Agile Instructional Design

The concept itself is debatable. Some consider AGILE as a value added to ADDIE where beside the similarities the main improvement brought into play by AGILE consists in tackling ADDIE’s rigidity by moving through ADDIE’s phases repetitively especially through the first three: Analysis, Design and Development while involving the potential beneficiary into the designing process. Others instead consider AGILE and ADDIE as being only a wordplay and nothing more.^[2]

In fact AGILE is made up of an iterative sequence of processes that can be also met in ADDIE. Simply put it, after a high level planning the process consists in the iteration of the following sequence: analyse, design, develop and test and finally, after the product is considered finalized, the release of the product. AGILE turns the potential learners/beneficiaries in active participants throughout the designing process by sharing with them the mock-ups, prototypes and early suggestions. The main benefit of it is the fact that the final outcome of the designing process is more likely to match the wanted outcome, which coincides with the needs of the beneficiary, from the very first attempt, the solutions being adjusted along the way.^[3]