Rethinking training: It’s not about piling up content

Earlier this summer, I co-led a workshop on ABC Learning Design with instructional designers and L&D managers from organizations using Wooclap and Wooflash.
At first glance, it didn’t sound exciting cards on the table, grids to fill in, and group reflections in a Paris office during a heatwave. Hardly glamorous. And yet, something clicked. The discussions flowed so naturally that we completely lost track of time.

At Wooclap, we’ve long relied on frameworks like Bloom’s taxonomy to guide product design and identify use cases. But working on these frameworks with our clients reminded us of something essential: true innovation happens when we combine structured frameworks, real-life usage, pedagogical objectives, and collective intelligence. That’s what leads to learning paths that are balanced, practical, alive and supported, when useful, by digital tools.

Why rely on a framework (and why Bloom isn’t enough)

A pedagogical framework’s main purpose is to align objectives with methods.
When designing a learning experience, the starting point shouldn’t be “What content do I have?” or “How do I usually teach this?”, but rather: What should learners be able to understand or do by the end? Frameworks like ABC Learning Design help educators reflect on their current practice and translate learning objectives into the right types of activities.

Bloom’s taxonomy has long been the go-to reference for formulating learning objectives and situating them on a cognitive scale—from remembering to creating. It’s a valuable foundation, but a limited one: it’s linear, heavily cognitive, and doesn’t say much about what activities actually help achieve those goals. In short, Bloom helps define what to aim for, but not how to get there.

hat’s where ABC Learning Design brings something different. It offers a toolkit of six activity types: acquisition, discussion, collaboration, inquiry, practice, and production, each corresponding to a learning experience format. It helps visualize a course or training program at a glance, showing which methods are being used and where there’s room for balance.

The goal isn’t to use each type equally, but to have a clear map that guides the right mix of activities.

At Wooclap, we especially value that ABC Learning Design is:

• simple to use and adapt,
• accessible to diverse teams,
• and, even without deep pedagogical expertise, focused on practical application.

Each activity type comes with examples. And while it was born in higher education (at University College London), the framework is flexible enough to fit corporate training too. For instance, it can help transform goals like “developing managerial skills” or “learning a technical procedure” into concrete, engaging learning sequences.

Without such reference points, even the most powerful learning tools risk being underused.
Wooclap and Wooflash offer countless possibilities, but without an intentional design framework, users often fall back on two or three familiar formats. A Word Cloud, for example, can be eye-opening when used strategically but repetitive if not. Frameworks help you choose the right feature for the right goal, and the tool then brings that choice to life in a concrete, engaging way.

When ABC Learning Design comes to life with Wooclap and Wooflash

A framework only truly comes alive when it meets real practice. We see this every day. For example, in a large online course with hundreds of learners, an ABC “Discussion” activity can become an anonymous poll with comments enabled inviting learners to justify their answers safely.

In a face-to-face session, the same type of activity could take the form of pair discussions timed with Wooclap’s Timer, followed by a Brainstorming question to capture the group’s ideas supported by an AI Agent to help facilitate the debrief.

For an activity under the “Practice” category, you might use Label an Image to work on key concepts, then follow up with a Fill in the Blanks question to reinforce vocabulary. Later, learners can return to the same topic on Wooflash through an Association exercise that strengthens long-term memory.

We’ll soon be publishing a series of articles showing, step by step, how Wooclap and Wooflash can fit into each of the six ABC Learning Design categories and how their features align with Bloom’s taxonomy levels.

Our goal: to give educators and L&D teams clear, practical grids to move from intentions to activities, and from activities to lived learning experiences.

Bringing learning objectives to life

What this June workshop confirmed for me is that frameworks aren’t abstract theories for experts they’re shared languages between educators, trainers, and technology partners like us.

Working with our clients on ABC Learning Design revealed concrete use cases… and even inspired new product ideas. That’s what co-construction is all about.

Ultimately, frameworks clarify the “why” and “what,” while digital tools make them actionable whatever the context, audience size, or time constraints. It’s through this constant dialogue between design and practice that new ways of learning emerge.

And, as always, collaboration makes everything better. This workshop was co-led with Clément Larrivé, Customer Success Manager at Wooclap and a learning designer who previously introduced ABC Learning Design at Université Libre de Bruxelles. Proof that the more expertise and experience you bring together, the more innovation sparks. 😉