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Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” His statement sums up the essence of learning through modern methods of teaching, which involve students in every step of the process to create an enriching learning experience.
But developing a successful learning program is no easy task. A quality training program should be appealing and distinct in terms of content. It must be tailored to learner needs and align with learner goals and objectives. How can educators create such a program? Enter, instructional design models.
An instructional design model is a framework that guides the creation of educational and training programs. It breaks down the process into multiple stages to facilitate goal-setting, meet specific learner requirements and achieve desired outcomes through effective deployment of training materials and tools.
One of the most common models of instructional design is the ADDIE training model. Let’s explore the intricacies of the ADDIE model.
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What Is An ADDIE Model?
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Stages Of The ADDIE Training Model
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Example Of An ADDIE Model
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Expand Horizons With Harappa
What Is An ADDIE Model?
The ADDIE training model is a five-phase approach used by educators, training developers and instructional designers to create impactful learning programs. ADDIE is an acronym, where each letter stands for a particular phase of the methodology—A for Analysis, D for Design, D for Development, I for Implementation and E for Evaluation.
Conceived in the 1970s by Florida State University’s Center for Educational Technology, the ADDIE model was initially part of a military training program for the US Army. It has undergone various revisions and modifications since then to become an improved, more flexible version of itself.
Standing the test of time, today the ADDIE model is one of the most extensively deployed methods of instructional design. Its five well-defined stages make the model simple to use and easy to align with organization strategy.
Stages Of The ADDIE Training Model
The five stages of the ADDIE training model were traditionally executed in a linear sequence. Educators would complete each step of the ADDIE model in education before proceeding to the next, and then repeat the process in a cyclical manner to achieve the desired results. Over the years, the model has become more dynamic and interactive. The steps are iterated and customized according to business needs to deliver favorable outcomes.
Let’s look at each stage of the ADDIE training model in detail.
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Analysis
The analysis stage of an ADDIE training model lays the groundwork for an effective learning program. Instructional designers analyze learner demographics, their professional goals and preferences, current training needs and skill gaps.
A thorough analysis revolves around finding the answers to questions such as:
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Who are the target participants?
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What problem does the training aim to solve?
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What training tools are to be applied?
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What is the primary objective of the training?
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What is an ideal learning environment?
Collaboration with domain experts is essential during the analysis phase to determine program timelines and goals in line with available resources and budget.
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Design
The design phase of the ADDIE training model involves a lot of brainstorming, prototyping and testing. Here, instructional designers utilize all of the analysis from the previous phase to map out a blueprint of the learning program and make informed decisions on program strategy, format, structure, duration, delivery methods and feedback mechanisms.
Creating a prototype during the design phase allows instructors to effectively communicate the value of the learning program and its goals to stakeholders. A prototype may include storyboards and presentation slides on active learning activities, learner assessments and an outline of instructional materials. The final design is then examined with team members to make necessary adjustments and fine-tune it to perfection.
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Development
From creating engaging content to refining the learning framework, the development phase of the ADDIE training model puts plans into action. Course content is generated, instructional and communication strategies are put in place and the finer details such as multimedia and graphics are added. The aim is to make the learning product as appealing as possible to the target audience. Ease of navigation and user-friendliness are also taken into account.
The development phase of the ADDIE model is often iterative. The end product is tested with the sample audience and quality checks are performed. Such pilot tests allow instructional designers to minimize oversight, pinpoint weak links and improve processes. Care is taken to ensure the content is free from grammatical, spelling or syntactical errors.
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Implementation
The fourth phase of the ADDIE model is all about execution and delivery of the learning program to its participants. This can be through e-learning, instructor-led learning or blended learning. A large part of the implementation phase focuses on training educators on how to use the course content and training materials, familiarizing them with the technology on board and acquainting them with the end goals.
An effective learning environment is set up where learners have the best possible access to the tools required to successfully complete the program. Instructional designers monitor how learners respond to the course, document learner performance and track course progress.
The primary questions answered in the implementation phase include:
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Is the content easy to access?
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How well do learners understand the course content?
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Are program objectives being met?
All such observations are critical for the last and final phase of the ADDIE training process—evaluation.
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Evaluation
The ‘E’ of ADDIE—evaluation—focuses on measuring the efficacy of the entire learning program and rolling out improvements. However, evaluation occurs not only at the end of the ADDIE training model but is also necessary throughout its lifecycle to ensure the best possible outcomes from each stage.
Evaluation can be of two types:
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Formative:
Formative evaluation happens in every step of the ADDIE training process. Such evaluations provide relevant information to revise and polish course materials, perfect lesson plans, revisit targets, correct errors and enhance the entire learning program to meet organizational needs.
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Summative:
Summative evaluation comes in once the learning program is complete. It assesses the overall performance of the program—how well it has worked, what are the areas of improvement and whether predetermined objectives have been met.
The evaluation phase allows instructional designers to implement actionable changes for the benefit of upcoming and future courses.
From analysis, design and development to implementation and evaluation, the ADDIE training process facilitates the creation of an impactful learning experience—whether online, offline or blended. The structural nature of the model allows instructional designers to organize workload, identify best practices and achieve the desired results.
Example Of An ADDIE Model
The ADDIE model instructional design has seen widespread use in diverse learning environments and circumstances. One such instance is Oakland University in Michigan, USA.
Looking for new and innovative ways to engage young learners, a group of librarians from Oakland University developed “a credit-bearing information literacy course”. They used the phases of analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation—in other words, the ADDIE model in education —to integrate best practices into the course and draw in young learners.
The course creation involved the following steps:
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A: Existing course content and best practices were examined to identify major problems to be addressed and areas needing revision
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D: A structure was created, dividing instructional content into sections based on defined student learning outcomes
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D: A simulated version of the course was tested with learners to correct errors, collect feedback and make changes accordingly
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I: The revised section of the course was offered to students and their response were monitored
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E: The revised course’s effectiveness was assessed
This is an example of an ADDIE model in action. The ADDIE model helped the librarians come up with a powerful course that was more dynamic and interactive, and tailored to student needs. As a result, the university saw increased levels of student engagement.
Expand Horizons With Harappa
Digitalization and the widespread adoption of technology have revolutionized the field of instructional design. Today, instructional designers need to know how to effectively apply the ADDIE learning model in a digital landscape to be able to cater to a rapidly evolving student base and deliver quality solutions.
Harappa’s Inspiring Faculty Program helps experienced faculty keep pace with the demands of the changing classroom through a rich, blended and integrated online-first learning journey. It leverages application-oriented concepts such as the Pyramid Principle, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Meta Cognition and Visual Thinking to deliver transformative outcomes.
Built on Harappa’s 10 on 10 pedagogy, the 15-week program focuses on impactful deliverables. These include creating result-oriented pedagogical frameworks for best-in-class learning, fostering coaching-led, trust-based and goals-driven dialog and embracing technology and innovative training methods. A skill map of must-have “Thrive Skills” encourages student centricity, empathetic listening, creative problem-solving, bias-free perceptions and openness to feedback.
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