Instructional Design Models For Online Courses

The more effective your company is at transferring knowledge and expertise to those who need it within your organization, the smarter and more efficient -- and profitable -- your company will be. Training is going online. We have all experienced that with the pandemic. Meetings, customer interactions, and now training have gone virtual. As you take your training program into online courses, understanding Instructional Design Models will make your efforts more fruitful. 

What Are The Three Basic Elements Of Instructional Design?

There are many instructional design models (see below), but each has these basic elements to its design:

• Analysis: Analysis includes understanding what the learners need to learn. This can include anything from job-specific skills to human resources to personal development. As you identify the needs of your team, this is the time to create goals and objectives for each online course.
• Design: The design is how the teacher will lay out the course, from curriculum to lesson plans to course materials. You may create storyboards, graphical design elements, and other user interface tools.
• Development: Once the course design is in place, development means creating everything, including supporting documents, presentations, videos, etc. 
• Implementation: At this point, your online course is ready to go, and it’s time to roll it out to your team. This begins by training the trainers and supervisors on the entire system to ensure compliance and consistency. 
• Evaluation: Evaluation quantifies the effectiveness of the training -- did your learners learn? Where can improvements be made? Evaluation will assess each stage in the development of instruction.

What Are Some Instructional Design Models?

The elements described above are known collectively as the ADDIE model - Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. This basic model is the foundation of other instructional design models, including Dick & Carey. Kemp ISD, Interactive Model, Kirk and Gustafson Model, and many more (source). And maybe there will be a new ADDIE-based model named after your company or your trainers! The key is to create a model that focuses on objectives and goals and has a feedback loop for continual improvement in both training and outcomes.

How Do I Choose An Instructional Model?

As Stephen Covey put it, “Begin with the end in mind.” Start with your goals and objectives. Keep those as the focus for your training program. Then, follow these steps to choose an instructional design model that fits both your team and your goals.

1. Write down those objectives.
2. Do your research and identify 3-5 models that resonate with you and your organization.
3. Write out the advantages, disadvantages, pros, and cons of each model.
4. Evaluate what you have and make your choice.

What Software Do Instructional Designers Use?

A good Learning Management System (LMS) will be the foundation of your instructional design and online courses. One of the keys to training your workforce successfully and transferring that stored knowledge and expertise to the right people is getting everybody to use it. That means it needs to be fun, friendly, professional, and consumable. Your LMS needs to create a platform that makes creating your curriculum and courses simple and quick. When you can get a course up and running and get the trainees excited about going through the material, that leaves more time for you to get on with things in your business.

Your online courses should have a high level of sophistication and be fully customizable to fit your training needs. With a good LMS, there’s almost nothing that’s not possible, from custom certificates (even wallet-sized!), integration with other software, and micro-learning. With access to analytics and reporting, your whole team will be on board with your training program.

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