Glossary Terms

instructional design

Instructional design is the systematic work of building learning that actually changes what people can do, using what we know from cognitive psychology and adult learning rather than guesswork. A good instructional designer starts from the gap between what people can do now and what they need to do, writes objectives around observable behavior, picks delivery methods that fit, and builds assessments that check whether the learning transferred rather than just whether someone finished. The most common framework is ADDIE: analyze, design, develop, implement, evaluate. In corporate settings the real measure of success isn't a satisfaction score, it's behavior change back on the job, which is what Kirkpatrick's higher levels are getting at.