How to Develop a Training Curriculum? (Brief Guide for Trainers)

very corporate trainer wants their training program or course to be effective. There, much depends on goals, objectives, content, and assessment. That’s why training curriculum is so crucial. 

Read on to learn more about training curriculum aspects and how to develop a curriculum for training effectively.

What is a Training Curriculum?

But first, let’s clearly define what the training curriculum is about. ‍

A training curriculum is a set of objectives and resources, including content, materials, tools, and tactics, that allow a trainer to build a training program that aligns with training goals and evaluate its performance. 

The training curriculum is central to a course, program, or even a training module. It sets the ground for a structured and well-thought-out employee training process. More importantly, it connects learning objectives and employee roles, which are crucial for effective employee training in the long run. 

Curriculum vs materials vs module?

Still, many specialists confuse curriculum with other course elements. Yet, you should have a clear understanding of the difference between them. 

In particular, a curriculum is a set of materials, content, instruments, and methods that allow building the module or a course. Materials are the pieces of content or any other objects that can be used by a trainer to provide knowledge. The module is a set of lessons and content organized to meet the learning objective and offer comprehensive knowledge. 

As a result, a curriculum is a set of tools for the creation of development of courses, while materials and modules are course components and can constitute a curriculum.

How to Create a Training Curriculum?

To create a training curriculum, a trainer should identify the gaps, define objectives and resources to use, and align them to outcomes that will affect the employees' work. 

For an effective training program, the trainer should also consider the time, roles of employees, and the best way to deliver the content. 

💡When planning a training curriculum, you can stick to the “Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?” framework, covering the main aspects that the curriculum provides.

Yet, let’s delve deeper into the actual steps that will help you create a training curriculum for an effective training program.

Step #1. Assess Needs and Find Gaps 

The first part of the curriculum development contemplates establishing a clear rationale for a certain employee training program. It means that a trainer should identify the training needs of the organization and the gaps that result in poor results. 

The best ways to perform the identification of needs and gaps are to:

• Conduct surveys and interviews with employees, potential learners, and managers who may have a clear understanding of what a business needs.
• Resort to performance data, reports, and employee reviews, as well as inquiries of the managers. 
• Evaluate the practices on the market and the opportunities for the adoption of new skills.

Importantly, the gap must be specific. At the same time, you should have enough examples to support the rationale and bring more context regarding your organization. Nonetheless, in larger organizations, your training curriculum should fit the organizational vision or plan for the development. 

Step #2. Determine the Responsibilities of Employees/Learners

Next, you should identify and understand for whom you are creating a training curriculum. With proper knowledge of the target audience, you can offer them relevant training content and focus. 

In this regard, having gaps and needs in mind, you should conduct research on future learners. There, you should focus on their current role, responsibilities, and level of skills.

Sure, much depends on the training programs, yet, ensure that there is homogeneity among the learners of the program in terms of roles or skills, especially if the profile of the target audience is broad enough. Why? It will allow your program to be effective and relevant, targeting certain outcomes. 

💡For instance, if you target different senior managers, you can create simulations or PBL cases that will help them set the right standards and use motivation in work. The same program will be irrelevant for junior specialists.

What are the ways to research the responsibilities of the target audience of the training program?

• Revisit the competencies and review the job descriptions.
• Have a list of the common responsibilities and those that can be irrelevant. 
• Categorize their tasks, it can help to see the areas that your program should cover. 
• Keep in mind the needs and gaps of the program, and link them to the responsibilities.

Step#3. Define Learning Objectives and Connect Them to Outcomes

The subsequent step in developing a training curriculum is about defining the key learning objectives of the program. It is one of the most crucial things, as the right objective allows having clear outcomes. 

💡Notably, objectives should follow the SMART concept and be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Yet, let’s start with the difference between goals and objectives. In particular, the goal is the overall desire of the program, while learning objectives are the specific skills contemplating what they get when the program finishes.

Examples of a learning goal and objectives are:

• Learning goal: by the end of the learning, employees will conduct 30% effective service interactions with customers.
• Learning objectives: Employees will use empathy to handle complaints more professionally; Employees will apply active listening when interacting with customers; Learners will now have the customer protocols to follow when dealing with issues.

Yet, to make the learning goals answer the learners’ needs, you should be able to frame objectives. It means they should be written with the desired knowledge and skills in mind, aligning impact and requirements. That way, there is a higher chance that the training will be highly relevant. 

Here are some tips on how to create learning objectives:

• Firstly, indicate what skills the learners should be able to perform or know after the training. There, you should not focus on activities by the trainer but on learner skills.
• Secondly, use action words to make objectives specific and measurable. For example, they refer to “demonstrate, explain, define, select”, showing what students should do at the end of the training.
• Lastly, consider the topics and content that you would apply before setting the objectives. 

Step#4. Evaluate the Content and Materials That You Have 

Next, when you develop a training curriculum for an effective and comprehensive program, content, and training materials are crucial. There, you need to assess what you have and align it to the objectives and responsibilities. Only this will allow you to bring relevance.

There, you can resort to the following tactics:

• Make a list of current training materials that include presentations, manuals, and case studies.
• Resort to previously defined responsibilities and objectives and map out how content will help you to achieve the objectives.
• Find what materials you lack or update the content that fails to meet training objectives by inviting guests, experts, and peers.
• Focus on the relevancy of the content and whether it should revisited.

💡Interestingly, you can use a topic matrix to categorize the content you need and offer the relevant topics that will be linked to responsibilities and objectives. 

First, make two lists, the list of key responsibilities of the target audience and the list of key objectives of the training program. Next, create a table, where you have responsibilities in the first column and objectives in the first row. 

After that, within each intersection, you will have a topic that can be covered by you to make a program relevant to objectives and responsibilities.

Here is an example of how it can be done for customer service training of sales representatives:

• Responsibilities: Handling Customer Complaints, Providing Information, Upselling Products
• Learning Objectives: Effective Complaint Resolution, Product Knowledge, and Upselling Techniques

Under this matrix, the intersection of objectives and responsibilities offers you the topic that can help you achieve the right outcome.

Step#5. Determine Assessment Strategies

Other than that, you should think of assessment strategies to ensure that learners meet training objectives and goals. Different assessment methods may suit certain environments or audiences and be applied at various stages of the training program.

Assessment has the following functions: to make sure learners meet objectives, to measure the outcome and success of the training programs, and to determine the areas that can be improved further.

Other than that, you should understand that assessment can take place at different stages of online learning. 

Before or at the beginning of the program, it can be a tool to identify gaps and show the areas on which the trainer can focus. Also, assessment is crucial during the training to provide support and see what areas require special attention or content revisits. Lastly, at the end of the training, you need to identify the effect of a training program and get feedback for subsequent personal and professional growth of employees.

What are the great options to include in the curriculum training? 

• Tests and quizzes. Use short and long-form quizzes after each assessment to measure theoretical skills.
• Presentations and discussions. Resort to discussions in the groups, they will allow you to get interesting insights and ignite an exchange of ideas.
• Demonstrations and observations. If your program aims to provide certain skills, then demonstrations and observations are the best way to check whether learners got the materials. 
• Projects and case studies. For employees, such assessments are great ways to show their skills and see whether they know how to implement certain techniques.
• Informal assessments and polls. They are crucial for getting feedback and understanding how the curriculum can be improved.

💡Assessment often significantly depends on the environment, content, and audience, yet, these assessment methods are pretty universal.

Step#6. Finalize the Choice of Technology

Once you determined the materials and assessments, you need to consider the tools and instruments you would need to use to handle training. As today many sessions and training programs have a blended nature or take place online, you may need certain types of software. 

In particular, you may need special tools for collaborative learning or just tools to handle discussions, instructor-led training, or live training sessions. In this regard, you can use messengers, virtual communication tools, or webinar software.

Online training tools may include knowledge management systems, gamified options, and quizzes. The experience of L&D departments underlines that trainers may use a set of L&D tools or have a universal solution in the form of learning management systems.

If you want to have a centralized option, then the latter is for sure will give you more, especially in terms of management, course creation, and reporting. For large training and development programs, such a tool will save tons of resources and time.

💡Note. EducateMe is a powerful learning management system for employee training, providing easy-to-use course creation with AI and course templates, great integrations with necessary tools like SCORM viewer, and solid features for peer collaboration. 

Step#7. Create Session Plan

Now, that you understand the needs and responsibilities of learners and see how content and resources can help you reach the training objectives, you should organize everything into the session plan. 

A session plan is crucial for communicating the goals and activities to all of the stakeholders. Besides, you can ask experts and managers to review it and comment, offering insights into certain materials or activities. 

As the plan outlines the purpose, methods, and timing, it allows the trainers to know important information about the training and can be a guide for students. 

Key Elements of a Session Plan:

• Objectives: Clearly state what learners should achieve by the end of the session.
• Content: Detail the topics and materials to be covered.
• Methods: Describe training methods (lectures, activities, demonstrations).
• Timing: Allocate specific time for each segment.
• Materials: List all resources and tools needed.
• Assessment: Outline how understanding will be assessed.

💡Highlight: In the end, a well-organized session plan ensures effective training delivery and engagement of trainers and students.

Step#8. Set a Schedule

Lastly, having a plan, you can set a schedule for the training course for the employees. Setting a schedule for a training curriculum is about grouping similar contents and establishing a logical sequence. That way, you make sure that key topics are taught first. 

Other than that, you should take into account that the duration should consider participants' availability, work hours, and holidays. Thus, think of offering shorter, intensive sessions for busy professionals.

💡For instance, scheduling a one-week training for senior managers is more practical than a month-long program.

For remote workers, on-the-job training is likely to be impossible and requires a self-paced or blended session, while for some workplace training on premises is the best option due to the peculiarities of the role.

Therefore, you should fit the content and training plan into the available timeframe, considering the complexity of certain topics, delivery, and time distribution. Such a structured approach will help the training to be comprehensive, maximizing engagement and learning outcomes.

Summary: Training Curriculum Development Key Steps

Now you know that developing an effective training curriculum involves a series of crucial steps to ensure the program meets its goals and objectives.

There, the rationale provides the ground for building the curriculum. Yet, defining clear learning objectives and linking them to outcomes seems to be the most important task. Doing it right will allow you to create a relevant and impactful program. 

Also, you should not forget about the content and assessment methods, where the tools and resources play a significant role.

Thus, if you want to streamline activities and have time actually for quality training, then resorting to an LMS like EducateMe is one of the best strategies. 

Lastly, all can go in vain if you lack organization, that’s why detailed session plans and logical schedules should not be ignored. Keep these steps in mind to create an effective training curriculum and drive meaningful results.