Analysis (Phase of Design)
From The Learning Engineer's Knowledgebase
In the first step of the ADDIE model, designers and stakeholders work together to analyze the important contextual factors that must go into a design. This first step provides the designers with the initial scope of the product that will be designed and what it will accomplish. With this, the ADDIE model provides a blueprint for what to design and checklist of things that should be considered when designing!
In short, the analysis phase is the first step toward planning the project and making sure that it will be designed to achieve specific learning objectives, which is the primary goal of educational design.
There are many things that need to be done during the initial analysis of a project to develop an educational product. The scope and constraints of the educational product must be determined, including the product's learning objectives, structural considerations, and audience considerations.
When first starting out on a project, the analysis phase of ADDIE suggests a set of tasks that can be done to plan out the project's design and development that will occur in the next steps, specifically by defining the scope of the project to guide the design and development work.
There are some specific tasks that the analysis phase offers designers in helping them to conceptualize the scope of their design and plan for the audiences who will use the product.
Once a designer has adequately determined the scope of the project by completing some of the common tasks listed below, they should move on to the design phase of the ADDIE model. Designers should be careful to not take forever in the planning and analysis phase, as some aspects of a product can only be identified once the design and development begin on the project!
However, it is also important to have a comprehensive plan and to spend at least spend a reasonable amount of time planning and considering the scope-based aspects of a project to prevent having to completely re-do work and lose investments of time and money.
Primary tasks of analysis and the project planning phase: