Design principle 2:
→ Limit drills to crucial need-to-know information
Focus on information that people really need to remember. Use drills to anchor crucial knowledge. Check below to find out how it’s done!
What?
Try to limit your drills to information that really matters. Avoid unnecessary information, include only crucial knowledge that people really need to remember to be able to do their job well or ace an exam. All other information will only be a distraction from the important material. Such a waste!
Why?
In the part about design principle 1, we already mentioned microlearning. It means that you should ideally cut learning material up into small chunks, enabling students or employees to learn more often at short intervals by giving them short drills to do. This will help anchor the learning material.
But there’s another benefit to microlearning. It also forces you to separate inessentials from important information, reducing the learning material to information that learners really have to retain. This helps prevent an overload of the brain’s cognitive capacity. Stick to crucial information that people really need to know, and include as few minor details as possible. Need-to-know only!
How?
On the right, you can see an example of need-to-know information. The six steps of CPR is crucial knowledge. The number of AED’s in the Netherlands is less important. Try to distinguish as much as possible between main and side issues.
10 drill design principles
With the 10 drill design principles, we help you on your way to designing the perfect drills. These tips will help you create the best questions based on educational design principles and ensure an effective learning process and well-anchored knowledge. Click on one of the other 9 design principles for more information and clear examples per design principle.
