The Design phase of the ADDIE process occurs after the instructional designer has thoroughly analyzed the problem and reason for instruction, the learners, environment, and organization. Once the instructional designer feels they understand the topic and situation enough, they can then proceed to designing the instruction. In this stage, the instructional designer will become clearer on the goals of instruction. From there, they will then begin writing learning objectives. Learning goals are the general goals that the learner has that the instruction is supposed to make possible. Learning objectives are closely related to learning goals, however, learning objectives are much more specific and detailed than learning goals. Learning objectives should be measurable and use strong action verbs. The Kansas State University website offers a list of strong action verbs that can be used to create learning objectives. Kansas State University website also organizes the action verbs by categories of learning which include the following:
-Remember
-Understand
-Apply
-Analyze
-Evaluate
-Create
They explain, “each statement of a student learning outcome should include a verb that represents the level of learning that is expected” (Kansas State University, 2021). Getting clear on what category and level of learning a learner should obtain from the specific units of the course will help the instructional designer in creating a blueprint of a course. Knowing exactly what learners should learn from the course, as well as what they should be learning in each unit or module, will help the instructional designer to move to the next part of the Design stage in which they will be organizing the sequence of the course.
During the creation of the blueprint or course sequence, instructional designers will not necessarily need to create any of the actual content or assignments of the course as these specifics will be added during the Development phase. However, many designers do add some specific content during the Design phase if they have already worked on some of the content and know where it needs to be placed. Sometimes, other stakeholders, which are basically just those people who are affected by the design (management of the organization, coworkers, learners, etc) will have offered advice or sample materials to the instructional designer. In these situations, or if the designer prefers, they can input these specific materials before the Development stage has fully occurred.
At its core though, the Design phase is meant to be the time when the sequence of the course and overall blueprint is created. This will give the instructional designer some direction. They will also focus on the contents of each unit of the instruction and decide in what order the units should be placed. The information gained about learners previously will be especially helpful during the Design phase because where the learners are at and their skill levels will not only determine what general information should be included in each unit but will also determine the appropriate flow and sequence of the units involved.
Instructional designers will also brainstorm the best ways information can be communicated and plan the type of assignments and content they want to include without actually creating the content in its entirety. For example, many online courses include essay assignments, discussion activities, and offer learning materials which could be an assigned textbook readings or perhaps certain articles that would convey necessary information that the learner needs to be aware of. During the Design phase, the instructional designer will choose which types of assignments and materials they will use. They can then place the shell of the assignment in their course sequence and add the specific content during the next phase.
The first image below reminds us again of the overall process of the ADDIE model. The second image shows a zoom in of the Design phase specifically.
References
Branch, R.M. (2009). Instructional design: The ADDIE approach [Photograph]. New York: Springer. https://www.edapp.com/blog/addie-model-lesson-plan/
Kansas State University. (2021, March 11). Verb list for student learning outcomes. https://www.k-state.edu/assessment/toolkit/outcomes/verbs.html
