How starting with the destination in mind will lead to unforgettable learning experiences.
I’ll let you in on a dirty secret within this industry: most “course creators” are actually content creators catfishing unsuspecting experts who have knowledge to sell.
And plenty of unsuspecting experts are paying the price.
Here’s how it usually goes.
A coach, consultant or experienced professional decides to turn years of knowledge into a course. They sit down with someone to map it out and begin by listing everything they could teach:
- Mindset.
- Goal setting.
- Strategy.
- Action planning.
- Frameworks.
- Tools.
- … That story from a client workshop in 2018 [cringe].
They divide the topics into eight modules, record hours of video, add a few worksheets, sprinkle in some quizzes and finish with the customary multiple-choice test to prove that “learning” has occurred.
After plenty of fanfare—and thousands of dollars disappearing into Meta Ads, presumably helping fund Zuckerberg’s growing collection of gold chains—the course launches.
Then, somewhere around Module 4, learners begin disappearing faster than free samples at Costco.
Meet Billy
Billy is an experienced leadership consultant.
After years of advising managers and organisations, he decides to turn his expertise into an online course.
So Billy does what many experts do: he hires a freelance course creator, empties his brain into a camera and uploads the results to Udemy.(The horror!)
Twelve hours of video, three downloadable PDFs, two personality tests and one inspirational TED Talk later, Billy has a course.
Or at least something that looks like one.
What Billy doesn’t realise is that learners don’t simply need access to his knowledge. They need a pathway that helps them develop their own capability.
Instead of designing a learning journey, Billy has created a Netflix series about leadership.
Informative? Probably. Transformative? Not particularly.
The problem isn’t that Billy lacks useful knowledge. He has decades of it.
The problem is that the course was designed around what Billy wanted to say rather than what his learners needed to become capable of doing. Instead of creating a clear pathway from inexperienced manager to confident leader, Billy created a digital filing cabinet filled with leadership information. Learners leave with pages of notes, a polished Canva certificate and the vague feeling that they should probably be better leaders by now.
This isn’t only a Billy problem.
Much of the online course industry is built on the assumption that expertise automatically translates into effective learning.
It doesn’t.
Knowing something deeply and helping someone else learn to apply it are two different skills. A strong program requires more than valuable content. It requires intentional decisions about the learner’s destination, the evidence that will demonstrate progress and the experiences that will help them get there.
The Solution Starts at the End
Since I enjoy getting nerdy about learning design—and you probably have a business to run—let me introduce you to one of the field’s most useful ideas: backward design.
The concept was popularised by education researchers Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe in their 1998 book Understanding by Design.
The basic principle is straightforward:
Don’t begin by deciding what you want to teach. Begin by deciding what learners need to be able to do.
Traditional course planning often looks like this:
- Choose some topics.
- Create the content.
- Add activities and assessments afterwards.
Backward design reverses that sequence.
You first define the destination. Then you decide what evidence would prove that learners have reached it. Only after that do you create the lessons, activities and resources that will help them succeed.
Think of it like Back to the Future.
Marty McFly doesn’t jump into the DeLorean and vaguely hope he arrives somewhere useful. He knows the destination before he reaches 88 miles per hour.
Backward design works the same way.
You establish where the learner needs to go, then design the journey that will get them there.
Except instead of a flux capacitor, you have learning outcomes.
Less exciting, perhaps—but considerably more useful when you’re building a program people are paying to complete.
So, get your flux capacitors ready. We’re travelling through the three stages of backward design.
Stage 1: Identify the Desired Result
The Destination
The first step is to define what learners should be able to do by the end of the program.
Not what they should have watched.
Not what information you will have covered.
Not what they should vaguely “understand.”
What should they be able to do that they cannot do confidently now?
Learning designers often distinguish between two types of knowledge:
- Declarative knowledge: being able to explain or recall something.
- Functioning knowledge: being able to use that knowledge in practice.
Declarative knowledge might mean explaining the principles of good leadership.
Functioning knowledge means running a difficult performance conversation with an employee.
Both have value, but most adult learners enrol in professional programs because they want to improve what they can do in the real world.
They want to make a better decision, solve a problem, create something useful, improve their performance or achieve a meaningful result.
That is why strong learning outcomes use clear, observable action verbs.
For example:
- Design a marketing campaign.
- Analyse a business case.
- Construct a project plan.
- Evaluate competing options.
- Apply a framework to a real client scenario.
- Conduct a difficult performance conversation.
- Develop a 90-day implementation plan.
Notice that each outcome describes something the learner can actually demonstrate.
Compare those with vague outcomes such as:
- Know
- Understand
- Comprehend
- Learn
- Appreciate
These are the learning equivalent of “good vibes only.”
Pleasant in theory. Almost impossible to observe or measure.
You cannot meaningfully design a learning experience around the goal of helping someone “understand leadership.”
But you can design one around helping them diagnose a team problem, facilitate a feedback conversation or create a leadership development plan.
Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence
The Proof
Once you know what learners should be able to do, the next question is:
What could they produce or demonstrate that would prove they can do it?
This is where many programs fall apart.
The intended outcome might involve applying a complex skill, yet the assessment asks learners to complete a ten-question quiz. A quiz may show that someone remembers a definition. It does not necessarily show that they can use the idea when it matters.
If the outcome is to design a marketing campaign, the learner should probably design one. If the outcome is to lead a difficult conversation, they should practise or demonstrate that conversation. If the outcome is to build a business strategy, they should leave with an actual strategy—not merely a worksheet containing five reflection questions about strategy.
A useful prompt is:
What would a successful participant create, decide or demonstrate that proves they have achieved the outcome?
The answer might be:
- A strategic plan
- A client proposal
- A portfolio piece
- A facilitated conversation
- A prototype
- A presentation
- A campaign
- A real-world action plan
The goal is not to test how accurately learners can repeat your content.
It is to see whether they can put the learning to work.
Stage 3: Plan the Learning Experiences
The Journey
Only now do you begin planning the actual content. This includes the lessons, explanations, demonstrations, activities, discussions, templates, coaching sessions and opportunities for practice. The difference is that every element now has a purpose.
Instead of asking:
“What else could I teach in this module?”
You ask:
“What does the learner need to practise, experience or understand to successfully complete the final task?”
If learners need to create a strategic plan, they may first need to:
- Diagnose their current position.
- Analyse relevant evidence.
- Compare strategic options.
- Make and justify a decision.
- Receive feedback on an early draft.
- Refine the final plan.
Each activity prepares them for the next one.
The program becomes a deliberately sequenced journey rather than a collection of interesting information.
As educaiton theorists Biggs and Tang put it:
“Say what you want students to be able to do, teach them to do it, and then see if they can, in fact, do it.”
That is backward design in one sentence.
What Does This Mean for Your Program?
Before planning your modules, recording your videos or choosing an online platform, answer one question:
What will my learner be able to do at the end of this program that they cannot do now?
Write the answer as one clear sentence.
Then work backwards:
What would prove they can do it?
What final task, deliverable or performance would demonstrate the result?
What capabilities do they need to develop?
Break the final result into the smaller skills, decisions and behaviours required to achieve it.
What experiences will help them develop those capabilities?
Choose the lessons, activities, examples, feedback and practice opportunities that directly support the outcome.
That is the real secret.
Not more modules or longer videos. Definitely not a larger content library.
And certainly not another multiple-choice quiz asking learners to remember which framework appeared on Slide 47. A valuable program gives people a clear pathway from where they are now to what they want to become capable of doing.
Your expertise provides the raw material then thoughtful learning design turns it into an experience that creates progress.