How to Apply the ADDIE Model in Learning & Development

When it comes to designing learning experiences, instructional designers can choose from a number of models to follow. From the backward design model to the successive approximation model, these various design processes all serve to guide instructional designers in conceiving, creating, and continuously evolving learning experiences. 

Let’s break down one of the most common design models in the field of instructional design: the ADDIE model. In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know to hit the ground running designing instruction using the ADDIE model.

What’s with Instructional Design Models Anyway?

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s first dig into the instructional design itself. What is it? And what do instructional designers do?

To be fair, there are a lot of definitions, and this article from Instructional Design Central does a great job compiling them.

My favorite is perhaps this definition from the University of Michigan, which states that instructional design (or ID, for us lazy, er efficient, folks) is:

“the systematic development of instructional specifications using learning and instructional theory to ensure the quality of instruction.”

Instructional designers use models to guide how they systematically develop quality instruction, from analyzing learning needs, designing and developing content, delivering said content, and lastly (and often overlooked) evaluating the whole she-bang.

Working with The ADDIE Model

The ADDIE model is the most commonly used instructional design model in the field, although certainly not the only one out there.  The name is an acronym for each phase of the instructional design process. ADDIE is a colloquial term for the common sequence of steps used to design instruction. 

So let’s take a look at each phase of the design model and break them apart. Up first? Analysis.

The First Step of the ADDIE Model: Let’s Do Analysis

When we’re diving into a project, the first step instructional designers take is to analyze needs. Thus analysis phase has a number of key steps, including asking questions, gathering data, creating objectives, identifying resources, and documenting each step of the process.

The goal of our analysis is to determine three things:

• Who are our learners? What do they need to know? How will they grow and develop as a result of this learning?
• How does the content need to be presented? How will we generate content? And from where?
• How will we deliver the content to our audience? Through what platform or modality?

When conducting the analysis we must be collaborative with our subject matter experts and/or project managers not only to gather feedback, but also to be mindful of budget, timeframes, and resources.

Analysis Phase Deliverables

Once we’ve completed our analysis, we will have working drafts of the following:

• A project plan
• A design document

The Second Phase of the ADDIE Model: Let’s Design

In the design phase, we brainstorm, prototype, and test our ideas. And honestly? The more time we spent iterating here, the less time we’ll spend troubleshooting down the road.

When designing, we consider three key things:

• First, what structure will we use when creating content?
• Second, what strategy will be incorporated for learners to gain knowledge?
• And third, how will we assess our work to ensure we’re meeting expected outcomes?

When considering how we structure content, it’s critical that we write clear learning objectives. In fact, I’ve talked about this previously when looking at why courses often fail.  Without clear outcomes, the learner has no concrete end goal.

Once we establish clear learning outcomes, we can then parse down our content and describe the instructional materials — including activities and assessments — we’ll use to meet those objectives.

Design Phase Deliverables

Once we’ve completed our design phase, we will have the following:

• A final draft of the design document that will be grounded in the analysis we completed
• A prototype of our end product that will include storyboards, learner activities, and rules-of-play for instructors and learners
• A more detailed project plan

The Third Phase of the ADDIE Model: Let’s Develop 

In this phase, we do the boots-on-the-ground, nitty-gritty work of development. From writing out content to creating deliverables, this is where an instructional designer creates more finalized tangible assets for delivery.

In this phase, we build out the design prototypes to create a full learning experience while, of course, sticking to the project plan and meeting identified objectives along the way.

The development includes several areas of work, such as drafting and prototyping, producing materials, and testing and evaluating output. It’s critical to point out that this process is cyclical and iterative. We might conduct a pilot test with a sample audience, then take everything back to the drawing board. Or, when evaluating our learning materials, we might realize that we need to bring everything together in a different way.

Development Phase Deliverables

Once we’ve completed our development, we can deliver the following:

• The content: storyboards, presentations, media, and the user interface
• The learner activities such as interactions, assignments, and assessments

The Fourth Phase of ADDIE: Implementation

Most courses are delivered three ways: instructor-led learning, e-learning, or some blend of the first two. In the implementation phase, we need to test our instructional materials with our learners so that we can make necessary revisions.

Prior to launching the course, it’s key that the instructional designers have prepared the instructors, learners, and the learning environment itself. Bottom line: we don’t want any issues impeding the course launch.

The Fifth (But Not Last!) Phase of the ADDIE Model: Evaluation

Even though the “E” comes at the end of the ADDIE acronym, the evaluation doesn’t just come last. If we don’t consider evaluation from the beginning, we will find ourselves without the necessary data at the end of our development process. And then we’ll be unable to answer two critical questions:

• What results do we want to achieve? 
• How will we measure successes?

Even though the “E” comes at the end of the ADDIE acronym, evaluation doesn’t just come last.

So when do we define our success criteria? When do we start the evaluation?

Well, we actually do this at the very beginning, in our analysis phase. We need to define both our formative and summative evaluations, knowing we can use quantitative and qualitative metrics for both.

We need to define our success criteria for the design process itself, our learners’ experiences in the course, and the learners’ outcomes.

Evaluation Deliverables

Once we’ve completed our evaluation planning and the evaluation itself, we can deliver the following:

• An assessment plan for measuring course effectiveness
• An evaluation plan for the instructional design process
• A post-mortem on the effectiveness of the design process

Let’s Wrap This Up

Hopefully, this article has provided a good overview of the ADDIE model, from analysis to design, development, implementation, and evaluation. Not only did we explore the key areas of work for each phase of the model, but also we identified the deliverables an instructional designer might provide in each phase of the design process.

While the ADDIE model is often criticized for its linear approach (which can be both time and resource-intensive), it’s important to remember that anything can be adapted. The ADDIE model can be as iterative as the instructional designer is willing to make it and there’s plenty of room for rapid prototyping and revision.

That said, in future articles, we’ll explore alternatives to the ADDIE model, including Dick and Carey’s systematic design of instruction, the Kemp design model, the backward design model, and the successive approximation model (SAM). Each model has benefits for instructional designers when developing content and, ultimately, for learners when consuming it.