"I Don't Have Time for This": Designing for the Learner Who's Already Over It

There is a specific type of learner that I always keep in mind when I am creating a course.

They have back-to-back patients and perhaps a couple of minutes until the next task needs tending to. When it's time to sign in to the training, then they glance at the intro slide, and I am sure they wonder, how long is this going to take?

If your course doesn't immediately look like it will respect their time.....you've lost them already. The module does not have to be super short, but it has to be worth it.

Particularly in healthcare, the employees aren't interested in how the training looks. They need quick, concise, and pertinent answers. They have no time for fluff! If the training kicks off with a block of text, a tacky stock photo, or a learning objective that does not resonate with them, such as "Understand the registration process"... yup, you guessed it... they're gone!

How do I design for the no-time, no-patience learner? Here is a checklist of what I have found that is actually working for me. 

Ultimately, I am not designing lessons; I am designing lifelines. When someone leaves training knowing what to do, when to do it, and why it's important, that's victory for me. Particularly for that stressed-out employee who's just trying to make it through the day. A good design can be the difference between confusion and clarity. That's what gives me a sense of purpose and satisfaction with my job... that the learner didn't just take the course; they will remember it. Doing my work with intention and knowing that I have helped many understand their role and how to succeed. 

Here is a great watch on microlearning for busy adults. Great tips that make sense. After watching, think about how your next module, course, or lecture could be condensed into a powerful 3-5 min lesson. We have so many individuals with short attention spans; we need to be mindful of how we can help them grasp what we are teaching with time constraints.

Turning Confusion into Clarity

 There is one experience that sticks with me when I'm designing courses. 

I created a course years ago. My slides were looked great, the theme fit perfectly and everything followed the structure I had been taught when I first joined the company. However, when the first session of my session ended, a newly hired employee asked, "Wait, what do I actually have to do when I experience this in my shift." 

That's when it hit me. I had worked so hard creating what seemed to be a perfect course, but in fact I did not make it make send. Not in the way that really sticks with a learner. Not in a way that it clicks in a person's brain from "I get it" to "I can do it."

And now I create each course with one goal in mind. Get the learner grasp information in a way that feels authentic, something that can apply, and not too much to grasp. Especially adult learners in high pressured fields such as healthcare. They don't have time to sift through material that is not connecting with their everyday workflow. They need simplicity, relevance, and the kind of support that needs to feel like someone actually understands what they deal with day in and day out. 

I'm not implying aesthetics and organization don't matter, they absolutely do. However, all that polish cannot make up for cloudy content or disconnected delivery. I have realized that instructional design is really about transforming complexity into clarity, not just organizing information. 

Here is how I do it:

• I include real case scenarios and decision points wherever possible
• I use clean visuals and only keep what supports the message
• I cut jargon unless I'm teaching it
• I check that all the content connects to the learning objectives
• I test everything out by asking, "would this have helped me when I was new?

If you'd like to see how adult learning theories actually play out in course design, I highly recommend this short video on mastering adult learning. It breaks down key theories like andragogy and experiential learning in a way that's useful. One key takeaway that stood out to me was the reminder that adult learners bring past experiences into every learning moment, and a good design makes space for that. This is why I try to use real-world scenarios and let students apply what they already know instead of having to learn from the ground up. 

Tools such as Rise 360 or Storyline via Articulate 360 help me make this type of training a reality. They enable me to combine structure with creativity, making learning more of an experience and less of a chore. 

At the end of the day, I want students to feel that the course was worth their time, spoke their language, and gave them something of value. That's the type of learning that sticks with them. And that's the kind of work I'm committed and proud to rendering out.