concepts, and not provide a summary review


• We adjusted the positioning pre/post questions to immediately bookend the relevant content. In the prior design, pre/post questions appeared at the beginning and end of a content module.