The Basics of Instructional Design Processes

Preparation phase

When starting eLearning projects, the priority is to gather as much information and data as possible. All information gathered is used to create a narrative about what the learners need from the project. This is done extremely rapidly.

This is followed by the ‘Savvy Start’, which is a kick-off meeting for stakeholders to discuss initial ideas and lay the groundwork for future project direction. The challenge many times is to help clients or project sponsors understand their exact requirements.

Savvy start can be customized according to the need of the clients, the project, or even the constraints. However, the general model involves brainstorming, creating a narrative, turning these into prototypes, planning and revising. Some of the main things to establish in a savvy start are:

• Rules for the kick-off meeting and project goals.
• Evaluating past learning experiences of the learners.
• Explaining successive iterations.
• Creating a strategy to bring about behavioural change in learners.

A good, comprehensive savvy start can be done in two to three days, but can also be reduced depending on time constraints.

Iterative Design Phase

Rapid prototyping based on the design guidelines and ideas is the norm for SAM. These prototypes can be used to get validation and quicker buy-in from stakeholders, both internal and external. Because all stakeholders have been consulted at the start of the project (‘savvy start’), there is a quick turnaround during design reviews. Leading to feedback being processed faster.

Things to establish during the planning stage of this phase are:

• What are the expectations?
• What are the constraints?
• What is the cost of the project?
• What delivery platform should be used?

Based on this, plans can be documented well and in detail. The idea in this stage is to rotate through design, prototype, and review.

Iterative Development Phase

Coming into the development phase, there is now a design proof that has been achieved thanks to exhaustively working on ideas and feedback in the previous design stage. This design proof is collaboratively approved and thus, presents a valid blueprint model that the development team can start implementing.

As the blueprints start turning into working materials, internal stakeholders can cycle through development, implementation and evaluation, getting valuable feedback from external stakeholders as well. The course material can be further refined in iterations over the alpha and beta phases, before going for a full-scale release.

This is a handy checklist for implementing SAM, with a breakdown of points for both instructional designers and project managers.

ASSURE Instructional Design Model

The ASSURE model was developed based on Robert Gagne’s work, specifically, on the nine-step model of instruction.

ASSURE gives instructional designers a model for integrating technology and media into learning and development coursework.

Here are the six stages it lays out:

1. Analyze learners — Gather information about the learners. Who they are, demographics, learning style, prior knowledge etc. This information will be useful for making decisions later in the process about eLearning design and implementation. Use a client questionnaire to ask the right questions.
2. State standards and objectives — Instructors need to determine what is the goal of the instruction and what the learner will gain from the course. This also helps during assessment and measuring the impact of the course on the learner.
3. Select strategy, media and material — Decide on a delivery method for your eLearning project. Determine the degree of technology and media input. For example, if you’re creating a blended learning course, you need to decide what the contribution from online learning will be and what the contribution from offline classroom teaching will be. Once a broad overview is ready, the details and material needed to implement the strategy can be decided.
4. Utilize media and material — This is the implementation stage of the instructional design process. Prepare the material that has to be implemented. This is where the media designer or developer comes into creating graphics needed, or when additional learning resources to support the coursework is created.

A good practice to execute this project stage is to follow the 5 Ps.

• Preview the media and material. Carry out a demo run.
• Prepare the technology and media.
• Prepare the environment. The learning environment can include software or hardware in the classroom.
• Prepare the learner. Brief the students on course plan, context and assessment strategy.
• Provide the learning.

5. Require learner participation — Create a strategy for engaging the students. This can be in the form of classroom discussions, QA sessions etc. Since ASSURE is a classroom-oriented instructional design model, it emphasizes offline strategies to complement online learning techniques.

6. Evaluate and revise — Evaluating the performance of the learning design process and how successful it is for the stakeholders involved is an important step. Based on the evaluation results, instructional designers and project managers need to make the necessary revisions to the course.

ARCS Model

The ARCS model was devised by John Keller as a theory for learning motivation. ARCS stands for — Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction.

According to Keller, these are 4 elements of the learning design process that, when implemented, can improve motivation in learners for online training or eLearning. Specifically, these are:

1. Attention — This can be gained by arousing curiosity and catching the learner’s attention with strategies such as active participation, humour, conflict, examples and inquiry.
2. Relevance — Learners will not take to the course if it is not relevant to their concerns and needs. Some strategies that can help establish relevance are building on experience of current skills, demonstrating value in the present and future, incorporating a sense of achievement for learners, providing them with choice, and supporting learner growth by having them share their knowledge as experts with other learners.
3. Confidence — Confidence in the task and their ability improve the motivation level of learners. This can be done by giving a specific roadmap of learning objectives and achievements and providing feedback to the learners in a positive tone.
4. Satisfaction — By showing learners that the knowledge they have gained is beneficial, learner satisfaction can be boosted and can increase the impetus for participating in more training programs.

While ARCS was established as a framework for learner motivation, the importance of learners to elearning projects has made ARCS a model for approaching the design and development of L&D courses as well.

In the instructional design process, the 4 elements of ARCS can be translated as:

1. Identifying the elements of human motivation.
2. Determining the requirements for motivation based on audience analysis.
3. Designing and developing learning material and strategies that can trigger learner motivation.
4. Implementing learning material and strategy.