ABOUT THIS EPISODE
You've got college students who can scroll TikTok in their sleep but cannot attach a file to an email. You've got semi-retired folks who want to pay their gas bill online without bugging the grandkids. The gut reaction when your students look this different from each other is to build different tracks for different levels. This BS Breakthrough makes the case for a very different read on the situation, and a much simpler course structure on the other side of it.
What We Work Through
- Why "different starting points" and "different knowledge levels" are not the same thing, and why mixing them up sends you down a structural rabbit hole you do not actually need to go down
- How to spot when your students share one skill gap, even if their tech, jobs, and ages look nothing alike, and what that means for the way you build the course
- The case for letting learners pick their own technology and their own task, and why giving up that bit of control is what makes the course usable for everyone in the room
- How to build troubleshooting into the course structure itself, instead of telling people to "email when you get stuck" and putting the work back on them
- Two different kinds of stuck (your steps did not work vs. the technology changed on you), and why each one needs its own decision tree
- A three-step gut check for figuring out whether your own course is solving for the right kind of variation in your audience
If you have been trying to design a course for students who feel like they are all over the map, the takeaway is not always more tracks, more pathways, or more content. Sometimes it is one course, one skill, and a structure that lets each person plug in their own context. Press play, see if Tim's situation sounds like yours, and steal what works. Go back and listen to the full episode with Tim Maile, the live course design consultation this BS Breakthrough is pulled from. Listen there for Tim's links and the original troubleshoot.
About Tim Maile
Tim Maile is the owner and operator of TKM PM and IT Solutions, where he makes IT work for people, not the other way around. With over 20 years of on-the-ground experience as the unofficial IT person in the room, Tim specializes in solving tech problems and building genuine confidence in the people who use technology every day.
- Website: www.tkmitpm.uk
- Facebook: TKM PM and IT Solutions
- LinkedIn: TKM PM and IT Solutions
- Book an appointment: calendly.com/tkmitpm
- YouTube: The Human Side of Tech: A No Jargon Zone
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Music credit: Alex Mitchum
Alex, Catrina's youngest brother, was a jazz guitarist and his family established a scholarship in his name at his alma mater. Please consider donating: https://www.alexmitchum.com/scholarship
