Great post! I agree 100%. I usually put it this way: good courses are not about their content; they’re about what the learner is expected to DO with that content.

Focusing on the “doing” leads to designing courses with rich context challenges that give learners the opportunity to practice the “doing” in realistic situations. Focusing on content leads to designing page-turner courses which are little more than info-dumps with an occasional multiple choice question thrown in. Design the former and you have a shot at helping learners acquire skills they can take with them when they “graduate” from your course. Design the latter and you are wasting your time and theirs on a course that will have no lasting impact.