A Guide to Instructional Design for Remote Training

Good bones might not be the first thing you think of when you take a successful online course. But that’s guaranteed to be the reason that a remote training project meets all its objectives. Sure, planning and execution are important factors for a successful training project, but the underlying skeleton has to be solid. This happens in the design phase of eLearning projects after all the research gathered in the analysis phase is applied. Instructional design for remote training is crucial to secure the success of your program — without the in-person interactions, remote programs can suffer even before launch.

Free Download: Online Onboarding Checklist

Discover the must-have elements of your Welcome Pack and best practices for remote onboarding. This checklist covers everything you’ll need to welcome new staff remotely.

From Analysis to Design

Any successful project starts with some information gathering in the analysis phase. (Here’s some information about what happens in this first analysis phase.) Online course building is the same.

Many online learning projects start with an instructional design model called ADDIE, which stands for:

  • Analyze
  • Design
  • Develop
  • Implement
  • Evaluate

It’s a cyclical process that helps training teams build a course that makes sense and meets program goals from the very beginning.

Instructional Design for Remote Training

Fig. 1: The ADDIE Model

The design phase is when a team takes all the analysis and applies it to start building the structure of a course in a strategy.

Training Design Phase Outcomes

This is one of the busiest phases of any project that Talance does. It’s when we put together a comprehensive plan that includes the following elements—usually in this order.

Learning objectives

A learning objective is a statement that the learner should be able to accomplish by the time they’ve finished the course. This is the most important part of any course.

They usually sound something like this: “By the time learners have completed the course, they will name the eight dimensions of wellness.”

Learning objectives should be measurable and focused on the learner, not the organization delivering the information.

Assessments (measures of success)

An assessment instrument measures how successful the course was at teaching the learner what it was supposed to. This is very often a quiz but can also be an essay, a case study, or a presentation. Anything that will give the learner a chance to show how they met the learning objective.

Learn more about quizzes in How to Write Survey Quiz Questions: A Guide.

Activities

The instructional design phase also includes planning out activities for your remote training, which may be tied with the assessment types. An activity can be creative and wide ranging. It should give the learner a chance to demonstrate their newly acquired knowledge.

Learners in Talance courses love activities like:

  • Audio scenarios, such as a case study
  • Short and sweet videos
  • Collaborations and social projects
  • Bite-sized knowledge-checks

Content

With objectives, assessments, and activities in hand, course developers can start to create content. This is where all these elements come together with a narrative flow to create a course.

Content also includes such items as glossary entries, resources, downloads, and other written items.

Subject matter analysis

Instructional design for remote training includes working with subject matter experts (SMEs) to develop the content. When the subject is new within the organization, the instructional designer may research the subject via books and journals or interview experts in the field.

An SME can be an internal staff member or an outside professional. Part of their role is to review the content to make sure it’s accurate and meets the set objectives.

Media selection

Media is important for e-learning projects. Visual and audio media will help learners engage better with training projects and can help communicate tricky ideas.

For example, your media selection can be videos, audio snippets, infographics, text, photos, illustrations, diagrams, charts, animations, discussion forums, or more.

Build a Course with Talance

Having a course that is interesting and works matters. If you’re ready to kick off your next project—or would just like some information on what it might look like, contact us for a free consultation.

Scroll to Top