EDF1401 Chap.2 The ADDIE Design Life Cycle
The ADDIE Design Life Cycle
ADDIE organises learning-design work into analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. It is most useful as a set of recurring questions, not a rule that every project must follow once in a straight line.
Analysis identifies the performance or learning gap and its causes; design specifies objectives, evidence and strategy; development produces and tests resources; implementation places the design in use; evaluation gathers information for judgement and revision. Feedback between phases makes the life cycle iterative.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Analysis: actual performance, desired performance and causes
- 02
Design: objectives, evidence, sequence and strategy
- 03
Development: production, review and testing
- 04
Implementation: delivery, support and operational conditions
- 05
Evaluation: formative and summative evidence
- 06
Iteration, overlap and movement between phases
Worked example · free
Diagnose before adding more content
- +2Analysis: distinguish the performance gap from causes, noting weak practice conditions, low stakes and limited transfer rather than assuming missing information.
- +2Design: specify an objective requiring correct referencing and paraphrasing in an assignment-like context, with aligned evidence.
- +2Development and implementation: build contrasting examples, guided practice and support that operate near the time of authentic work.
- +2Evaluation: compare baseline and later work, collect learner-use evidence and revise the intervention where transfer remains weak.
Key terms
- ADDIE
- A design life cycle of analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation.
- Analysis phase
- Investigation of needs, learners, context, desired performance and causes of a gap.
- Design phase
- Planning objectives, evidence, activities, sequence, media and evaluation before full production.
- Development phase
- Production, review, testing and refinement of learning resources and supports.
- Implementation phase
- Putting the design into operation with the required access, facilitation and support.
- Evaluation phase
- Gathering evidence to judge effectiveness and inform improvement across the life cycle.
The ADDIE Design Life Cycle FAQ
Does ADDIE have to be linear?
No. The five labels provide a useful structure, but real projects often overlap phases, revisit assumptions and respond to emerging constraints. A strong explanation can use the sequence while acknowledging iteration. The important point is whether relevant questions are answered, not whether every activity fits one box perfectly.
What is the difference between design and development?
Design specifies the intended performance, evidence, strategy, sequence and experience before full production. Development creates, reviews and tests the actual resources or environment. A storyboard illustrates the distinction: deciding the sequence and interactions is design work; building the finished interactive resource is development work.
Where does evaluation occur in ADDIE?
Evaluation is both a named phase and an activity across the life cycle. Formative evidence can improve analysis, prototypes, resources and implementation while change is still possible. Summative evidence can judge performance after implementation. Treating evaluation only as an end-of-project survey misses its improvement function.
What should happen when later evidence challenges analysis?
Return to the earlier assumptions and revise the design. For example, a prototype may show that the supposed knowledge gap is actually an access problem. Iteration is not a departure from ADDIE; it is a disciplined response to better evidence. Record what changed and which later decisions it affects.
How can I use ADDIE in a case-study paragraph?
Name the relevant phase, cite a specific practitioner action and explain the design consequence. If a designer interviewed learners, show what the inquiry revealed and how it shaped an objective, resource or strategy. Do not distribute a case evenly across all five phases when the evidence emphasises only some of them.
Assessment move
Draw ADDIE as a cycle with arrows back to earlier phases, then place one original project through it. Under Analysis, record actual performance, desired performance, possible causes, learner evidence and context constraints. Under Design, write the intended objective, acceptable evidence, strategy, sequence and evaluation plan. Under Development, list what must be produced, reviewed and tested.
Under Implementation, identify access, facilitation, timing and support. Under Evaluation, separate evidence gathered during improvement from evidence used after delivery. Practise with short scenarios in which the obvious request is misleading, such as a manager asking for another presentation when the real problem is opportunity, motivation or workflow. Your answer should first diagnose, then recommend.
For the case study, map specific professional actions to ADDIE but do not force equal coverage of every phase; uneven evidence is acceptable when you explain it. Use a colour for iteration whenever a later finding changes an earlier decision. End each practice response with one sentence that distinguishes an output, such as a module, from an outcome, such as more accurate performance in context.
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