Applied Outcomes: Designing CME for Learner Action

About this episode

This episode explores the deeper aspects of designing CME learning objectives to ensure they lead to actionable clinical tasks and behavior change.

You already know how to write learning objectives. You reference Bloom’s taxonomy. You understand Moore’s outcomes framework. But here’s the real question: When you write a learning objective, can you clearly identify the two to three specific clinical tasks that must happen for that objective to be achieved? In this episode—based on a webinar I participated in with the Good CME Practice Group—we go deeper than frameworks. We unpack what actually sits underneath a learning objective and how that layer determines whether your CME changes practice… or simply delivers information. What We Explore in This Episode Why learning objectives are signposts—not the design itself How to break each objective into 2–3 concrete clinical tasks The role of workflow, format, and audience context in determining granularity How learning science (cognitive load, retrieval practice, feedback) strengthens action-focused design Where CME programs most commonly lose alignment between need, content, assessment, and outcomes Key Takeaway If you can’t name the specific clinical actions required to meet an objective, the content won’t drive behavior change. Design lives underneath the objective. Next Step If…

People in this episode

Host: Alexandra Howson PhD

Topics covered

• learning objectives
• CME design
• clinical tasks
• behavior change
• learning science

Keywords

• CME
• learning objectives
• clinical tasks
• behavior change
• learning science

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Good CME Practice Group

Books & works: Bloom’s taxonomy, Moore’s outcomes framework

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