You know a course is off before you can explain why. Here’s how to name it.
You’re clicking through a course someone handed you. Maybe you built it two years ago. Maybe a vendor built it, or a well-meaning SME built it in PowerPoint and called it eLearning. Nothing is technically broken. The links work, the quiz scores, and the completion data looks fine.
And still, something is off.
You can feel it by slide four. Your stakeholder can’t, and when they ask what’s wrong, “it just doesn’t work” isn’t going to get you the time or budget to fix it.
Let’s be honest for a second. Most of us don’t struggle to see what’s wrong with a course. We struggle to say it in a way that sounds like expertise instead of opinion. That gap is where good courses go to stay mediocre.
So here’s the framework I use. Three questions, in order: Look, Feel, and Respond.
Look: does it look like it was designed on purpose?
This is the first impression, and learners make it in seconds. Is there a clear visual hierarchy, or does every slide shout at the same volume? Is the text sized for the screen it’s viewed on? Do the images support the content, or are they the stock photo equivalent of elevator music?
Look isn’t about pretty. It’s about credibility. A course that looks thrown together tells learners the content was thrown together too, even when it wasn’t. You spent weeks on the analysis. Don’t let a wall of 12-point text undo it.
Feel: does it feel built for this learner?
This is the question most audits skip, and it’s the one that matters most. Does the course sound like it was written for the people taking it? Are the scenarios pulled from their actual job, or from a generic workplace that doesn’t exist? Does the tone respect their experience, or does it explain things they’ve known for years?
A nurse manager can tell in one slide whether a course was built for her or for “employees.” So can your learners. When it doesn’t feel relevant, they stop paying attention, and no amount of interactivity brings them back.
Respond: does it ask the learner to do anything?
Clicking next is not a response. Neither is a drag-and-drop that checks whether someone can match a term to its definition. Real response means the learner makes a decision, practices a skill, or applies something to a situation that looks like their work.
Here’s the thing nobody talks about. You don’t need a bigger budget or a fancier tool to fix Respond. Often you need one well-placed question that asks, “What would you do here?” and then actually shows the consequences of the choice.
Why the order matters
I audit in this order on purpose. If a course fails Look, learners won’t stay long enough to notice how relevant it is. If it fails Feel, interactivity becomes busywork. And if it passes Look and Feel but fails Respond, you’ve built a very nice presentation.
The order also gives you language for your stakeholders. “This course needs work” invites a debate. “This course is credible and relevant, but learners never practice the decision we need them to make” invites a conversation about fixing it. One sounds like a complaint. The other sounds like a strategic partner.
Want to see it done live?
Starting Tuesday, Oct 13, I’m running a live training audit using exactly this framework. We’ll take a real course apart together, one lens at a time, and rebuild the parts that matter most. You’ll leave with the questions, the language, and a clear list of what to fix first in your own work.
If you’ve been carrying a course around in your head that you know could be better, bring it.
Pick your Spark
Here’s my challenge for you this week. Pick at least ONE that feels right, but still a little out of your comfort zone. The kind that makes you a little squeamish, but not the kind that makes you want to hide under your desk.
- Quiet: Open one course you own and answer the three questions in a notebook. Just for you.
- Brave: Share your Look, Feel, and Respond notes with one colleague and ask if they see it the same way.
- Bold: Use one of the three questions in your next stakeholder conversation, out loud, as the reason for a change you want to make.
About Dani Watkins
Dani is the founder of #IgniteLearning and the owner of Zenith Performance Solutions. She’s an instructional designer, trainer, and eLearning developer who creates practical resources for in-house L&D professionals, and she presents regularly for Training Magazine.
Portions of this article were drafted, outlined, or edited with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools. The final content has been thoroughly reviewed, verified, and approved by human editors, who assume full editorial responsibility for its publication.