A Practical Approach to Instructional Design

Explore core instructional design models, including the ADI model, nine events of instruction, and Kirkpatrick's training evaluation model, and apply them to design effective e-learning and adult learning experiences.

Explore Gagne's nine events of instruction to design effective e-learning, from gaining attention and presenting objectives to eliciting performance, providing feedback, and reinforcing retention and transfer.

Explore Kirkpatrick's training evaluation model to measure a web based training's effectiveness across reaction, learning, behavior, and results, using surveys, interviews, and checklists.

Analyze needs, target audience, and learning styles before designing a course; interview clients, align content and duration, and craft engaging activities while measuring effectiveness.

Learn to conduct an SME interview without preparation by researching topics, drafting relevant questions, and building trust to collect content for a telecom call center communication skills course.

Learn how to maximize SME interviews for instructional design by preparing with background research, asking targeted questions, and distinguishing need-to-know from nice-to-know content to bridge skill gaps.

Explore how an instructional designer prepares for an SME interview, gathers background information, asks targeted questions, and builds trust to shape a telecom customer service training.

Identify the gap between current and required performance to determine training needs, what to teach, and who to train, using interviews or questionnaires to inform a learning analysis brief.

Perform learner analysis to identify skills, knowledge, competencies, learning styles, motivation, and preferences of your target audience, and use surveys or interviews to tailor an effective instructional strategy.

Perform content analysis by determining content type, breaking it into chunks, and organizing a logical hierarchy; use sequencing like general to specific and problem to solution, with flow charts.

Choose an appropriate training delivery modality by analyzing your audience and setting, comparing instructor-led, on-the-job, self-instruction, and technology-based options, and using blended learning when suitable.

Learn to write clear, measurable instructional objectives using Bloom's taxonomy, focusing on audience, behavior, condition, and criteria to guide design and assessment.

Understand how the design phase finalizes content, instructional strategies, and assessment tools, and creates a design document that outlines the course structure, topics, objectives, and media tools.

Master project management by planning, organizing, directing, and controlling resources within a finite period to meet goals; set timelines, milestones, and budgets using tools, dashboards, and clear communication.

Learn to conduct task and content analyses, perform needs analysis, define clear objectives with Bloom's taxonomy, and empathize with learners to design effective instructional activities and assess outcomes.

Develop effective and engaging training courses by selecting appropriate presentation techniques, crafting storyboards, using visual elements, writing technical documents, and evaluating learner performance with quiz questions.

Learn how to create a storyboard as a screen-by-screen blueprint that outlines content, graphics, audio, and interactions for e-learning and rapid authoring.

Brainstorming fuels creative ideas for effective storyboards and engaging training. Apply mind mapping, six thinking hats, and lateral thinking to generate inputs, define goals, and shape learning objectives.

Explore storytelling, scenario-based, toolkit, and demonstration practices to present content in engaging storyboards. Learn to craft realistic situations, dialogues, and interactive exercises with clear feedback and flexible, non-linear toolkit options.

Engage learners by designing interactive, goal-based, learner-centered e-learning experiences that use case studies, storytelling, and real-world scenarios to connect new knowledge with existing understanding.

Write clear, concise, and engaging e-learning content that stands alone without an instructor, using short sentences, simple language, active voice, and bullets with diagrams when possible.

Leverage visuals strategically to engage diverse learning styles, pairing graphics with text, audio, video, and interactivity to boost understanding and retention, while keeping visuals simple, relevant, and high quality.

Master concise technical writing that translates complex information into clear manuals, how-to guides, and tutorials through structured steps, audience awareness, and accuracy.

Craft concise summaries that help learners recall key points, gain true understanding, and focus on the main idea; include end-of-lesson and end-of-training summaries, review for accuracy, and avoid copy-paste.

Explore formative and summative evaluation techniques to assess learner performance, from informal tools like reflections and polls to formal quizzes and online assessments, with scenario based higher order thinking questions.

Provide constructive feedback after assessments by restating the learner’s action, explaining why answers are correct or incorrect, avoiding criticism, and linking examples to realistic learning concepts to encourage improvement.

Explore popular e-learning authoring tools such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Presenter, Articulate Engage, and Articulate Storyline, and review a web-based training demo to learn from Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.

Create an interactive storyboard that explains content screen by screen using storytelling and scenario-based techniques, supported by visuals, clear on-screen text, and real-life examples.

Explore the process of releasing courses and develop checklists to review the developed course, including prerelease and post release checklists.

Learn to review an e-business course using pre-release and post-release checklists, ensuring objective alignment, engaging and learner-centric content, and aligned quizzes and visuals.

Review pre-release and post-release checklists to ensure clear objectives, learner-focused content and activities, and error-free courses, while verifying that links and buttons work and the course runs on all browsers.

Learn how to evaluate courses using Kirkpatrick's training evaluation model. Apply this framework to assess instructional design in web-based training.

Evaluate a course using Kirkpatrick's training evaluation model to measure reaction, learning, behavior, and results, using happy sheets, feedback forms, observations, achievement tests, performance tests, or interviews.

Evaluate learning through thoughtfully designed assessments and quizzes that reinforce objectives, use scenario-based questions with plausible distractors, and provide clear feedback to enhance higher-order thinking.

Identify learner needs and gaps, apply instructional design models, and craft measurable objectives, design documents, and storyboards to deliver effective courses using engaging scenarios, visuals, and authoring tools.