Learning design lies at the heart of all workplace training. Although the design for learning is usually concealed from employees, it involves deliberate choices about what, when, where and how to train. Decisions need to be made about the content, structure, timing, pedagogical strategies, sequence of learning activities, and type and frequency of assessment in the course, as well as the nature of technology used to support learning. Making these decisions is the process of creating your own design.

Designing a course for learning is similar to completing a jigsaw puzzle: completing the big picture by using the different pieces requires careful planning and using an instructional design approach or model helps, as it provides a structure and meaning to the learning material. It allows designers to visualise the learning need and break down the process of designing the material or materials into steps.

There are a number of learning design approaches that designers use: Gagne’s Nine Events of Instructions, Bloom’s Taxonomy, SAM (Successive Approximation Model), Design Thinking, and ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation).

As an approach, ADDIE has almost become a standard as it is a versatile and can be used to design any type of training or instruction, including workplace training. It is a great jumping off point, with clear steps and procedures that are simple for beginners to understand, yet still employed by experts. Each step of ADDIE is flexible and can be varied according to the specific circumstances of the project. Yet, it is also rigid. Each step must be thoroughly executed, and well-documented, for it to work successfully. It can be tempting to cut corners, and skips steps in the process, but returning to previous steps is very difficult and time consuming.

As a designer, my approach to design and development learning solutions is to apply the all-important adult learning principles, integrating it with the most pertinent instructional design model that suit your requirements, with contemporary design and techniques to ensure that your content best serves your learner’s needs.

Hi, I’m Manny. I design learning.