top of page
Search

Designing Learning Sunday #3 - The Design Document

  • Writer: Instructor Dave
    Instructor Dave
  • Oct 25, 2020
  • 7 min read

Updated: Dec 13, 2020

Designing Learning Sunday # 3 – The Design Document


Greetings and hello! Instructor Dave welcoming you back to designing learning Sunday, the weekly blog where we take a casual approach and break down instructional design and learning and development so that anyone can do it, no matter how much experience you have. Each week we will continue to build on top of what was covered the previous week, and at the end of it all, you will be able to design your learning. So, let's get going!


Last time we talked about the Needs-Based Assessment/Needs-Based Analysis and how we needed to get some basic information about the learning that we have been asked to make. This week, we will be reviewing the next step in the designing learning process.


As we begin to design our learning, we get a lot of information from all of the sources we’re involved with. Usually, when we are asked to create learning from our client, or internally, we have a rough idea of how it should roll out and be deployed. How do you keep track of those ideas? I use note cards, and take a bunch of notes – organizing them can be a real pain sometimes. But, no matter how you record your ideas there is a tool that we can use to help us organize our thoughts and ideas, and start formulating our design plan.


Enter the Design Document. The Design Document (DD) does a couple of things for us as designers. It not only helps us organize our thoughts and plans, but it provides a framework for our course design process. When completed, a Design Document can be shared with your client because it outlines your plans, and what is needed for the training/learning you are designing.


Each business unit, organization, or training team may have the Design Document they use, please feel free to use ours as a guide, or download it and rebrand it as your own.


Last week in our Needs-Based Analysis we had a series of questions to ask as part of your discovery; What is the training supposed to accomplish? Who is the training for? Who is asking for it? What resources are available? What is required to make this training possible? How is this different from what they are doing now? What are the gaps that exist? When does this need to be completed? What does success look like? What follow-up is required? Using this information, and the ideas we have about what we have been asked to design we will begin to fill out our design document. The Design Document we use is a template that was shared with us several years ago that we found to be effective. It contains 8 Elements and their description.


Background, Purpose of the Learning Solution, Target Population, Learning Objective, Components of the Learning Solution, Materials, Instructional Media, Management Involvement


These are the items we found to be most important and additional items can be added based on your preference. We have attached a blank Design Document and a completed Design Document to this blog to be used as a reference or personal use. Let's talk about what these items are, and what information that is found within the Design Document.

· First, let's talk about Background. The “Background” should contain the background information needed to justify the request. Specifically, the company and the circumstance and condition that has to lead to the need for the training. Also, identify and Include the Participants (who is supposed to receive the training) and the Sponsor (who is asking for the training to be created). The last part of the Background information should include what you have been asked to create, for example, “Customer Service Soft Skills Training, is a 90 minute…etc”, or something like similar that identifies your course, with the proposed timeframe, and how you think it will best be delivered. The timeframe is generally based on the time provided as part of your NBA, or as you begin to design your learning and start planning - We will talk about the timeframe and delivery method in a future blog, so try not to worry about them too much for now.

· Next is the Purpose of the Learning Solution. It cannot get much simpler than this statement, what is the learning supposed to do; or what Knowledge, Skill, Ability, or Behavior is the learning supposed to address.

· After is identifying the Target Population. The Target Population should identify who specifically will receive the training, how many participants/learners there are, and when applicable, their skill level or understanding of the subject. So, for example, in the Background area, we talked about “Customer Service Soft Skills”, here we would identify who (Customer Service Reps), how many (120 Full-Time Employees/30 Part-Time Employees), with (2-4 years of customer service experience). We need to identify this because not all participants/learners may come in with the same experience, or knowledge of what is to be covered, and we need to consider that as we begin to design our learning.

· Next is the Learning Objective. There are a variety of learning objectives, topical objectives, course objectives, learning objectives, etc… We are going to stick to the basic Learning Objective. The Learning Objective will identify the specific direction for our course design because it tells us “Who is doing what, how well, and under what condition.” Quite a bit of time can be spent on refining learning objectives because they get to the finite detail of what your learner is supposed to accomplish at the end of the learning. In our example from earlier, we were using customer service soft skills as our needed course. A learning objective for that may look like; “Learners will be able to identify and describe the skills needed to deliver positive customer service upon completion of this course.” – How to write effective Learning Objectives will be discussed in a future blog, so don’t worry.

· Components of the Learning Solution should include the “components” necessary for your learning. Recommended delivery method (like “Blended Learning”, or “Instructor-Led Training”, “Virtual Learning” or “E-Learning), and a rough outline of the activities covered within your training/learning, ie., discussion, demonstration activity, assessment. What is going into the learning to make is successful, that kind of thing.

– We will discuss how to decide the best way to facilitate your learning in a future blog, so don’t worry.

· Materials required need to be listed. Please identify any material that you learners will need, or that you will need. These can be items like markers, hardware that will be used (PCs, tablets, etc), software needed (PowerPoint, Word, CRM, POS, etc), documents printed, and any supplies you need before the start of your session. These items should always be ready before the start of your session, and sharing them in your design document can give the Sponsor or your colleagues time to prepare them for your, or offer assistance should you need it.

· Instructional Media is the media/medium used for your training/learning. This should include where the learning is going to take place, how the training will be delivered, like through a lecture, or On-The-Job training (OJT), Social Learning (participant discussion), or using learning aides like handouts, or reference materials. – We will discuss the best use of learning aides and performance aides in a future blog, so don’t worry, we’ve got your back!

· Finally, we come to Management Involvement. Of all the 8 Elements within a Design Document, this can be the most challenging. Generally, this area identifies the follow-up required by the management group to support the participants/learners who have completed the training. Sometimes, ensuring that follow-up happens is difficult, and a challenge. Most supervisors and management staff already have a full plate of activity and responsibility, and adding to that gives them another thing to be accountable for. It is an unfortunate truth of instructional design. However, do not lose hope! When we include the Management Involvement in our Design Document, we are setting the expectation and requirement of what we need for this to be successful. As we present this document to our stakeholders and sponsor, and they “sign-off” on it, either literally with a signature, or verbally, they are agreeing to adhere to what was requested and approved. Call it a win, because this is a built-in follow-up mechanism for the sponsor to track and verify that the learning we designed is having the intended results.

Now, that was a lot of information to be included inside of a Design Document. With practice, and regular use you will be able to more effectively identify and define what is needed and what specific information should be included. Several learning professionals use the Design Document, as a “sign-off” or “intention document”, to state or share what they intend on doing, and then have the stakeholder/sponsor sign off for approval. This is completely okay to do because it keeps everyone informed regarding what your plan is and what is going on. Another one of the benefits of using a design document is that it acts as a reference point for your course design. Use it as a framework for your plan. This is not a storyboard or a course outline, this is at its core, a document that is used to share a high-level overview of what you are planning on doing. With this high-level framework in hand, a more defined and specific course outline and storyboard can be created. Granted, there is some specific information to be found within, but it is still very high-level. As the designer, it is our responsibility to complete the design, development, and then deliver.

As we covered the 8 Elements of the Design Document, there were several spots where we stated that more information would be coming in a future blog, and that is true. Part of the “Chunking” process, is to take a complex and complicated topic and break it down into easy to manage pieces. We did this intentionally so that we can spend more time on those deeper and more involved topics one at a time. So, don’t worry! We’ve got your back.


Next week, as we roll into November, we will discuss Effective Delivery Methods and how to choose the best one for what you are trying to design and continue to build on our Designing Learning process.


Attached below are two Design Documents. One is a semi-blank, and the other is a completed Design Document that you can download for reference or use. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us.

Cheers!

- Instructor Dave




Comentários

bottom of page