CT Instructional Design & Curriculum Development 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A trainer notices learners consistently struggle with the same concept midway through the course. What is the best immediate design response?
- Increase the pace to cover the remaining content
- Remove the concept from the curriculum
- Insert a formative assessment and remediation activity at that point (Correct answer)
- Move the concept to an optional appendix
Correct answer: Insert a formative assessment and remediation activity at that point
A formative assessment at the trouble spot identifies individual gaps and allows remediation activities to address them before learners advance to dependent content.
Question 2: Which of the following best illustrates the '72-hour rule' related to learning retention?
- Learners should review new material within 72 hours to prevent significant forgetting (Correct answer)
- Training sessions should never exceed 72 hours total duration
- Learners need 72 hours of rest between intense training days
- Assessments must be delivered within 72 hours of course completion
Correct answer: Learners should review new material within 72 hours to prevent significant forgetting
Research on the forgetting curve shows that reviewing material within 72 hours of initial learning dramatically slows the rate of forgetting.
Question 3: In curriculum development, what does 'backward design' (Wiggins & McTighe) require a designer to establish first?
- The instructional activities and lesson plans
- The desired learning outcomes and assessment evidence (Correct answer)
- The technology and delivery platform
- The learner demographics and class size
Correct answer: The desired learning outcomes and assessment evidence
Backward design starts with identifying desired end results and acceptable evidence of learning before planning instructional activities.
Question 4: A curriculum designer is choosing between synchronous and asynchronous delivery. Which factor most strongly favors asynchronous design?
- Learners are in the same geographic location
- The content requires real-time role-play practice
- Learners are globally distributed across many time zones (Correct answer)
- The subject matter involves highly sensitive interpersonal topics
Correct answer: Learners are globally distributed across many time zones
Asynchronous delivery eliminates time-zone scheduling barriers, making it ideal when learners are distributed globally and cannot attend simultaneously.
Question 5: What does 'chunking' refer to in the context of instructional design?
- Dividing the class into small competitive teams
- Breaking content into small, manageable segments to reduce cognitive load (Correct answer)
- Grouping learners by prior knowledge level
- Separating factual content from procedural content in the course outline
Correct answer: Breaking content into small, manageable segments to reduce cognitive load
Chunking organizes information into small, digestible units, aligning with Miller's Law and cognitive load theory to prevent working memory overload.
Question 6: A trainer is revising an existing course after receiving low post-training performance reviews. Which action should she take first?
- Add more content to increase course length
- Conduct a root cause analysis to determine if training is actually the solution (Correct answer)
- Switch from classroom to e-learning delivery immediately
- Replace the trainer facilitating the course
Correct answer: Conduct a root cause analysis to determine if training is actually the solution
A root cause analysis determines whether poor performance stems from a training gap or from other factors like motivation, resources, or process issues that training cannot fix.
Question 7: Which of the following is the MOST accurate description of a 'terminal objective' in instructional design?
- A learning goal stated at the beginning of a lesson to motivate learners
- The final, overarching performance learners should achieve by the end of the course (Correct answer)
- A quiz question designed to end a learning module
- An objective focused on the trainer's facilitation behavior
Correct answer: The final, overarching performance learners should achieve by the end of the course
A terminal objective describes the overall, end-of-course performance capability that all enabling objectives collectively support.
CT Instructional Design & Curriculum Development 4
A trainer notices learners consistently struggle with the same concept midway through the course.
What is the best immediate design response?