Too often courses are designed to be hard...as an end in and of itself. This mentality could be encapsulated as ‘sink or swim’ and is antithetical to learning...1/

...because such a mentality does not lead to a range of practices and an outlook that helps learners achieve goals. It won’t lead to feedback that feeds up, back and forward, but rather comments that just highlight what you did wrong....2/

...it won’t lead to effective modelling and scaffolding for learners and the provision of things like exemplars that help aid practice. It won’t lead to the managing of cognitive load, because not doing that makes things hard...3/

...it won’t help self-efficacy but will greatly diminish efficacy expectations of learners and therefore motivation. It won’t lead to the creation of a supportive environment so conducive to many aspects of a positive learning experience...4/

...it won’t lead to assessment for learning but rather assessment that is all about performance and not failing. It will not lead to explicit guided instruction when it’s needed and perhaps most damaging...it will result in a demoralising experience of education...5/

Learning should require effort, it should be a workout, there should be desirable difficulties. But it shouldn’t just be hard for the sake of it, that gets us nowhere.../end