What is the ADDIE model and is it still relevant?

Often referred to as blueprinting, this stage brings in your learning expertise, conceptual thinking and a good dose of creativity. Design begins with your learning strategy – confirmation of the purpose and learning outcomes and agreement on the learning modality/ies (eg e-learning, facilitated training or coaching, social learning, performance aids and resources).

Depending on the scale and nature of the project, you may then deliver one or more of these in the design phase:

A high-level framework: An outline of your proposed design mapped to learning outcomes and content areas, and including ideas for text, multimedia, learning activities and assessment. Critically, you define the scope and duration of learning at this early stage.

A storyboard: A detailed design document which includes all the learning elements with written, graphical and audio content for development. You need to carefully consider learner engagement and interaction and link the design elements back to achievement of the learning objectives.

A prototype: A sample of the proposed solution which will give stakeholders an idea of the look and feel of the course in terms of visual design and functionality in the case of e-learning.

The design is converted into the final learning solution in this phase. The build may include:

• E-learning developed using an authoring tool.
• Videos and animations.
• Learner guides, facilitator guides and slides for facilitated training.
• Performance aids and resources to support on-the-job learning.

Testing is an important activity, particularly for e-learning. Additionally, you may run a pilot programme to validate the process and content with a sample group before going live with implementation.

The rubber now hits the road, and you deliver the newly developed learning solution to the target audience. Implementation actions will obviously depend on the organisation, project and learning modality but may include:

• Communication around the new learning.
• Uploading learning to your learning management system (LMS) and enrolling learners.
• Training trainers on the new material and booking workshops.
• Preparing the environment to support transfer of learning.

In this final phase, you gather feedback and data to determine whether the learning has achieved what you intended. The Kirkpatrick Model of evaluation is one that is often used to gain a full view of results on different levels:

Level 1 - Reaction: A survey to find out how learners liked and related to the learning.

Level 2 – Learning: Formative and summative assessments, possibly pre- and post-training, to check that learners have attained the required knowledge, skill and confidence as a result of the training.

Level 3 – Behaviour: Workplace evaluation to determine whether learners are applying the new knowledge and skills in their environment.

Level 4 – Results: Metrics to evaluate the impact the training has had on organisational outcomes and the Return on Investment (ROI) achieved.

You will also be able to draw statistics and reports from your LMS for evaluation. How many people have enrolled? How many people have completed?

It's not just about gathering the data – the real purpose of evaluation is to identify any areas for improvement or further action. Analyse the data to:

• Identify changes required in the learning content, process or functionality. Did learners miss some sections or find others confusing or not relevant? Was it too long or was there too little or too much content?
• Review assessments. Did the assessments accurately assess learning? Were there any significant patterns in responses which may point to changes required to the questions, content or methodology?
• Identify further learning support. Is the environment conducive to skills transfer? What else would encourage application?