Manufacturing Training: Design Considerations During ADDIE

To create and deliver impactful, effective manufacturing training that helps employees acquire knowledge, develop skills, and later go onto the and perform job tasks that help your organization reach its business goals, you need to have a method. You can’t just jump in front of a classroom and start “winging” a lecture and you can’t just sit down at your computer and punch out a quick PowerPoint. 

There are many different methods for training design/development/delivery, and none are necessarily better than the others. That said, undoubtedly the most well-known and commonly used is called ADDIE. ADDIE stands for Analysis-Design-Development-Implementation-Evaluation, and it’s a systematic approach to training. 

In this article, as part of our ongoing manufacturing training insights article series, we’re going to give you some tips on that first “D” in ADDIE--design. 

Before we do, by way of background to set the context, you might want to check out our What Is ADDIE? artice.  Additionally, consider reading the earlier articles in this series, Manufacturing Training & the Training Needs Analysis; Manufacturing Training & Learning Objectives; and Manufacturing Training: From Learning Objectives to Learning Assessments. Finally, you may also find some value in our Six Steps of Creating Effective Manufacturing Training article. 

A Quick Review of ADDIE

To really “get” ADDIE we encourage you to read our What Is ADDIE? article,  but the basic idea is you analyze the training needs, use that analysis to design training, then use your design to develop training, implement (deliver) the training, and finally evaluate the results of the training. Got that? Simple enough, huh?

The design phase of ADDIE uses that information from the training needs analysis (also sometimes called the training needs assessment or front-end assessment) and can be likened to the process of creating a blueprint (the design) before creating a building (the development). 

Feel free to download our What Is ADDIE? infographic before you go on reading.

Primary Elements of the Design Phase of ADDIE 

Two of the biggest, most important things to do during the design phase are to (1) create your learning objectives and (2) create your learning assessments. Because these two are so critical, we wrote separate articles about them:

• Manufacturing Training & Learning Objectives (a learning objective is what the learners must be able to do when the training is over) 
• Manufacturing Training & Learning Assessments (a learning assessment is a “test” to see if learners can perform the learning objectives at the end of the training session) 

But the design phase of ADDIE for manufacturing training is about much more than just creating learning objectives and assessments. Let’s get you an overview of the rest now.

More Aspects of the Design Phase 

What ELSE should you do during the design phase: Here’s a starter list for you:

• Figure out what learners must do in order to successfully complete the training session
• Select the instructional method (or methods, if you’ll be using a blended learning approach), that you’ll use for the learning experience 
• “Chunk” and sequence your training
• Determine what you’ll need to create for the training session (elearning courses, PPT, video, instructor guide, student manual, student workbook, job aids, etc.) 
• Begin measuring the KPI(s)/metric(s) for the business goal the training is intended to support (this will help in training evaluation) 
  

It’s certainly not necessary, but one tool you might find helpful during the design phase of ADDIE is called Design Thinking. Check out our What Is Design Thinking? article (and download our Design Thinking Infographic, too) and be sure to follow the links for more information about design thinking for learning design (by Connie Malamed) and design thinking for learning design (by Arun Pradhan)--those two are both L&D heroes of mine. 

One of the best books on training design is Julie Dirksen's Design for How People Learn. We highly recommend you buy that book and read it. Additionally, though, we were lucky enough to do a recorded discussion with Julie (below) and invite you to check that out as well, as we believe it will influence and improve your manufacturing training design.

Next Steps After the Design Phase 

Once you’ve completed the design phase, the next step is training development (that second “D” in ADDIE). Remember that you use your design as a “blueprint” for your development, although of course it’s always OK (and even encouraged) to consistently evaluate and iterate for a better final training product.

We’ll write about the development phase in ADDIE in an upcoming article coming soon to a manufacturing training blog near you 🙂

Conclusion: Always Take the Time to Design Your Manufacturing Training Activities 

We hope you enjoyed and found some value in this article about the design phase of ADDIE. 

Remember, there are other training development methods (SAM, Agile, etc.) and you’re certainly not required to use ADDIE. But you should have SOME method and you should do something akin to training design before you jump into training development. 

Stay tuned for upcoming articles in our Manufacturing Training Insights, most obviously one coming up on training development, and let us know if you have any questions.