Instructional Design

How to create the perfect course

Developing an engaging training course is no easy task because not everybody learns in the same way, as people typically prefer one style of learning over another.

There are three types of learning styles and each learner will have a different preference for which learning style suits them best:

	Visual learners - they learn best by seeing clear diagrams, pictures, videos, maps or charts, or an animated story to help them see the learning objective
	Auditory learners - they learn best by listening to lectures, discussions and explanations, or by listening to a good analog/story they can relate to
	Kinaesthetic learners - they learn best when physically engaged in a ‘hands-on’ activity, manipulating something material to learn new information from it

While these learning styles focus on the environmental aspects of a learning environment, the Kolb model states that learners perceive and process information in a continuum from:

1 - Concrete Experience: being involved in a new experience
2 - Reflective Observation: watching others or developing observations about their own experience
3 - Abstract Conceptualisation: creating theories to explain observations
4 - Active Experimentation: using theories to solve problems, make decisions

At the outset of designing a course, you have no chance of knowing whether your audience will be made of Visual, Auditory or Kinaesthetic learners. In fact, it’s almost certain the audience will be a mixture of all three. Therefore, when designing a training course, you need to make sure you cater for all learning styles at the same time.

This is why most training courses will follow a format of: text, diagrams, videos, animations, charts (Visual), an explanation of the theory with a good analogy (Auditory), and a good practical exercise to allow students to perform the task being taught (Kinaesthetic).

Additionally, people learn better when they have some idea of where the lesson is going right from the outset. Then, at the end of the lesson, you should provide a summary of what they have learned to help them commit it all to their memory.

This is why you need clear lesson objectives at the beginning of a course and a summary of the objectives at the end:

tell them what you are going to teach them
teach them
tell them what they've learned

The instructional design process

So, how do you begin designing and building a course? Well, there are five elements to the instructional design process. These elements are defined using the ADDIE acronym:

ADDIE

Analyse - Conduct a thorough Training Needs Analysis (TNA) to identify training gaps and training outcomes

Design - Storyboard your content for review and sign-off by stakeholders

Develop - Build the content, send it out for review to stakeholders, gather feedback and update it until approved by all stakeholders

Implement - Launch the training using targeted comms products. This will build awareness and get learner engagement

Evaluate - Gather feedback from learners and use it to improve the training products

AT3D can provide years of experience in creating professional presentation materials, instructor guides, student reference materials, knowledge checks (exams) and continued-learning environments.