ADDIE is a simple five-step process for instructional design, originally developed in 1975 for the US Army. Most instructional design models are based on the ADDIE structure.
So when you sit down with your e-learning development partner to create instructional design for your next project, keep certain points in mind. We made a checklist that you can follow.
The first step in the development process is about goal setting. Before you get started, answer these questions:
- Who is the target audience?
- What is the skill level of your learners?
- What are the desired learning outcomes?
- What are competitors delivering on the same subject?
- What should be covered, and what should be excluded?
- Do you have hard constraints in terms of time, budget, technical knowhow, or other resources?
In the design phase, your partner creates the modules required, including tests, exercises, lesson plans, media selection, and more. It must be a cohesive process, tying together all elements as part of the overall goal-oriented strategy.
Fill out these details internally:
- What resources are already available?
- Is the course to be completed within a particular time limit?
- Should it, entirely or in part, be teacher-driven?
- Can the modules be ordered from easiest to most difficult?
Ask your partner:
- How can the course address the needs of all kinds of learners?
- What assessments will you use to check learner comprehension?
- How will you request feedback?
- What will your LMS look like?
This stage is about putting into action everything decided in the first two steps; it involves drafting, producing and evaluating the e-learning program. In this stage, the checklist is not so much about questions or ideas, but about confirming that implementation is happening smoothly.
- Are all ideators involved closely in the development process?
- Are all stakeholders regularly reviewing the development?
- Is development proceeding within predetermined timeframes and as per plan?
Once the developed course is ready, roll it out to a test group. Based on the feedback from the learners and trainers in this group, prepare an initial checklist of changes needed in final implementation.
A major point to check here is whether the tool is intuitive. Developers often feel that their product is easy to use – however, it’s important to ask real learners in order to confirm this is the case.
In addition, ask:
- What data is being mined?
- Is this sufficient? Is this too much?
- How are you using the data?
- Do you have legal permission to mine and use this data in this manner?
- How are personal information and course-related records being maintained?
- What could go wrong in the launch and later in the deployment?
- How can you mitigate against those problems?
- Do you have back-up plans in place?
At every stage, evaluate whether or not the objectives have been met (‘formative’ evaluation). At the end of the course, conduct summative evaluation.
- Have the desired objectives been met?
- Specify and verify against each objective defined in the ‘Analysis’ phase.
- Do any problems remain unsolved?
- Does user feedback match this assessment?
- Does the system work as per plan, including data capture and analysis?
- Were there any issues pertaining to security, implementation or user-friendliness?
E-learning content and instructional design creation is not just a one-time job. Continuous evaluation, revision and repetition is probably the most important part of the process.
The foundation of the ADDIE program is the course objectives, defined in the first stage of the process. The most important thing to remember is that every aspect of instructional design should be cohesively driven by these objectives.