The ADDIE model is a framework that lists generic processes that instructional designers and training developers use. It represents a descriptive guideline for building effective training and performance support tools in five phases.
ADDIE is an Instructional Systems Design (ISD) framework. Most current ISD models are variations of the ADDIE process. Other models include the Dick & Carey and Kemp ISD models. Rapid prototyping is a commonly used alternative to this approach; rapid prototyping is the idea of reviewing continual or formative feedback while creating instructional materials. This model strives to save time and money by catching problems while they are still easy to fix. A more recent expression of rapid prototyping is SAM (successive approximation model).
Instructional theories also play an important role in the design of instructional materials. Theories such as behaviorism, constructivism, social learning, and cognitivism help shape and define the outcome of instructional materials.
Florida State University initially developed the ADDIE framework to explain, “...the processes involved in the formulation of an instructional systems development (ISD) program for military interservice training that will adequately train individuals to do a particular job and which can also be applied to any interservice curriculum development activity.” The model originally contained several steps under its five original phases (analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate). The idea was to complete each phase before moving to the next. Over the years, practitioners revised the steps, and eventually the model became more dynamic and interactive than the original hierarchical version. By the mid-1980s, the version familiar today appeared.
The analysis phase clarifies the instructional problems and objectives, and identifies the learning environment and learner's existing knowledge and skills. Questions the analysis phase addresses include: