As Term Start Approaches
I found myself mildly freaking out about what to write this week for the blog post. We are nearing term start and most of us are focused on finishing up our courses. The building is filled with stress. My favorite way to deal with stress is cake. Who doesn’t become excited and giddy, like a small child, when cake is mentioned? That is when it hit me…
Designing a course is like baking a cake!
It takes time, patience, and skill to create both. A cake, just like a course, needs to be balanced. You don’t want your cake to be overly sweet, but too bland is just as bad. Both need to be easily consumed. Finally, if both a course and a cake are really good they will remain in someone’s memory forever.
I am no baker by any stretch of the imagination, but here are the steps I remember from my one home economics class:
- Find a recipe
- Gather the proper ingredients and equipment
- Mix the ingredients making sure to use the appropriate amount
- Bake the cake
- TASTE THE CAKE (Best Part!)
- Share the cake with others (if there is any left)
These are the same steps we take when building a course. To learn more about this topic, check out eLearning Industry’s article.
The best way I can think of closing this post is with my favorite cake recipe.
Let me know what you think. Happy almost term start!
Tags: IDS | Instructional Design
Great analogy!