Instructional Design

Designing Your Training Blueprint

If you were building your dream house, you would want to make sure that the architect provides the builder with a clear set of blueprints that, when followed, creates the dream home you envision.

Your training needs are very much like that dream home. In the needs analysis phase, you identify your training needs and goals. During the instructional design phase, Intulogy’s training specialists create the blueprint for future training development.

How Does Intulogy Build an Instructional Design?

Intulogy’s instructional designers will create an Optimal Learning Solution (OLS) for your project. We base our design on the information provided by your project leaders, subject matter experts (SMEs), and representative end-users during the needs analysis phase. We consider your timeline, training needs, resources, and technology options. Here is an overview of some of the steps we take during the instructional design phase:

Determine the Entry Behaviors of Participants: In an adult learning situation, it is very important to consider what the learners already know and how they will approach the material. Our instructional designers identify the skills, knowledge, and attitudes an average participant can be expected to possess at the beginning of the course.

Set Performance and Learning Objectives: We then identify what skills, knowledge and attitudes the learners need to achieve through the course. Our training specialists write learning objectives that define a task, a context (or situation, and a measure of succes. Here are some examples:

The supervisor can conduct annual performance reviews, based on company guidelines.
The technician can use current procedures for nightly backup of system records.
The representative can accurately enter all fields in the new customer profile within five minutes.

The course's goals are critical to its success. If you say you want people to "understand" a topic how will you measure their understanding? How will you know they really understood and can apply the concept? So, it's best to write learning objectives that lead to actions that you can observe and measure.

Build the Training Outline: Intulogy creates a detailed training outline showing the individual training steps that will take your participants from their entry behaviors to the completion of the learning objectives. We make sure that each training step is relevant and builds upon previous steps. Together, the steps lead the participants toward the learning objectives.

Create Performance Assessments: At this point, we consider how an instructor or supervisor can determine whether the participant has met the learning objective. A learner may be asked to demonstrate a skill, identify the correct action, or apply the knowledge.

Select Program Format: During this step, we evaluate possible methods of training delivery, based on Intulogy’s Optimal Learning Solution assessment. Our training specialists evaluate the costs and benefits of each delivery option, and we provide a formal recommendation.

Review the Instructional Design: Intulogy works with you to make sure that the design meets your needs, and we invite your comments and review. We listen carefully to your suggestions and make revisions based on your input. Once you give your approval on the design, we are ready to proceed to the instructional development phase.

View a Solution

Although companies share similar training needs, many situations require unique solutions based on the project's business context. For example, when a relocation services company was acquired, it agreed to provide training for its proprietary software application. The company had annotated screen prints, but it needed a complete agent training program. You can read how this company solved this training problem in our case studies section.

If you want to learn more about how Intulogy’s instructional design experience can help you with your project, please contact us for more information.