Why Starting With an Activity Beats Starting With Content

Why activity-first course design works

When it comes to e-learning, I often like to start with “throwing people in the pool” to see if they can swim. Most people already come to the course with some level of knowlegde or they at least can make an educated guess in trying to solve a problem.

As they work through activities they form hypothesis and also begin to understand their gaps. In addition, depending on the training it could also expose the critical nature of the gaps caused by not knowing.

That’s the core idea behind the HAT model.

The default approach and why it falls short

The typical e-learning course opens with objectives, moves through screens of content, and saves the activity for the end. Learners absorb (or don’t absorb) the information and then try to apply it. By then, many have tuned out. The course treats practice as a reward for sitting through content, rather than a tool for building understanding.

What the HAT model does differently

HAT stands for Hands-on activity, Advice, and Tell. The sequence reverses the usual order and puts the learner in motion from the start.

Here’s how each stage works:

• Hands-on activity: Before the formal instruction begins, give learners something to do. It doesn’t matter if they get it right. The activity surfaces what they already know and shows them where the gaps are. If you want an adaptive experience, you can use the activity to separate beginners from people who’ve been around longer.
• Advice: As learners work through the activity, respond to the decisions they make. You don’t have to wait until the end. Provide advice tied to specific choices so learners see the consequences in context. This fills in the knowledge gaps the activity exposes without requiring a full content dump upfront.
• Tell: Once the activity is done, debrief and deepen. Now learners have a frame of reference. The formal content lands differently when people have already tried the task and either succeeded or stumbled.

Why clients sometimes push back

The activity-first approach isn’t always an easy sell. Some clients want every bullet point presented in order before anyone touches an activity. It feels safer. But that preference usually comes from a focus on covering content rather than building competence.

Your job as a designer is to shift the conversation from “did they see it?” to “can they do it?”

Key takeaways

The HAT model is a useful alternative whenever you’re designing a course that needs to do more than inform. It works well for performance-based training, onboarding, and any scenario where learners arrive with different experience levels. The next time a client asks you to build another linear presentation course, try presenting this model. Show them what an activity-first approach looks like in a short prototype, and see if the conversation changes.