Part 3
Macro-SIM
Key question: If you disappeared for a semester, could this course still run — and still teach?
Definition
A complete, self-instructional course package: everything a learner needs from enrolment to final assessment, in one coherent whole.
Putting all micro-sim together does not automatically turn them into a macro-sim. Stacking units gives you a library, the extra layers below are what turn a library into a course.
What a Macro-SIM adds beyond stacked units
Orientation module
How this course works, how to study it, tool setup screencasts, where to get help. The most skipped and most valuable part.
Consistent design system
One visual language, one navigation pattern, one naming convention for every unit — so cognitive load goes into learning, not wayfinding.
Assessment ecosystem
Self-checks inside units, graded unit tasks, and a capstone that only makes sense if the units worked.
Support layer
Glossary, FAQs, troubleshooting, worked-solution bank, and a stated response time for questions.
Maintenance plan
Who reviews what, and when. A Macro-SIM without a review cycle decays within two semesters.
The three-semester road
Semester 1
Nano-SIMs for your pain points
Build 4–6 Nano-SIMs on the concepts students always fail. Low risk, immediate classroom payoff.
Semester 2
Two or three Micro-SIMs
Convert your most-taught units. Reuse the Nano-SIMs you already made as chunks.
Semester 3
Assemble upwards
Add orientation, the design system, the assessment ecosystem and the support layer. Now it is a Macro-SIM.
A Macro-SIM is a team sport — media, platform and QA usually sit outside your office. What you own, and what nobody can outsource, is the Nano and Micro layers.
Your Try: Map your course to the model
Take one course you teach. In five minutes, write down:
- Two concepts that deserve a Nano-SIM, because students fail them every year.
- One unit that could become a Micro-SIM by the end of the semester.
- One thing your course already has that belongs to the Macro layer (orientation, glossary, rubric bank).
- The one layer whose absence hurts your students the most right now.
Pitfalls and time-savers
Do this
- • Design the design system early — retrofitting consistency across 12 units is brutal.
- • Write the orientation module as if for a nervous first-week learner, not for an auditor.
- • Keep a single source of truth for outcomes so units cannot drift apart.
- • Schedule the review cycle in your calendar before the course goes live.
Never do this
- • Don't attempt a Macro-SIM in one semester from a standing start.
- • Don't let the platform decide your pedagogy; decide the structure first.
- • Don't assume graded assessment replaces self-checks — learners need both.
- • Don't launch without piloting one full unit with real students.