• Challenges: The cues only help identify learners' choices and ignore the internal processes that led to correct or incorrect decisions.

Constructivism: In the minicourse, learners are expected to either assimilate new knowledge into their existing schemas or accommodate it by revising their existing knowledge (University of Buffalo, 2024). The minicourse is also intended to challenge the learner and provide context to engage curiosity (McLeod, 2023). 

• Strengths: Approaching this minicourse with Constructivism in mind emphasizes the  importance of actively engaging the learner and personalizing the learning to some extend. It also maintains the educator in a secondary role, not the source of information, while still giving the educator a minimal amount of control. It also considers the role of the learners preexisting knowledge from their experience. 

• Challenges: Due to the nature of the learning outcome, there is not as much opportunity for the learning to construct a meaning or system of meaning (PHILO-notes, 2021). Also, there isn't a great deal of collaboration with other learners (Olusegun, 2015) but opportunities could be created post-course. 

Connectivism: Not necessarily imbedded in the minicourse but providing the learning resources, both digital and points of contact to build their PLN (Personal Learning Networks, 2023) to assist with future real-world situations that unique or more complex.

• Strengths: Provides the learner an avenue for self-directed learning that grants them autonomy, beyond the minicourse and learning opportunities at their convenience for refreshers or further exploration. 

• Challenges: Due to the rigidity of the organization's policies, the nodes for learners to seek out on their own are more limited, given some information would not be applicable for federal jobs. This would require the learners to execute digital literacy and understanding of how federal sources differ from non-federal sources. 

Andragogy: The minicourse is based on adult learners requiring autonomy and control, which is why its an optional course and allows the learner to choose their path, promoting this course as optional also assumes the learner is intrinsically motivated to pursue self-directed learning (Colman, 2024). With the assumption that adult learners acquisition of knowledge, the minicourse provides feedback to help reshape the learners schema for this topic. The modules are
specifically designed with different approaches to keep the learners attention and be multifaceted for different learners. One way to take this even further would be to replicate the modules and have different versions of each modules for different types of learners or to address any accessibility considerations. The content incorporates storytelling as by the nature of being a minicourse, breaks up the information for incremental learning. The approach also utilizes a form of experiential learning that introduces the experience, the scenario, and then allows for reflection (Colman, 2024). 

• Strengths: Provides a learning approach that provides real-world relevance and addresses an immediate need or problem to be solved, which maintains the learner's attention. It also fits into the learner's busy schedule and is not required for those learners who have mastered this knowledge, reducing redundancy.

• Challenges: The assumptions that learners will take the initiative without being forced to take this minicourse as part of their own progress plan may not apply to all applicable learners. Given the MOOC approach, it does not fully allow for opportunities to adapt to the various types of learners without extensive work in creating multiple versions of the modules.