E-learning and the Addie Model

Introduction to Instructional Design and the ADDIE Model

What is Instructional Systems Design?

The most widely used methodology for developing new training programs is called Instructional Systems Design (ISD) It is also known as Instructional Systems Design & Development (ISDD), the Systems Approach to Training (SAT), or just Instructional Design (ID). This approach provides a step-by-step system for the evaluation of students' needs, the design and development of training materials, and the evaluation of the effectiveness of the training intervention.

ISD evolved from post-World War II research in the United States military to find a more effective and manageable way to create training programs. These efforts led to early ISD models that were developed and taught in the late 1960's at Florida State University. Today, Walter Dick and Lou Carey are widely viewed as the torchbearers of the methodology, with their authoritative book, The Systematic Design of Instruction (Dick and Carey).

Why Use a Systems Approach?

A system is any set of components that work together to achieve a specified outcome or goal. Think of the cruise control system on your car. You set the desired speed (or goal) and the cruise control sets the gas injection to the proper level. An important aspect of any system is the feedback mechanisms that ensure the goal is achieved or maintained. Using the cruise control analogy, the car does not just lock the gas pedal in one position. If you begin to drive uphill, the car briefly slows down until the speedometer information is fed back to the cruise control system, which then increases the amount of gas and the desired speed is reached once again.

Just as a systems approach with its requisite feedback makes cruise control a viable system to maintain driving speed, so, too, the systems approach provides the smoothest development means for training programs.

The ADDIE Model

There are more than 100 different ISD models, but almost all are based on the generic "ADDIE" model, which stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation, as illustrated in the figure below. Each step has an outcome that feeds the subsequent step.

Analysis --> Design --> Development --> Implementation --> Evaluation

During analysis, the designer develops a clear understanding of the "gaps" between the desired outcomes or behaviors, and the audience's existing knowledge and skills. The design phase documents specific learning objectives, assessment instruments, exercises, and content. The actual creation of learning materials is completed in the development phase. During implementation, these materials are delivered or distributed to the student group. After delivery, the effectiveness of the training materials is evaluated.

Analyse

Analyse system (department, job, etc) to gain a complete understanding of it.
Compile a task inventory of all tasks associated with each job (in needed).
Select tasks that need to be trained (needs analysis).
Build performance measures for the tasks to be trained.
Choose instructional setting for the tasks to be trained, eg classroom, on-the-job, self study, etc.
Estimate what it is going to cost to train the tasks

Design

Develop the learning objectives for each task, to include both terminal and enabling objectives.
Identify and list the learning steps required to perform the task.
Develop the performance tests to show mastery of the tasks to be trained, eg written, hands on, etc.
List the entry behaviours that the learner must demonstrate prior to training.
Sequence and structure the learning objectives, eg easy tasks first.

Develop

List activities that will help the students learn the task.
Select the delivery method such as tapes, handouts, etc.
Review existing material so that you do not reinvent the wheel.
Develop the instructional courseware.
Synthesise the courseware into a viable training program.
Validate the instruction to ensure it accomplishes all goals and objectives.

Implement

Create a management plan for conducting the training.
Conduct the training.

Evaluate

Review and evaluate each phase (analyse, design, develop, implement) to ensure it is accomplishing what it is supposed to.
Peform external evaluations, eg observe that the tasks that were trained can actually be performed by the learner on the job.
Revise training system to make it better.

New Instructional Design

Some have criticised the ADDIE model as being too systematic, ie too linear, too constraining, too inflexible and even too time-consuming to implement. Kruse, in Introduction to Instructional Design and the ADDIE Model , suggests an alternative to the systematic approach he calls the systemic design model that emphasises a more holistic, iterative approach to the development of education. Rather than developing the instruction in phases, the entire development team works together from the start to rapidly build modules, which can be tested with the student audience, and then revised, based on their feedback.

This holistic approach to instructional design lends itself more to the learning styles of the next generation of students now entering our University. Called the Net Generation, they have grown up with information technology. Their aptitudes, attitudes, expectations, and learning styles reflect the environment in which they were raised, one that is decidedly different from that which existed when faculty and administrators were growing up. This next generation of learners could be called the "Now Generation". They want everything now including their learning. They have been raised on high impact images and audio. They learn using hypertext and multi-task more than the generations before them. Not only are they demanding 'just in time' education, research is also showing that they have signs of 'rewired' brains. They are learning differently from the linear text-based way most faculty members have learnt. This is a huge challenge for instructional designers, course developers and staff developers. Role plays and simulations developed and continuously upgraded using scenario-based learning to 'push' students into higher order learning, could hold the keys to a new form of instructional design, because scenarios combine the best of the technology with the best of learning approaches Educating the Net Generation .

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Publicado em 02/12/2010