Agile vs ADDIE: Which Is the Perfect Solution for Elearning Courses?
Let’s explore the renowned conflict between the two most well-known instructional design methodologies: Agile vs ADDIE. Both of these approaches have benefits and drawbacks. You may decide to change your approach according to your project that you are spearheading. Through this guide, I will assist you in taking a deep dive into these methodologies, examining them and comparing their differences and similarities.
ADDIE ModelFlorida State University created the ADDIE model in the mid-1970s to provide a framework to organise training for the United States Army. ADDIE is an acronym formed by the five words as follows: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. However, the ADDIE methodology was built on a linear model; one would need to complete every stage of ADDIE with results before moving ahead to the next step. As a result, it takes times to complete, and so it is best for longer term projects. In ADDIE, project management can be easy and based on a comprehensive master plan.
Agile ModelThe Agile Development Model for Instructional Design has formed its own set of acronyms, with “SAM” which stands for Successive Approximation Model. A central principle of these models is that after the primary necessities are recognised and implied, fast prototyping and iterative design suggest the delivery of content and to make sure deliverables aggregate client expectations. However instructional designers who are comfortable with the ADDIE model need to learn the following core competencies for using Agile.
• Flexibility-You can quickly review the prototypes with the project stakeholders after the first stage.
• Collaboration- In Agile, multiple people take the lead in the different stages. You can share your ideas and concerns for the best learning solution development
• Being acceptable with malfunction-Failingquickly is significant to Agile improvement success.
• Course understanding- If you have never developed learning solutions, here in the Agilemethodology, you can research earlier for the topic as much as you need to.
Unfortunately, I am not here to clear up a battle between the Models Agile vs ADDIE. It’s all up to company owners! If the business hasa centre of attention on forming instructional content over a longer period of time, ADDIE might be the most appropriate for them. On the other hand, if an organisation needs content delivered promptly, they may like something more flexible like Agile.
If you are an eLearning designer, you should consider using agile instructional design for your learning initiatives. Unlike the traditional methods of course creation, the agile method offers some significant benefits that will ensure that your results are outstanding yet also efficient. Below, we look at some of the top benefits of the agile design method.
Highly InteractiveAgile instructional design is heavily focused on the learners and how they will interact with the course material. At every step of course development, the needs of the learner and the manner in which they will participate and engage with the course will be taken into consideration. As a result, course developers are able to develop training materials in exactly the way a learner would find it easy to understand. This is one of the reasons why many instructional designers are switching over to agile design. After all, if you can produce high-quality, engaging content using agile, why bother wasting time on other, inefficient instructional design methods?
Rapidly Produce ContentA big challenge faced by most course developers is the time required for developing training material. This is mostly because developers usually tend to focus on creating the entire content of the course all at once. Obviously, this is normally a massive undertaking fraught with so many issues that the project will end up taking a lot of time. But with agile design processes, designers can now develop courses faster, using less time and fewer resources. This is because agile methods look at the course development process as consisting of little chunks of content that need to be developed sequentially. Only when one section is finished can the development team move on to the next section. This process of course development ensures that the training material is created within a short period of time.
Better CollaborationA huge benefit of the agile design process is that it facilitates easier collaboration among multiple individuals. Everyone involved in the course, right from the organization that invested in its development to the actual learners, can collaborate with each other and offer suggestions to improve the course. As a course developer, this gives you the chance to hear the feedback and understand which aspect of the course needs to be developed and what new, potential features should be implemented. This can go a long way in helping you fine-tune your next course.
No Last Moment Revisions NecessaryIn the traditional course development scenario, developers often tend to make numerous changes and revisions to the content. This mostly happens because the course is developed all at once, and then largely revised later on at the end of development. As a consequence, designers often need to correct a lot of errors to ensure that the training material complies with expectations. However, since agile development involves completing the course in portions, all errors and changes are addressed along the way. As such, last-minute, large-scale revisions become unnecessary.