The
CHOICE APPROACH
What is The CHOICE Approach?
The CHOICE Approach is THE instructional design model for the 21st Century. It breaks the patterns of how culture has defined learning, by giving more control and choice to the learner.
Think of a box of LEGOs. When you spread them on a table, you notice that there are several pieces that you can use; different sizes, shapes, colors. You'll also notice that there is a set of instructions that show you how to build one thing... but if you just start to put them together, you can create all kinds of different structures.
The CHOICE Approach to learning is similar. It hands the learner pieces, and lets them decide how to put them together. They can stick with one piece, combine a few, skip others altogether... however they think it makes sense for what they are trying to do in their NOW moment. .
The CHOICE Approach focuses on:
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Providing layers to concepts and ideas, to dig to the level of depth needed at any given time
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Asking questions to inspire solutions
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Keeping things simple and efficient.
Why The CHOICE Approach?
The CHOICE Approach was built from a few core observations:
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Traditional lecture-style learning focuses on awareness, not application
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Learners often take days of classes and only immediately use 1-3 things, building those items into habits while letting the other skills atrophy
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Our culture has shifted to short-form entertainment, influencing the conditioning learner attention span
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No two learners come to the same "class" with the same needs
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Learners aren't dumb
The CHOICE Approach uses these influences as brainstorming fodder... how do we format content for shorter attention spans, give real-time learning as it feels relevant, meet learners where they are... and respect the intelligence and experience they each bring?
We give them CHOICE.
How does the The CHOICE Approach work?
This is a big question that doesn't have only one answer, since different content will be suited to different formats.
At the risk of oversimplifying... The CHOICE Approach gives the learner pieces that all go together, along with suggestions of how they can combine and layer the pieces. It gives a suggestion of a path — but leaves the ultimate choice up to the learner.
When using The CHOICE Approach, the instructional designer must solve for questions like:
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How does this body of content break into pieces?
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What pieces naturally stack together?
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What does the learner need to do with an instructor or a group?
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What can the learner do on their own?
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What delivery format — in-person, live virtual, recorded, self-paced — supports the learning objectives of each piece?
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What questions can be asked to help the learner arrive at their own conclusions?
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Where might the learner run into challenges applying the concepts, and how do we give them a place to work through that?
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How can the learner have community within their journey?
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And now — one more question that didn't exist a few years ago: what happens when the learner is back at their desk, facing a real situation, and they need the content right now?
That's where the GAT comes in.
A Guided Application Tool (learn more about a GAT here). is the CHOICE Approach made real-time. It doesn't replace the class or the instructor — it extends them. When the learner has a specific situation in front of them, they open the tool, choose where they are, and the content meets them there. Not a lecture. Not a replay. A conversation that knows what they learned and helps them use it — right now, on the real thing they're dealing with.
The learner doesn't have to remember everything from the training. They just have to show up with the situation. The GAT brings the framework.
If you question whether The CHOICE Approach works — after all, it gives the instructor less control than ever before — consider this: think of the time someone asked you to watch a movie and you said you didn't have time for it. Yet three hours later, you get up from binging a show or scrolling social media.
The CHOICE Approach is similar. The learner is always in control of the remote and gets to click on what appeals to them next. We don't like being told what to do — but we love having options.
A GAT is that remote control, made smarter. It doesn't just let the learner choose — it helps them choose well. It knows the content, senses where they are, and asks the question that helps them take the next right step.
With The CHOICE Approach™, every step of the way, the learner gets to make a CHOICE. And now, they have a thinking partner for the moments that matter most.
