Designing Impactful Learning Experiences: The Need For a Standardized Content Framework

Written by Yuvraj Mahagaonkar and Samiksha Neroorkar

Leadership For Equity empowers system leaders and strengthens teacher education to revolutionise the public education system in India. One of the ways in which we achieve this is by creating strong training content in the form of blended learning courses and in-person training sessions for systems leaders and teachers on diverse topics like pedagogy, leadership, management, and technology.

Understanding Adult Learner Engagement

Interest plays a critical role in learning and motivation (Thurston 2018). To stimulate the interest of adult learners, that LFE works with, the content should be engaging and systematic. An instructional design framework is an essential guide to help content developers create systematic learning material. It helps developers understand instructional components entities; adult learners, methods, modes, materials, and instructional environments and use the most appropriate combination of those to achieve desired learning outcomes (Chyung 2008).

Introducing the Kaushalika Instructional Design Framework

Taking cognizance of this, we developed the Kaushalika Instructional Design Framework in 2023. This framework integrates insights from renowned instructional design models, including ARCS by John Keller, ADDIE Model by the University of Florida, Backward Design by Wiggins and McTighe, Design Thinking by Tim Brown, and Gagne’s Nine Steps of Instructional Design. Additionally, we incorporated learnings from LFE’s work in content development and training during the past 7 years into creating this framework. The process of development involved extensive research, multiple brainstorming sessions across the content team, and four iterations. Each component of Kaushalika serves a unique purpose, contributing to a comprehensive approach for developing superior quality systematic content while aligning with the practical needs of the Indian educational landscape.

Implementation and Impact of Kaushalika

Currently, the framework is being applied to all the blended courses being developed by LFE. The teacher professional development courses on Social Studies, Mathemat