I am currently studying for a Post Graduate Certificate in Design for Learning Environments, and the first module has been focused on Design and Design Thinking.
Most people involved in training understand just how much work goes into delivering a good course, but my learning in this module has reinforced my belief that this work needs to stretch beyond preparation (e.g. of slides) and planning (e.g. of groups) to include design.
There are many relevant models out there which do have a design phase. In corporate environments, a much used model is ADDIE, where the first ‘D’ represents design (Branson, 1978) and teams often include instructional designers. In the humanitarian sector, the Humanitarian Learning Standards (HPass, 2019) include standards on analysis (of individual learners’ competencies in relation to broadly identified sector needs) and design (of learning objectives and modalities).
I do wonder though if the questions we ask about design are broad enough. Asking ‘what training can we deliver to meet this learning need?’ presupposes that the problem is a lack of capacity and that training is (at least part of the) solution. We need to be open to other ways of supporting learning, such as coaching, mentoring and shadowing.
Beyond this, application of a design-thinking approach would encourage organisations to take a different perspective on understanding and formulating underlying problems.
Rather than trying to design just a training solution to what is actually a systems issue, building in a design thinking phase (including appropriate resources) would help us to understand the multitude of factors which might be impacting on individual performance and organisational achievement. This would lead to truly impactful capacity strengthening.
