đź“‹ Instructions
Building on your work from the first assignment (and the skills gained from the cascade-building practice from the second) you’ll break down your list of essential achievements into a more complete cascade, which gives a fuller picture of the work students will complete on your course journey.
đź‘Ł Steps
- Grab the work you did for the first assignment (your “essential achievements”) and also the main result from your course promise.
- Using your preferred software tool, create the first two levels of your cascade by putting the result at the top (with the prefix “RESULT”) and the achievements underneath (with the prefix “ACHIEVE”)
- Taking the achievements in turn, break each one down into the lower level “doing” and “learning” tasks you think will be required to make those achievements happen. Use the prefixes “DO” and “LEARN”.
👇 Examples
Here’s an example cascade for a course teaching you how to decorate a room in your house like a pro.
- RESULT: Room decorated to a high standard
- ACHIEVE: Choose your paint brand and colour
- LEARN: Types of paints and popular brands
- DO: Get a selection of paint samples
- DO: Compare samples and make your decision
- ACHIEVE: Fetch and/or buy your tools and materials
- LEARN: What tools and materials you’ll need
- DO: Work out how much paint you’ll need
- DO: Make a shopping list
- DO: Visit the DIY store and buy what you need
- ACHIEVE: Prepare your room for painting
- LEARN: Why proper preparation is essential and how to do it
- DO: Protect your floor and furnishings
- DO: Prepare your surfaces
- ACHIEVE: Paint your room (two coats)
- LEARN: Painting tips and tricks
- DO: Apply the first coat of paint
- DO: Apply the second coat of paint
- ACHIEVE: Clean your tools and tidy up
- LEARN: How to make cleaning up as painless as possible
- DO: Wash your brush, roller and paint tray
- DO: Carefully remove masking tape
- DO: Remove sheets and replace furniture
- ACHIEVE: Choose your paint brand and colour
đź’ˇ Tips
Here are some additional notes to keep in mind:
- Give each entry in the cascade a name that’s as clear and plain as possible. We’re not coming up with snappy titles for things just yet – we’re just breaking down the work in a form that’s as logical and easy to understand as possible.
- This is an iterative process. You may need to do an initial draft and then step away for a day or two then revisit it to see if it still makes sense. Use the following question to guide you: “If my Student Zero completed all of the work in this cascade in a sensible order, would they have a strong chance of getting the result?”
🤖 AI Accelerators
You can use the following AI prompts to help you complete your assignment.
đź’¬ Generating the LEARN and DO steps for an achievement
I plan to create an online course which helps [Group] to [Result(s)] to that [Reason]. One of the key achievements on the student journey is [Achievement]. What simple LEARNING (knowledge-focused) and DOING (action-focused) steps will be required? Please format steps as a flat list with each step having the prefix "DO:" or "LEARN:" and present them in the most logical order to be done. Note: there needn't be a 1:1 correlation between LEARN and DO steps - sometimes it may be necessary to learn two separate topics before taking one action. Please limit the total number of steps to 12 or less.
Example:
I plan to create an online course which helps new managers who want to improve team productivity and project completion rates but lack formal management or leadership training. One of the key achievements on the student journey is “optimise team communication”. What simple LEARNING (knowledge-focused) and DOING (action-focused) steps…