Design Lively E-Learning with Action Mapping

Cathy Moore in here e-learning blog Ideas for Lively E-learning lays out an excellent technique that can help you focus  eLearning on intended outcomes based on desired actions. 

Moore recommends working backward from the intended business goal--an action. This avoids the trap of a linear information content dump and piling up irrelevant information that does not really help learners get to the desired goal. Action mapping is a four-step process as follows:

1. Identify the business goal.

2. Identify what people need to do to reach that goal.

3. Design activities that help people practice each behaviour (the "to do's" noted in #2).

4. Identify the minimum information people need to complete each activity.

More resources are available at http://www.cathy-moore.com/blueprint.html