Imagine for a moment that learning is like driving a car. Curriculum is the destination. Instruction is the road. Assessment is the map that tells us whether we are headed in the right direction. But executive functioning? Executive functioning is the operating system running quietly underneath it all. Most of the time we don’t notice it. We simply expect it to work. Until it doesn’t.

When a student forgets an assignment, struggles to get started, loses track of instructions, misses a deadline, or abandons a task halfway through, our first instinct is often to focus on the visible behaviour. The assignment was not submitted. The directions were not followed. The work was not completed. What we do not always see is the operating system working furiously behind the scenes. Or perhaps not working at all.

Executive functioning is often described as a collection of mental processes that help us manage ourselves and our learning. Skills such as planning, organization, working memory, time management, task initiation, sustained attention, emotional control, flexibility, and metacognition help us navigate the countless decisions that learning requires. The challenge is that eLearning environments place enormous demands on these skills.

Think about what we ask students to do in a typical online course. They must remember due dates, prioritize tasks, manage distractions, follow multi-step instructions, monitor their own progress, advocate for support when needed, and persevere when things become difficult. That is a tremendous amount of executive functioning. In fact, I sometimes wonder whether we are assessing course content or executive functioning.

Imagine walking into a grocery store where the aisles change every morning. Milk is beside the frozen pizza one day and hidden between pet food and cleaning supplies the next. You could eventually find what you need, but the mental effort would be exhausting. Many online courses unintentionally create the same experience for learners. Students spend cognitive energy figuring out where things are instead of learning what matters.

One of the most powerful ideas I encountered while exploring executive functioning in online learning is this: design your course as a cognitive ramp, not a cognitive obstacle. A well-designed course removes unnecessary barriers. When every module follows the same predictable structure, students stop wasting energy navigating. When instructions are clear and consistent, working memory is freed up for learning. When due dates, reminders, and progress indicators are visible, students have external supports that help compensate for executive functioning challenges. The best online learning environments do not require students to be highly organized; they help students become more organized. There is an important difference.

One of the most important lessons I have learned about executive functioning is that it challenges many assumptions we make about learners. A student who procrastinates may not be lazy. A student who appears disengaged may be overwhelmed. A student who misses deadlines may not be irresponsible. A student who continually forgets instructions may not be refusing to listen. As educators, we are often observing the symptom rather than the cause. The work around executive functioning reminds us to ask a different question. Instead of asking, “Why isn’t this student doing the work?” we might ask, “What barrier is preventing this student from being successful?” That small shift changes everything.

Laurie Faith, Carol Anne Bush, and Peg Dawson describe this process through the Barrier-Strategies Protocol (BSP) in Executive Function Skills in the Classroom: Overcoming Barriers, Building Strategies. The protocol provides a collaborative framework for identifying barriers, selecting strategies, monitoring progress, and adjusting supports when needed. Instead of viewing executive functioning difficulties as deficits within the learner, BSP encourages educators and students to work together to problem-solve challenges and build increasingly independent learning habits.

In an eLearning environment, this approach can be particularly powerful. A student who repeatedly submits work late may not need another warning about deadlines. They may need support breaking assignments into smaller steps, using a checklist, setting calendar reminders, or establishing a routine for checking Brightspace each day. By focusing on barriers and strategies rather than compliance and consequences, educators can help students develop the skills necessary for long-term success.

For years, many of us assumed students naturally developed organization, planning, time management, and reflection. Yet we would never make the same assumption about reading. We teach reading strategies explicitly. We model them. We provide practice. We scaffold. We assess. Then we wonder why students need support with executive functioning. The same logic applies. Students benefit tremendously from learning what executive functioning is, identifying their strengths and needs, discussing strategies with peers, and reflecting on how they learn.

The good news is that executive functioning can be taught. In fact, there are some excellent resources available to help educators embed executive functioning into their regular classroom practice. One resource that has significantly influenced my thinking is Executive Functioning Guidebook: Strategies to Help All Students Achieve Success by Roberta Strosnider and Valerie Saxton Sharpe. Rather than treating executive functioning as a separate program or intervention, the authors present a flexible seven-step model that incorporates Universal Design for Learning principles and metacognitive practices into everyday teaching. The approach helps educators make executive-function development part of the regular learning experience rather than an add-on for a select group of students.

What I particularly appreciate about the guidebook is its practicality. The resource not only explains each executive functioning skill and its impact on learning, but also provides classroom-ready strategies, goal-setting frameworks, templates for success plans, student data collection tools, and age-appropriate supports that can be implemented across grade levels. The emphasis is not on “fixing” students. Instead, it focuses on helping learners understand themselves, identify barriers, leverage their strengths, and develop strategies that move them toward success.

In many ways, this mirrors what effective eLearning design should do. A well-designed course does more than deliver content. It teaches students how to manage the learning process itself. When learners are given opportunities to set goals, monitor progress, reflect on their strategies, and adjust their approach, they begin to develop the metacognitive habits that underpin successful learning both online and face to face.

Teaching students about executive functioning does not need to be complicated. Early in one of my online courses, students work through a short module that introduces the concept of executive functioning and the role it plays in learning. We explore skills such as organization, working memory, planning, time management, sustained attention, task initiation, and metacognition, helping students recognize that these are learned and developable skills rather than fixed traits.

After completing the learning module, students complete an Executive Function Checker survey adapted from the work of Laurie Faith from Activated Learning. The survey helps learners identify their relative strengths and areas for growth across a range of executive functioning domains, including working memory, task initiation, organization, planning, time management, goal-directed persistence, and metacognition.

What I love about this process is that it shifts the conversation away from labels and toward strategies. Rather than seeing themselves as “good students” or “bad students,” learners begin to recognize specific skills they can strengthen and specific strengths they can leverage. This simple act of awareness often becomes the starting point for meaningful conversations about learning, self-regulation, and success in both online and face-to-face environments.

One of my favourite approaches is inviting students to examine their own executive functioning profile and then discuss what works for them. The conversations are fascinating. Students begin to realize they are not alone. The student who struggles with organization discovers that another student has developed a system that works. The student who procrastinates learns that classmates face the same challenge. The student who appears effortlessly successful reveals the strategies sitting behind that success. Suddenly, executive functioning becomes something we can learn about rather than something we simply possess or lack.

Building supports directly into the learning environment is equally important. One of the biggest takeaways for me is that executive functioning supports should not feel like accommodations. They should feel like good course design. Checklists, graphic organizers, chunked assignments, progress indicators, reflection opportunities, planning templates, and visible timelines help everyone. The student with strong executive functioning may use them occasionally. The student who struggles may use them constantly. Both benefit. That is simply good Universal Design for Learning.

This is also where artificial intelligence becomes particularly interesting. Much like I have argued before that AI is not the enemy, executive functioning supports are not shortcuts. They are scaffolds. Tools such as Goblin.Tools can help learners break overwhelming tasks into manageable steps, estimate time requirements, and organize what some affectionately call a “brain dump” into an actionable plan. Can AI teach executive functioning? No. Can AI support executive functioning? Absolutely. Just as calculators did not eliminate mathematical thinking, AI does not eliminate planning, organization, or self-regulation. It can provide support while students continue developing those skills.

The more I learn about executive functioning, the more I believe it sits at the heart of effective eLearning. Students cannot demonstrate what they know if they cannot find the assignment. They cannot engage deeply if their cognitive resources are consumed by navigation. They cannot become assessment-capable learners if we never help them understand how they learn. The goal is not to build students who can survive a difficult course design. The goal is to build learning environments that help students thrive.

When we stop viewing executive functioning as a student problem and begin viewing it as a design opportunity, we create courses that are clearer, more inclusive, and more human. And in the end, that is what great teaching has always been about.