Designing Lessons Using Different Learning Strategies: A Guide For Instructional Designers

"However, when it comes to designing actual lessons, these strategies are often overlooked, meaning they might be mentioned but not truly put into practice. This usually happens because learning strategies can seem abstract and difficult to grasp. It is easy to claim a lesson uses "active learning" or "experiential learning," but it is much harder to translate that into actual design choices. As a result, many lessons become heavy on content, light on interaction, and only loosely related to how people learn."

"This poses a real risk. When learning strategies do not match learning goals, even high-quality content can fall short. Learners may finish a course but struggle to apply what they learned. Engagement decreases, retention suffers, and performance does not improve. This is especially common in workplace learning, leading to courses that are meaningless and have no actual impact on skill development or performance."

"Learning strategies in Instructional Design are important because they help learners understand, practice, and use information in real life. But keep in mind that they are different from teaching methods that show how instruction is given, like through lectures or discussions. They are also different from learning preferences, which are about how people like to learn best, such as visually or through hearing. In contrast, learning strategies focus on what works best to achieve learning goals, no matter how the content is presented."

Learning strategies are frequently mentioned in Instructional Design but often omitted in lesson implementation, leading to content-heavy, interaction-light lessons. Mismatched strategies and goals reduce application, engagement, retention, and performance, especially in workplace learning where courses can lack impact on skills. Learning strategies guide how learners understand, practice, and use information, distinct from teaching methods or personal learning preferences. Effective choice of learning strategies shapes content structure, activity selection, feedback, and assessment to support real-world use and skill development. Designing lessons around appropriate strategies increases the likelihood that learners apply and retain what they learn.

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