With more and more responsibility falling on the shoulders of today’s learning and development leaders, the process of course development does not have the luxury of time and other resources it once had. What is the beleaguered L&D executive to do?
Instructional designer Diane Valenti, in the article, 6 Secrets for Speeding Up Instructional Design, published by the Association for Talent Development, offers practical advice for learning leaders on how to speed up the instructional design process. The faster the course is designed, the faster it can be presented to learners.
ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) is one of the most widely accepted and utilized instructional design models. In the first phase, Analysis, the instructional designer must first determine whether training is the appropriate solution and if so, what would be the training requirements.
Valenti admits that this step cannot be skipped. However, ‘it doesn’t mean that you have to do a 30-question survey to 1,200 employees complete with sophisticated statistical analysis of the results,’ she admits. Usually a discussion with the manager who requested the training, along with an interview or survey with a sampling of people who will receive the training, should be sufficient.
Learning content should be simple, Valenti advocates. The ability to present compelling content that does not overcomplicate a task or process is paramount.
Training is helping people learn something new so they can do their jobs better. You don’t need complicated activities to do this. You do need activities that give people a chance to practice the tasks they will be doing on the job, and offer them feedback on their efforts.
— Diane Valenti, Instructional Designer
Finally, breaking the project into mini-projects is the best way to make a meaningful impact without losing the interest of the learner. Each learning module can have its own schedule and tangible deliverable, and as an added advantage to this approach, subject matter experts can weigh in on each component and make smaller contributions. This removes the burden on a single team member, and courses can be made available to learners faster.
Microlearning, as this trend is known, is now the preferred delivery, as it facilitates course development and makes the learning experience more engaging.
Cognota® platform allows for knowledge capture from your company’s subject matter experts. Task- or process-related knowledge can be transformed into complete courses, using a combination of Cognota® proprietary technology as well as the expertise of a professional instructional designer.
