Lesson 4: Developing an Instructional Strategy

Content sequencing and clustering is a process for identifying the order and groupings of the lesson content. Your instruction's learning objectives are the starting point for this process. First, you review your learning objectives and decide the order in which you want to teach them. Typically, this is in the order of simplest to the most complex. Then, you organize them into manageable clusters determined by evaluating the information needed to explain the subject. Depending on the type and complexity of your topic (and the number of learning objectives), you may want to present information objective-by-objective or cluster multiple objectives.

Clustering is essentially the same as chunking, the concept for organizing your content described in lesson 2. Recall from lesson 2:

Chunking is a strategy used to break information into smaller pieces that the brain's working memory can hold more easily. George A. Miller introduced the concept in 1956. His evidence showed that working memory capacity is limited and can only hold approximately seven chunks of information at one time. Other researchers have found that the number of manageable chunks is smaller, with a range of four to five bits of information.

Chunking aims to reduce cognitive overload so that information is not lost. This is done by presenting information in amounts the learner can manipulate in working memory, making it more likely to be moved to long-term memory (i.e., learned).

Remember how Sam, in Lesson 3, began developing his webinar? Content sequencing and clustering contrast with his method. Instead of writing an outline of topics to present, you start by identifying your learning objectives. Then, you decide what information will help your learners achieve the intended learning outcome.

An Example

The following goal statement and learning objectives are given as an example. This example will be used to explain the remaining concepts in this course.

The order of these learning objectives already seems reasonable. The first two objectives involve learning the basic concepts – the benefits of interactivity and using common tools. The third objective involves applying what students learn in the first two objectives. Each objective's content will be presented in individual clusters/chunks. 

Enter your webinar's learning objectives (in teaching sequence and clustered) into your Webinar Lesson Plan.