What tools can you use to design your training programme in line with the principles of the ABC Learning Design method? The original version consisted of a board and cards. But you can also use online tools to create such a scenario.

Updated: 17 August 2026 – new version of Learning Designer.

What tools can you use to design your training programme without spending too much?

In previous articles, I introduced you to the method ABC Learning Design as well as the model of teaching progression by Gilly Salmon, which complements it well.

Today, I’m going to tell you about a few free online applications which you can use to design a training programme using this method.

Tools for designing your online or blended learning courses

Learning Designer

Credit where credit is due, theUniversity College of London, where the ABC Learning Design method was developed, offers the Learning Designer. It is a 100% online tool and completely free of charge. An updated version is now available in two languages: English and Greek. However, you can use a translation extension in your browser such as Google Traduction or also DeepL, which we use for translation from our own articles and documents.

The image above is a screenshot of the course design for a training programme I developed during a course with Diana Laurillard on the ABC Learning Design method for blended learning.

Each column represents a module of the course. The colours represent the various learning activities (acquisition, research, practice, discussion, collaboration and production). Each activity is timed. A set of icons allows you to see at a glance whether the activity is taking place face-to-face or online, the number of participants, etc.

The pie chart illustrates the ‘ proportion ’ of each type of teaching activity within the course as a whole. It is a simple tool – and, ultimately, quite intuitive. The main drawback is that it is only available in English, but some of the teachers I have trained in the method have used it alongside an online translation extension. And it worked.

The ABC Learning Designer by Jourde and Gallenne

This tool has been developed by François Jourde, digital education coordinator at the European Schools, a European school network (Brussels), and Erwan Gallenne, a teacher specialising in digital education.

You can use this online tool as a Google Sheet or offline as an Excel file. It is free and distbuted on this platform.

The big advantage for French speakers is that it’s in French 😉

But that’s not all: the two developers really do listen to users, and this tool is constantly evolving to provide more relevant information about your course. The teachers and educational technology advisers I’ve shared it with are delighted with it.

Storyboarding with Trello

You may be using Trello for managing your tasks. I use it, for example, to work in Kanban mode.

You can also organise your training courses using Trello: each column represents a module of your course. The colours indicate the different learning activities.

This is a chart I created with some teachers who were attending one of my training courses in instructional design. This is the same course as the one shown in the Learning Designer example above. I have added a ‘Resources’ column in which I have made available to learners a argument map on the subject.

Each card corresponds to an activity indicated by its colour. Trello also offers add-ons that allow you to add a card counter, custom fields, etc., but these are only available in the paid version.

Trello is a collaborative tool and works very well on smartphones, tablets or PCs.

Planning your training using a mind map

Mind mapping is an excellent tool for designing training courses. The ABC Learning Design method is no exception.

Here is a mind map Framindmap : one of the services offered by the Framasoft association.

This is also the same training course on biofuels. Framindmap is an online collaborative platform that is free to use and respects your privacy (no misuse of your personal data).

You can link documents to it using hyperlinks. You can also use icons: for example, the red alarm clock on the ‘Video’ branch, at the top right, reminds me that it’s time to wake up and finish this task 😉

Framindmap is an excellent online mind-mapping tool that we recommend in our Training courses: Learn with Mindmapping.

Create storyboards with Padlet

For those who like things to be simple, Padlet can help.

Here is the same scripted training course on Padlet (only part of it – I just wanted to illustrate the principle).

This table is public, you can clone it using the command in the top right-hand corner.

Here too, the colour-coded cads make it immediately clear what type of learning activity is involved. The comments allow you to work in groups or supervise remotely.

Bonus – a free alternative to Padlet

Even though Padlet is now a paid service, I still use it because I find it very flexible. What’s more, it allows you to create not only boards, but also maps, timelines and so on.

However, many teachers are looking for an alternative to Padlet for creating virtual noticeboards. In that case, I advise them to Netboard, which is a little less intuitive, but can serve as an alternative to Padlet, at least when it comes to online walls.

Five tools for designing your training programme with ABC Learning Design

As you’ll have realised, these five tools are all different.

They do not all offer the same level of sophistication, nor do they all provide the same relevant information about the quality of your script.

However, these tools are undoubtedly designed to suit different needs and personalities. Depending on whether you’re drawn to numbers and graphs or are more intuitive; depending on whether you’re keen on digital apps or not; I hope you’ll find a tool in this range that suits you perfectly. That’s all I wish for you 😉

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