Table of Contents

A Khan Academy example that corporate L&D professionals who work with elearning should take to heart.

Struggling to organize your online content? Perhaps the way Khan Academy does it could help.

Recently I’ve spoken with several colleagues and a few colleagues who are looking for some help in how to organize their online content.

Khan Academy’s Pixar in a Box (online) course is a perfect example of a well-organized bundle of content. Here are four elements from this course that corporate L&D professionals may want to borrow:  

It tells a story

There is a natural progression in this course, beginning with a short introductory video that provides an overview, and it runs through each step of the process involved in making a Pixar film. It’s logical, it flows and it’s compelling. It draws the learners into wanting to know more about the next topic.

Instructional design steps

Not only does the content flow seamlessly from one topic to the next, there is a logical progression within each topic. As an instructional designer, it’s fascinating to see how easily this course follows the anchor -> content -> application -> future use progression that I use when I’m designing a training program.

A quick glance at any of the course topics offers immediate insights as to what you’ll be doing as a learner… and you won’t just be sitting in front of a computer and passively watching videos or clicking through screen after screen of bulleted slides.

Each of the sections begins with a short introduction (often a video), which serves as the “anchor”. Then there is a bit of content, which is obviously the “content” step. Then there are a variety of ways for learners to play with the content they’ve just learned, which is the application piece.

A blend of media

The course designers employ a variety of ways for you to learn how Pixar makes movies. There are short introduction videos, some slick explainer videos, some text with illustrations and a variety of short and interactive practice activities that allow you to try your own animation or graphic design skills.

Even if you don’t have the funding or world-class talent of a media company like Pixar, you can mix up your media with pdfs, PowerPoint slides, handouts, audio recordings, videos or a plethora of other media. Want to create some screen recordings for tutorials? I just reviewed Screencast-O-Matic which is an extremely easy tool to help bolster your online content.

Easy to find key topics

While this course is amazing and impressive in the way it’s organized and in the slick way that Khan Academy and Pixar assembled top notch assets, the thing is that you don’t need to take the whole course from start to finish. If you only needed to learn a little about animation or lighting, you can simply click on those topics on the main menu, get your content, go through the corresponding activities, and you can bring those specific skills into your job without the need to complete the rest of the course.

When it comes to organizing content online, you don’t need the resources of a Khan Academy or Pixar to have an effective online learning strategy.

Spending some time creating a road map for what you’re ultimately looking to accomplish, for the content you need and defining how your users will typically digest the information (will they need entire courses, or access to bite-sized pieces of content?) is essential. Taking a look around at well-designed courses like this one from Khan Academy can offer some valuable insight on how best to organize your own online learning programs.

 

 

Articles Similar to A Khan Academy example that corporate L&D professionals who work with elearning should take to heart.

Nate Martin on Escape Room designs for training
Instructional Design
Brian Washburn

Instructional Design & Escape Room Design

If you’ve ever been to an escape room, you can observe what a group of highly engaged people look like for 60 straight minutes. Is there a way to harness escape room design elements and bring them into the world of corporate training?

elearning developer qa checklist
Elearning
Lindsay Garcia

Elearning QA Checklist

Elearning developers should provide the first, and maybe the most thorough, quality assurance (QA) of an elearning module. Our team uses an elearning QA checklist

better learner certificates
Elearning
Hannah Radant

Better Learner Certificates in Articulate Storyline

Learner certificates often appear at the end of a course to verify and recognize the achievement of a learner. Articulate Storyline has made it very easy to do this by adding a print slide trigger.
Today’s blog post outlines the steps to elevating this print feature to a lightbox slide. It includes how to build it and a downloadable file as well!

adding audio in articulate rise
Elearning
Erin Clarke

5 Ways to Add Audio in Articulate Rise

What is one way to make Articulate Rise more engaging? Audio! Our team took on the challenge of exploring the options, benefits, and limitations in adding audio in Rise.

elearning easter eggs
Elearning
Brian Washburn

Fun with Elearning Design: Hiding Easter Eggs

Planting an Easter Egg (or a dozen Easter Eggs) in your elearning project is next level engagement. Today’s blog post offers a variety of ways you can drop an unexpected, surprise element into your next project.

Subscribe to Get Updates from Endurance Learning

Brian Washburn, Author

Brian Washburn
CEO & Chief Ideas Guy

Enter your information below and we’ll send you the latest updates from our blog. Thanks for following!

activities cookbook

Download the Training Activity Cookbook

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the Endurance Learning Activity Cookbook.

Find Your L&D Career Path

Explore the range of careers to understand what role might be a good fit for your L&D career.

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the What’s Possible in L&D Worksheet.

What's possible in L&D

Let's Talk Training!

Brian Washburn

Brian Washburn
CEO & Chief Ideas Guy

Enter your information below and we’ll get back to you soon.

Download the Feedback Lesson Plan

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the lesson plan as a PDF.

feedback lesson plan
MS Word Job Aid Template

Download the Microsoft Word Job Aid Template

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the Word version of this template.

Download the Free Lesson Plan Template!

Enter your email below and we’ll send you a Word document that you can start using today!

free lesson plan template
training materials checklist

Download the Training Materials Checklist

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the Training Materials Checklist.

Subscribe to Endurance Learning for updates

Get regular updates from the Endurance Learning team.