How Much More Time Could We Spend in the Design Phase?
Creating content has never been faster…and it will only get faster!
With the use of HTML templates and Creator +, authoring content within Brightspace has never been faster or easier. Now, with the coming of AI text-generating software, the ease of creating large amounts of content will greatly increase. This change could have many effects on the processes used in course creation and more specifically the ADDIE model. The ADDIE Model includes five phases:
- Analysis
- Design
- Development
- Implementation
- Evaluation.
This method has variations, but the creation of any course follows these five steps in some shape or form.
The Development Phase
Within the ADDIE model, the creation of content usually occurs in the development phase. The use of AI text-generating software and other tools will dramatically reduce the amount of time authors will need for the development phase of courses. Some examples include:
• Generating larger batches of text, resulting in less writing time using AI text-generating software.
• Using Creator + to create interactive elements, resulting in less time manually coding these elements and the text around them.
• Using HTML template pages to help structure the layout of a page, resulting in less time spent manually building these parameters before any content is placed on a page.
Since content can be developed very quickly in Brightspace with these tools, more time could be spent in the design phase of a course. Many different tasks can be the focus of the Design phase, but two critical ones are fostering engagement and creating good assessments. Let’s turn our focus to these two now!
Fostering Engagement
Ensuring your learners are engaged in the course can be accomplished in a variety of ways. One of the easiest ways is to include graphic design in the early stages of course design. This can be as simple as including decorative images throughout a course or custom graphics based on the content of the course to add some “POP”. Including customized callouts or other elements matching the overall look and feel of a course can also create more engagement with the learners.
Creating Better Assessments
Creating effective assessments is a key part of any course, but with the quickness at which content can be developed, there can be more time spent ensuring that assessment can also be an engaging part of a course. For example, instead of using one type of assessment throughout the course, such as a quiz, a learner could go through an elaborate branching scenario created using text-generating software. Additionally, more graphic design support could be utilized to create unique characters or other graphic features to enhance the scenario the learner is going through. Overall, assessments could feel more immersive and impactful because more time can be spent creating experiences, not tests.
With the use of HTML templates, Creator +, and eventually AI text-generating software, there can be more time dedicated to the Design Phase of a course. Two areas that could be of greater focus with this time saved could be increasing engagement and developing engaging and effective assessments. With these tools, we can spend more time designing engaging and impactful learning experiences and less time physically building a course.
Question for Discussion
Do you think any other areas of the ADDIE model could be affected by using these tools? How so?
For example, what tasks or objectives could be the focus during the Analyze phase based on the time saved with these tools?
References
Culatta, R. (2018). ADDIE Model. InstructionalDesign.org. https://www.instructionaldesign.org/models/addie/