Understand the design of learning and development solutions.

About this package

This package examines how learning and development solutions can be designed around learner needs and workplace priorities. It connects three design decisions: which learning methods to use, how to help employees apply their learning, and how to establish whether the intended results have been achieved. The emphasis is on distinguishing an engaging learning experience from one that also supports changes in workplace performance, skills or behaviour. Learners compare face-to-face, technology-based and mobile learning alongside coaching, mentoring, social learning, individual and group activities, and on-the-job learning. The package explains how these methods can complement one another rather than simply add variety. Blended learning, bite-size learning and flipped classrooms are considered in relation to sequencing, preparation, practice and discussion. Learners consider how to justify a blend against the workplace need, available time, resources and working conditions. Workplace transfer is treated as something to plan during design, not leave to chance after delivery. The content distinguishes learning for its own sake from performance-focused learning and explores action plans, programme-linked work-based projects, peer review, action-learning sets, communities of practice and follow-up coaching or assessment. It also examines line managers’ contributions to programme design and delivery, coaching, performance review and ongoing support. Resource curation, informal team learning and action-plan reviews show how everyday management can sustain application as work changes. The final focus is evaluation and impact assessment. Learners compare Kirkpatrick, Katzell, Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Method and the Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model, separating evidence of engagement and achievement from evidence of application and workplace results. The package explains why intended outcomes, baseline measures, success indicators, evidence-gathering responsibilities and review timings should be agreed at the design stage. It also considers evaluation’s role in improvement, accountability, fairness and future programme decisions, alongside the risks of missing baseline evidence, unclear expectations and unsupported claims of impact.

Who it’s for

This package suits learning and development practitioners, people professionals and learners studying workplace learning design. It is also relevant to managers who contribute to learning programmes and support employees’ application of new skills.

What’s covered

1. Comparing core learning methods

   Compare face-to-face and technology-based learning, coaching, mentoring, and individual and group activities. Consider what each contributes, what it requires and its limitations in different workplace contexts.

2. Combining methods into a blended solution

   Explore participative, social, mobile and on-the-job learning, alongside bite-size learning and flipped classrooms. Consider how to sequence a blend around shared objectives, learner needs, time, resources and working conditions.

3. Models of learning transfer and workplace results

   Examine Kirkpatrick, Katzell, Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Method and the Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model. Distinguish evidence that learning has occurred from evidence that employees apply it and achieve workplace results.

4. Designing practical learning transfer support

   Distinguish learning for its own sake from learning intended to change workplace performance. Explore action planning, work-based projects, peer review, action-learning sets, communities of practice and follow-up coaching or assessment.

5. Line managers as contributors and transfer coaches

   Examine how line managers connect learning with operational standards through programme contributions, workplace examples and coaching. Consider their role in reviewing performance and supporting consistent application after learning.

6. Sustaining transfer through everyday management

   Explore how managers select and maintain useful workplace resources, encourage informal learning and review action plans. Consider how these practices help employees continue applying learning as tasks and priorities change.

7. Purposes of learning evaluation

   Examine how evaluation supports programme improvement, accountability for resources, fair access to benefits and decisions about future provision. Consider why each purpose requires appropriate evidence.

8. Planning evaluation during learning design

   Explore how to turn intended workplace changes into explicit success criteria. Plan baseline measures, success indicators, evidence-gathering methods, responsibilities and review timings before delivery.

9. Risks of retrospective evaluation

   Assess the consequences of deciding how to evaluate after learning has begun or finished. Examine missing baseline evidence, unclear outcomes and the risk of making claims that the available evidence cannot support.

Learning outcomes

By completing this package, learners can:

• Compare face-to-face, technology-based, mobile-based, coaching, mentoring, social and on-the-job learning methods, including individual and group activities, in relation to learner needs and workplace contexts.
• Explain how blended learning, bite-size learning and flipped classrooms can combine learning methods to promote engagement and support learning objectives.
• Design a sequenced blended learning solution for a specified workplace need, justifying the combination of methods, time requirements, resource implications and fit with workplace factors.
• Explain the distinction between learning for its own sake and learning that transfers to the workplace to improve performance, skills or behaviour.
• Compare the approaches of Kirkpatrick, Katzell, Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Method and the Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model (LTEM) to evaluating learning, transfer and workplace impact.
• Develop a learning transfer plan incorporating action planning, programme-linked work-based projects, peer review, action-learning sets, communities of practice and follow-up coaching or assessment.
• Assess the contribution of line managers to learning transfer through programme design and delivery, post-programme coaching, performance review, resource curation, informal learning and action-plan reviews.
• Explain the purposes of learning evaluation and impact assessment, distinguishing evidence of learner engagement and achievement from evidence of changes in workplace performance.
• Develop an evaluation plan at the learning design stage that specifies intended workplace outcomes, baseline measures, success indicators, evidence-gathering methods, responsibilities and review timings.
• Assess the importance of including evaluation and impact assessment at the design stage, weighing the benefits for programme improvement and accountability against the risks of unclear outcomes, missing baseline evidence and unsupported claims of impact.

Frequently asked questions

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