ADDIE - The most popular ISD

ADDIE is a popular instructional systems design (ISD). I say popular because it is the most discussed about methodology and also several organization still follow this methodology (with small modifications). I thought I must quickly capture what ADDIE is all about. So, here goes...

ADDIE model was designed to solve training problems. It was first established by the department of defense. It became popular after World War II.

Analysis phase is typically the first phase in the e-learning lifecycle. It involves analyzing the business goals, content for the course, and the learner’s prior skills. Analysis phase checks the quality of your course. It guides the designer while creating learning objectives. This phase involves the identification of the people and the deliverables for each of the phases. The areas addressed in this phase are:

• Goals and objectives of this course
• Learners and their prior knowledge
• Training gaps
• Available resources

Design Phase includes three steps:

1. Planning a design strategy
2. Selecting a format for the course
3. Creating a design document

The planning team, such as the manager and Instruction designer (ID), develops the project plan that guides each of the e-learning teams in the various phases of their activity. The output for this phase is the e-learning project plan and the design document. This plan provides guidance during the various stages of the e-learning process. The areas addressed in this phase are:

• Organization of content
• Presentation of ideas to learners
• Delivery format
• Types of activities/exercises

Development phase involves the actual creation of course or storyboarding. Information collected in the analysis and design phase is used to create the course. The design document plays a crucial role when the course is being storyboarded. A prototype is created to check for efficiency. Based on efficiency of the prototype, the course material is developed. When the first draft is complete, the course undergoes several review cycles to ensure accuracy of content. Typically, a pilot session is conducted on a few learners to test the efficacy of the course. The activities that are covered in this phase include:

• Develop instructions
• Create a prototype
• Develop the course material
• Conduct a review
• Run a pilot session

Implementation phase indicates the completion of course creation. The course is launched into the market based on the mode of delivery (CDs, web, PDA, etc.) decided by the planning team. The learners take the course. Learners and instructors are notified about the launch of the course. The activities that are covered in this phase include:

• Schedule the courses, enroll learners, and reserve on-site and off-site classrooms
• Notify learners and their supervisors about the course

Evaluation phase of e-learning tests the efficacy of the course. It judges/evaluates whether the course was successful and whether it helped the learners reach their end goal. The Evaluation specialist carries out the evaluation along with the instruction designer and the interface designer. Based on the feedback from the student assessment and instructors, the e-learning course material can be revised. The questions that are answered during this phase are:

• Do learners like the course?
• Did learners achieve the learning objectives at the end of the course?
• Did the course help the company achieve its business goals?
• Did your course bring about the desired behavioral change?

Many e-learning organizations have their e-learning life cycle that best suits them. ADDIE is the most popular approach. Many suggest that ADDIE is time consuming and very systematic. The focus invariably moves away from the learner. Some suggest that ADDIE involves many rounds of rework and documentation and creativity suffers.

Successive approximation is another alternative suggested by Michael Allen. This process involves creating a functional prototype that would be tested on typical learners. It is known to be an iterative process that involves less rework.

At Kern, we have our own DLC that is learner-centered. This process has been carefully designed to ensure that the DLC is iterative. At every phase, checks and value additions happen. It works well for us as every Kernite believes in this methodology.

Gagne's Nine Events as I see it

Gagne's nine events:

• Gain Attention
• State the objective
• Ensure recall of prior learning
• Present stimuli
• Provide learning guidance
• Elicit performance
• Provide feedback
• Assess performance
• Enhance retention and transfer

Lets us see whether these nine events still hold good in today's learning environment.

Gain Attention
I am a huge fan of this strategy. Begin with a bang. The first few minutes of a training program is the most crucial as the learner judges what is yet to come based on what is presented. You need to ensure that you grab the learner's interest and make the learner curious to see what may come ahead.

State Objective
I do not believe in stating the objectives as "At the end of the module, you will be able to blah, blah, blah". I think the gain attention also plays the role of helping the learner understand what the goal of the course is. It need not be stated overtly as long as the learner can see the relevance. If you have to state the objectives, do so differently. Read Michael Allen's book Guide to elearning to understand better. He has written this section beautifully.

Another interesting way to look at this would be... list the objectives depending on your learner. If they are the no nonsense types who like to see things upfront or if they are firm believers of traditional elearning, show it to them.

Ensure Recall of Prior Learning
This step also helps check where the learners are. However, learner analysis will tell you best where they are. So I rephrase to say it is a good opportunity to let the learner judge for him/herself where he or she stands.

Present Stimuli
I always thought this was interestingly phrased. This doesn't mean just display content. This means provide the learner with information that will make him/her think. Use the most effective strategy to ensure that the learner thinks, not reads or sees.

Provide Learning Guidance
This suits a classroom training better or may also be applicable for programs in which learner has access to trainers or instructors. You don't need to provide extra guidance if your strategy is good. But this again depends on your learners. If they require extra guidance, you must ensure that your learning solution provides this.

Elicit Performance
Provide challenging exercises to ensure that the learner gets an opportunity to check what he/she has learned.

Provide Feedback
Provide effective feedback to ensure that the learning outcomes are met.

Assess Performance
Gagne probably meant this to be the final examinations or assessments. As I see it, this would be performance in the real environment. This is monitored and checked.

Enhance Retention and Transfer
Performance assessment helps in retention and transfer of learning.

The only issue with Gagne's nine events is that it is unidirectional. The best solution would be to make it more iterative. Tests or practices and feedback sharing need not happen at the end of the program.