You know everything there is to know and when you set out to teach a layperson it’s hard to know where to start and, more importantly, stop!

Information overload is a real problem that impacts a learner’s motivation and their ability to understand, retain, and apply what you’re trying to teach. If confronted with too much, too fast, they’re more likely to become overwhelmed, stop the course, and never return.

The science behind this is covered by the Cognitive Load Theory which basically says we onboard knowledge through our working memory before storing it in our long-term memory. If too much comes in at once, working memory overloads and a lot of information gets lost.

It’s like this: Have you ever watched a cooking show where the chef makes a sauce and is trying to get it into a squeeze bottle so they can make fancy zig zags on the plate? Let’s pretend you’re the chef.

You’ve chopped up your aromatics, added your stock, and reduced everything to a yummy sauce that probably still has a few vegetable chunks in it that aren’t meant to be served.

If you just dump everything from the pan into the bottle’s narrow opening, there’s going to be a lot of spillage and some of those veggies might drop in causing a clog when it’s time to plate.

Now, if you’re careful, you might be able to get a slow, steady pour from the pan to the bottle but that takes longer and spills are still likely.

But, if you bring in a funnel strainer to catch the bits that don’t belong and condense it into something narrow enough for the bottle, you can avoid spills and get a sauce your diners will delight in.

So, if you’re the chef and the diners are your learners, then the learning designer is your strainer.

Give us all the sauce and all the veggies, we’ll sort it out for you. There is no such thing as TMI when you’re getting started with a learning designer. Tell us everything you know, everything you think, and everything you want your ideal learner to be, preferably in a recorded conversation so we can refer back to it as needed. 

Here’s a real-world example: I frequently collaborated with a software SME who, despite her years of experience as a facilitator, was notorious for going down rabbit holes of explanation when she thought there was a cool, or useful feature her audience might use, even if it would come in handy only once in a while.

As I saw it, my job was to be her first student, follow her down the rabbit hole, and build a map as we went so we could go back to examine the details together and sort them into categories:

• What knowledge will your audience use regularly?

• What knowledge will be occasionally useful?

• What knowledge is simply interesting?

Once you’ve got the information sorted, it’s easier to decide what to include this time, and what to save for an advanced lesson.

Now, this doesn’t mean we leave out all the interesting tidbits. But now we can place them strategically within the course so their inclusion makes sense with the lesson as whole, adding some much-needed texture and boosting engagement.

Now, as an expert, he was under no illusions as to the nature of his subject. He wanted to know how he could engage his audience and, more importantly, get them to recommend his course to others.

My best advice: make it into a story.

Now, I didn’t mean he should invent a fairy tale with the learner inserted as protagonist. My recommendation was, and is, to examine the subject, identify a theme, and craft the information into a progression learners can easily follow.

Anyone who’s taken a literary theory course knows the importance of theming. This is not your topic or your learning outcomes. This is the force behind the story that drives the motivations of everyone involved.

One of my favorite books, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, is often assigned the theme of the “ruthless pursuit of knowledge.” This is never directly stated in the text but, as a theme, it’s ingrained throughout the novel.

For my client, who was targeting HR professionals, the theme we settled on was supporting and developing employees. And with a theme to guide our intentions, we were ready to craft the story.

But where to start? For adult learners, the starting point is always “Why” and “How” - why they need to take this course and how it will benefit them. If your learner does not see the value in investing their time, and perhaps money, into your lessons, they will move on quickly.

The Why and How are almost like your sales pitch to the audience. It doesn’t need to be click-baity or promise doom and gloom if your advice isn’t followed. Instead, it should highlight the benefits of your process and, briefly, showcase the experience you bring so they begin to trust you as an expert.

Let’s set aside the amoral science of Frankenstein and instead look at this more banal example of making a peanut butter sandwich. Here’s a sample script:

Hello! Today we’re going to learn how to make a peanut butter sandwich. This lesson is for anyone who wants to be able to create a fast, simple, protein-rich snack that delivers sustainable energy to help them power through their work day. I’m [insert name] a dietician and legume enthusiast who has been making peanut butter sandwiches every day for the last 20 years…

After you’ve established the why, an instructional designer (ID) can coach you through organizing the rest of your information so point B builds on point A and so on, just as a narrative builds in a story. During this planning phase, an ID will also help you define learning outcomes and objectives to ensure the lesson isn’t overshadowed by the narrative.

For our sandwich video, point “A” would be to list materials and ingredients needed (knife, cutting board, bread, peanut butter). Then, point “B” might describe the best knife for the job, point “C” could go into bread choice and, the story’s climax, point “D” would be…peanut butter selection (insert dramatic music sting here).

Once you’ve established the narrative of your course, you can double down on the storytelling by building in anecdotes. Successful courses like those found on LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, and MasterClass, use this technique all the time.

This accomplishes two things. First, it helps forge a connection between instructor and learner (which is difficult to do with asynchronous courses). If a learner likes you, they’re more likely to recommend you to others.

Second, these stories can illustrate the practical application of the techniques being shared - what can go wrong, what can go right, and how to skew results towards the latter.

So, for our sandwich video, the instructor might share an anecdote about someone using a cleaver to spread the peanut butter. This story is bizarre, and therefore interesting, and can be used as a foil to expound on the qualities of the ideal knife.

The best stories are the ones learners can relate to. When we see ourselves reflected in a narrative, we’re that much more willing to stay tuned in to see how the story turns out and learn something along the way.

There are two things that usually go wrong when an expert with no training experience tries to teach. First, because their specialty is so ingrained to who they are, they will leave out small but crucial steps. This is because, to them, those steps have become automatic habits that  are so obvious as to not need mentioning.

Second, when they finally  realize that they’ve left out a step, they try to circle back and fill in the gaps which adds another layer of confusion to the subject they’re trying to explain.

There’s been a fair amount of research into this phenomena known as “The Curse of Knowledge” which this article from LinkedIn sums up nicely. Basically, an expert has reached such a high level of competence that they forget how much effort and training it took to get them there.

Likewise, learners, especially adults who haven’t been in a classroom environment for many years, aren’t always skilled at asking questions to fill in the holes left by these omissions. They realize something doesn’t make sense, but they struggle to find the phrasing to point this out to the expert.

A learning designer can help bridge the gap between expert and novice because we are trained to not just find the gaps in an explanation but to ask questions targeted to draw out the information a beginner needs to fully understand the subject.

We work with experts to create a scaffolding for their course, starting with learning objectives and outcomes (the goals a learner should meet by taking the course) and then helping to organize what the expert wants to share so the onboarding of knowledge progresses in a logical and manageable way, anticipating questions and serving as a proxy for learners.

In a way, we’re like human coin sorters where, instead of quarters and pennies, your coins are your skills and expertise - you dump all of your knowledge into the big funnel at the top and we sort through everything and divide it into categories for easy packaging and delivery.

If you’re still thinking you’ll be fine without the support of a learning designer, let’s look at an example of how the Curse of Knowledge can overwhelm someone not used to sharing what they know with others.

Hopefully you’ve embraced the importance of dental care and have made this a regular part of your daily routine, which would make you an expert tooth brusher. How would you explain this process to someone who’s never held a toothbrush before and is only tangentially aware of this stuff called toothpaste?

Take a moment to think about your answer before reading on.

Did you start with a history of oral care or jump right into technique? Will you cover flossing and mouthwash or stick to the basics?

What type of toothpaste? What type of brush? How long should you brush? Why that long? When should you brush? Why then? Can you cite sources to back up the benefits of oral hygiene?

How much time do you have for this lesson? Are you giving a live presentation? Making a video or podcast? What sort of visuals do you want to provide? Do you want to include a practical exercise? Will you provide supplies or should they have their own?

And that’s just off the top of my head.

When you’re the expert, you should be able to focus on being an expert. A learning designer provides structural and logistical support so that all the nuances of learning and development are addressed. You’ll feel confident that you’re helping others build knowledge and your audience will be satisfied with their learning experience.