• 2. Design your course

    Approaches to designIllustration of the ADDIE model as a circular flowchart emphasising the design stage

    Now you have a clear idea of your audience and what you want them to achieve in your training, you can start designing activities to enable this to happen. You are now at the Design stage of the ADDIE framework. 

    When thinking about design there are many methods you can follow. We have chosen the ABC-Learning Design (ABD-LD) method developed by University College London, as it’s quick, simple and well tested! This method will introduce different learning activity types and take you through storyboarding your learner’s journey. 

    But before we go any further, let’s recap some of the key principles from the introductory video:

    Bloom’s taxonomy 

    defines different levels of learning, starting with remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating.

    Scaffolding
    this is the framework you build to guide your learners towards the learning outcome. You may provide more directed support at the start and remove the ‘scaffold’ to encourage independent thinking and consolidate learning. 

    Pedagogy v androgogy 

    pedagogy means ‘leading children’ whereas andragogy relates to teaching adults. Generally the difference is that adults must be able to see the relevance of their learning and relate it to their experiences, they are more self-directed and self-motivated. Think about how you can design this into your training. 

    Design to meet your learning outcomes 

    your design should enable learners to meet learning outcomes

    Make learning engaging 

    a variety of activity also helps with keeping learners engaged in your training. For tips see this presentation on Making Learning Memorable (with full speakers notes)

    We’ll talk about the different types of learning activities shortly, but we’ll start with thinking about how you will evaluate and assess different aspects of your training.