{"id":45300,"date":"2019-11-20T06:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/?post_type=articles&p=45300"},"modified":"2026-03-16T11:58:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:58:30","slug":"returning-to-the-basics-of-training-design-a-checklist-for-discovery","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/articles\/content-development\/returning-to-the-basics-of-training-design-a-checklist-for-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning to the Basics of Training Design: A Checklist for Discovery"},"author":52,"featured_media":45304,"template":"","tags":[3998,226,2336,3762],"class_list":["post-45300","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-discovery","tag-instructional-design","tag-training-design","tag-training-development","global_topic_tax-content-development"],"acf":{"sponsored":false,"gated":false,"gated_content_type":"","file_attachment":null,"gated_content":"","form_instruction_header":"To access the full article, please fill out the form below:","pardot_html_embed":"","author_override":true,"author_name":"Loren Sanders","author_image":34786,"author_bio":"Loren Sanders is a senior adviser of learning and communications on the strategy team at CVS Health. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, where she teaches organizational communications and strategic talent management.","excerpt":"As L&D professionals, we tend to like structure and organization. We love our work and hate rework. We want to use instructional design frameworks but recognize there is often an imbalance between business needs and learning excellence.","main_content":"As learning and development (L&D) professionals, we tend to like structure and organization. We match what we create to all things Bloom\u2019s Taxonomy<\/a> and Kirkpatrick<\/a> or other systems. We love our work and hate rework. We want to use instructional design frameworks or some semblance of them, but we recognize that there is often an imbalance between business needs and learning excellence.\r\n\r\nHow can we become more intentional about our work and set ourselves up for success ahead of time? How can we create space that helps employees view learning as an evergreen and ongoing process? How do we help the business move from thinking that content consumption equals learning and toward a focus on behavior change through experiential learning and demonstration of knowledge? How do we create curious learners who are self-directed?\r\n\r\nThe answer is simple. I will use the ADDIE model<\/a> to illustrate it, but the answer is true regardless of your preferred design model or framework.\r\n

ADDIE: Stop DIEing Over and Over!<\/h2>\r\nWe need to return to the basic frameworks that make our programs successful. Unfortunately, with the world moving toward shortened timelines and quick \u201ccheck-the-box\u201d thinking, we have lost much of what made us successful in the past. It\u2019s a good thing we are not architects, or we might end up with houses built with the garage on the second floor.\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s go back to a systematic approach to developing solutions, even though we think we know what to teach and can hit the ground running. In project management, they call this process discovery. In L&D, we\u2019ve somehow lost the art of discovery, focusing more on the d<\/strong>esign, d<\/strong>evelopment, i<\/strong>mplementation and e<\/strong>valuation than we do on the a<\/strong>nalysis. In doing so, we\u2019ve also lost our seat at the table<\/a>. If we do not understand the full intent of what we are delivering, we could end up wasting time, reworking courses or \u2014 worse \u2014 creating scrap learning<\/a>.\r\n\r\nInstead, let\u2019s approach our projects in an organized fashion, first by ensuring we understand business objectives and then by understanding which behaviors need to change to reach successful outcomes. Good discovery helps assess gaps and generates ideas that lead to more successful training outcomes.\r\n\r\nInstructionaldesign.org identifies over 20 design frameworks. It does not matter which one you use. The point is that using a good design framework with an intentional discovery process enables you to communicate the purpose and reasoning behind your strategy.","full_width":false,"content_band":[{"acf_fc_layout":"social_callout","blockquote":"Good discovery helps assess gaps and generates ideas that lead to more successful training outcomes."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_area","wysiwyg":"

Discovery Checklist<\/h2>\r\nWhat should be included in your discovery? There are as many thoughts on this issue as there are designers. My favorite questions to ask stakeholders are listed below; feel free to adapt and add to my list.\r\n