Within the realm of Instructional Design, the term ADDIE is often tossed around; Love it or hate it, it looks like ADDIE will be around for awhile, so you might as well brush up on your terminology! Some folks may wonder what ADDIE stands for, and for those folks – here you go!
ADDIE is an acronym used to encompass an Instructional Design model of: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. Love it or hate it, if you work within the teaching and learning industry, you will become quite friendly with these terms as most Instructional Design models tend to be some variation of the ADDIE model. Below I will further breakdown each ‘step’ in the ADDIE model:
Analysis – Analysis is the highest level of course development. In it’s recommended format, this phase seeks to compile all information relevant to the project and 1) determine which delivery method will best display the content in a meaningful manner, (2) whether more information is required and from whom, and (3) high-level project goals.
Design – Within the design phase, the Instructional Designer will take information compiled in the Analysis phase and will outline (typically in design documentation) how the learner will learn the content. This often includes the specification of learning objectives, determination of instructional strategies, task analysis. At this point, some clients may also wish to have assessment items specified, instructional tasks further broken down into a task analysis, or high-level media descriptions.
Development – This phase involves the Instructional Designer taking the information outlined in the Design phase and putting it into practice. What do I mean by that? Well. This is where all of the content creation will occur and may include storyboards, media development and implementation, assessment item development and implementation, authoring, and/or rapid prototyping, just to name a few. Few Instructional Designer (in larger organizations at least) get down and dirty within the Analysis and Design phases, but all Instructional Designers gain experience within the Development phase. This is my favourite phase!
Implementation – Once the content has been developed, the Instructional Designer will implement the course. This may mean exporting it to a SCORM package for installation on a client’s Learning Management System (LMS) of preference or delivering the course as a complete package. This is where all of the testing occurs, as it is important to ensure that the developed product functions in the manner necessary to achieve the client’s project requirements.
Evaluation – Finally, the evaluation phase seeks to determine whether the developed product achieves the project goals specified in the Analysis and Design phases. Does the product facilitate learning in the manner for which it was intended? Can the learners achieve the outlined learning goals? Once evaluation has been completed, Instructional Designers may be required to further revise the product, as specified by the client.
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