Design for How People Build Skills

Book 3 of 3 in the Learning Design Essentials Library

How do you help people to genuinely become proficient in a skill?

People don’t learn skills by reading about them or hearing a lecture. They learn skills by practicing, getting feedback, solving increasingly complex problems and performing in the real world. Yet most learning is still designed as if information alone creates capability.

Drawing on cognitive science, behavioral science, expertise research, and decades of instructional design experience, Julie Dirksen provides a practical roadmap for designing learning and practice that develops the real skills and judgment needed in a complex, AI-driven world.

Filled with realistic case studies, design tools, templates, and examples from healthcare, customer service, management, technical training, and higher education, this book gives learning designers a practical framework for building capability, not just delivering information.

Julie Dirksen shows you how to:

Define Skills That Matter      
Learn how to identify clear actionable skills and distinguish them from knowledge or procedures.

Design Practice and Feedback          
Create practice sequences, rubrics, and feedback loops that drive growth and fluency.

Support Learner Agency       
Help people take ownership of their own skill journey.

Build for Transfer and Context         
Design learning that supports performance across complex and variable work situations.

Consider AI and Skill Development  
Use AI to enhance coaching and feedback while keeping human judgment central.