Before you throw your laptop, desktop or mobile device in disgust. Before you start a social media campaign to eradicate me from the Internet. It's true; the beloved Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation (ADDIE) acronym is not an Instructional Systems Design (ISD) model. I couldn't really believe either, but I found research by Professor Michael Molenda, from Indiana University, along with other sources that guided me through this revelation. At first I reacted as many would , with doubt and mounds of cognitive dissonance. Come on! Pluto is not a planet? Learning styles are not real? And ADDIE is not a model? Don't despair though, ADDIE is still part of what we do as instructional designers, but is not the only thing to do. In this first (and maybe my last ; ) ATD blog post I share why ADDIE is not an ISD model and what instructional designers should do to effectively practice instructional science in the workplace.
ADDIE is easy to explain
The main reason we know ADDIE is because it's easy to explain right? Five letters, each representing a specific stage in the ISD process. If anyone was to ask me, how do you design courses? My response would be: ADDIE. However, in 2003 Michael Molenda, PhD set out in the quest to find the origins of ADDIE because someone else asked him to collaborate in an upcoming encyclopedia at the time. After researching several encyclopedias of education and training and also contacting several professors and researchers he could not find anything or anyone claiming ADDIE as its own.
I am satisfied at this point to conclude that the ADDIE Model is merely a colloquial term used to describe a systematic approach to instructional development, virtually synonymous with instructional systems development (ISD). The label seems not to have a single author, but rather to have evolved informally through oral tradition. There is no original, fully elaborated model, just an umbrella term that refers to a family of models that share a common underlying structure.(Molenda, 2003, p.35).
Aside from Molenda's research, I'm a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP), so my natural response was to check my ASTD Learning System CPLP Guide of 2013 which states "ADDIE as a model based on and named for five elements of ISD: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation."(p.125).
Life after ADDIE
Let's not get dramatic! ADDIE doesn't have to die, but we do need to be better informed about the diverse ISD models that we can use to our advantage. Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation are the core elements of every ISD model, but how treat each of those elements depends on the model we select. I recommend reading the Survey of Instructional Development Models, 4th ed. by Kent Guftason and Robert Branch https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED477517 which has a great collection of ID principles and the taxonomies of ID models to help guide you in the selection of the right one for the right need. For example; there are models for creating Instructor Led Training (ILT) that are not as effective for eLearning development and there are models more conducive to short courses than to develop full curricula. Some of the more recognizable models are Dick and Carey's as well as Guftason and Branch's.
Final Thoughts
In summary, ADDIE has been praised and mislabeled as a model for a long time. ADDIE is the acronym for the core elements of ISD, but we need to keep something clear. No ISD model can be blindly applied to every context in your organizational environment. ISD was not created for workplace learning, but it has a close relationship with military programs during and after World War II. However, unless you are an ID in the military or a Higher Ed institution, full blown ISD is quite impractical. You have to find what works for you and your environment based on ADDIE principles, but if you don't choose one of the models previously mentioned; then, you would be creating your own model. Just know that ADDIE is not a model.
Sources:
In search of the elusive ADDIE model
http://writertech.com/files/MolendaADDIEModelOriginsUnknown.pdf
The ADDIE Model” – A Metaphor for the Lack of Clarity in the field of IDT Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, Ph.D., Indiana University
http://indiana.edu/~idt/shortpapers/documents/IDTf_Bic.pdf