Instructional Design Models for E-Learning

The world of online learning has exploded in recent years, especially since COVID. From corporate training sessions to university courses, everyone’s trying to figure out how to make digital learning actually work.

But here’s the thing most people miss: throwing content online and hoping for the best isn’t going to cut it. The difference between courses that engage learners and those that put them to sleep comes down to one crucial element: solid instructional design.

Think of instructional design as the blueprint for learning. Just like you wouldn’t build a house without architectural plans, you shouldn’t create an e-learning course without a structured approach.

That’s where instructional design models come in. They’re frameworks that guide you through the process of creating learning experiences that actually achieve their goals.

Online Instructional Design is Different

Instructional design is about understanding how people learn and then crafting experiences that work with, not against, natural learning processes.

In digital environments, this becomes even more critical because you’re competing with every distraction imaginable. Your learners might have email notifications popping up, social media calling their names, or simply the temptation to click away to something more immediately gratifying.

Everything should be learner-centered, meaning you start with understanding who you’re designing for and what they need to accomplish. Your approach should be outcome-driven, with clear, measurable goals that everyone can see and track. Most importantly, the process should be iterative because the first version is never the final version.

You need to think about how people consume information on screens, how to maintain engagement without face-to-face interaction, and how to create opportunities for practice and feedback in virtual environments.

You need to use a design model.

Why Design Models Matter

When you don’t use a structured approach, you end up with courses that feel disjointed, learners who can’t figure out what they’re supposed to do, and organizations that waste time and money on training that doesn’t work. Instructional design models solve these problems by giving you a roadmap.

They help you maintain consistency across multiple courses and ensure quality standards remain high even as you scale. When you’re designing for hundreds or thousands of learners, having a systematic approach becomes essential. These models also help you adapt to different learning styles and needs without losing sight of your core objectives.

1. ADDIE Model

ADDIE stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. It’s probably the most widely recognized instructional design model, and for good reason. It provides a clear, logical sequence that works for almost any learning project.

The Analysis phase is where you do your homework. You’re figuring out who your learners are, what they already know, what they need to learn, and what constraints you’re working within. This might involve surveys, interviews, or reviewing existing performance data. The key is not to skip this step because everything else builds on what you discover here.

During the Design phase, you’re creating the blueprint for your course. You’re writing learning objectives, deciding what content to include, choosing instructional strategies, and planning your assessments. This is where you make decisions about whether learners will work through scenarios, complete quizzes, participate in discussions, or engage in simulations.

Development is where you actually build the course. You’re creating content, recording videos, building interactive elements, and putting everything together in your learning management system.

Implementation involves launching the course and supporting learners as they go through it.

Finally, Evaluation happens both during development (formative evaluation) and after learners complete the course (summative evaluation).

“ADDIE’s strength lies in its systematic approach. It forces you to think through each phase deliberately rather than jumping straight to content creation.”

Let’s say you’re designing a compliance training course for a financial services company. In Analysis, you discover that employees already know the basic regulations but struggle with applying them to complex scenarios. Your Design phase focuses on scenario-based learning with realistic case studies.

Development involves creating these scenarios and building decision trees. Implementation includes rollout communications and manager support. Evaluation measures both completion rates and actual behavior change in the workplace.

2. Gagne’s Nine Events

Robert Gagné developed his Nine Events of Instruction based on cognitive psychology research. The model provides a framework for structuring individual lessons or modules to optimize learning. Each event corresponds to a different cognitive process, creating conditions that support how our brains naturally process new information.

The nine events create a logical flow:

• Gaining attention
• Informing learners of objectives
• Stimulating recall of prior learning
• Presenting new content
• Providing learning guidance
• Eliciting performance
• Providing feedback
• Assessing performance
• Enhancing retention and transfer

In an e-learning context, gaining attention might involve an intriguing question, a surprising statistic, or a brief scenario that illustrates why the content matters. Informing learners of objectives sets clear expectations. Stimulating recall connects new learning to what people already know. The remaining events guide learners through understanding, practicing, and applying new knowledge.

This model works particularly well for structured e-learning where you want to ensure comprehensive coverage of material. It’s less suitable for informal learning or highly exploratory approaches.

3. Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy provides a framework for creating learning objectives and assessments that promote deeper thinking. The six levels create a hierarchy from basic recall to creative application:

Level	What Learners Do	E-learning Examples
Remember	Recall facts and basic concepts	Multiple choice quizzes, flashcards
Understand	Explain ideas and concepts	Drag-and-drop matching, short explanations
Apply	Use information in new situations	Simulations, case study applications
Analyze	Draw connections and distinctions	Compare/contrast activities, data analysis
Evaluate	Justify decisions and positions	Peer reviews, decision-making scenarios
Create	Produce new work or ideas	Project creation, strategy development

The beauty of Bloom’s Taxonomy lies in its versatility. You can use it to write better learning objectives, design more meaningful assessments, and ensure your course challenges learners appropriately.

Instead of stopping at basic knowledge recall, you’re pushing learners to actually do something with what they’ve learned.

4. Successful Approximation Model (SAM)

Traditional instructional design models like ADDIE work well when requirements are clear and stable. But what happens when you need to move quickly, when stakeholder feedback changes direction, or when you’re working in an environment where requirements evolve? That’s where SAM shines.

SAM operates on the principle of rapid prototyping and iterative development. Rather than completing each phase fully before moving to the next, SAM creates small prototypes early and refines them based on feedback. SAM1 works well for smaller projects with limited complexity, while SAM2 handles larger, more complex initiatives

The model includes three main phases:

1. Preparation
2. Iterative Design
3. Iterative Development

During Preparation, you gather background information and build consensus among stakeholders about project direction. The Iterative Design phase involves creating rapid prototypes and getting feedback quickly. Iterative Development builds functional versions while maintaining flexibility for changes.

A startup creating microlearning modules might use SAM to develop content quickly while incorporating feedback from early users. They could create a basic prototype in a few days, test it with a small group, refine based on feedback, and repeat the cycle until they have a polished product.

5. David Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction

David Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction focus on real-world problem solving and practical application.

The five principles are:

1. Problem-centered learning
2. Activation of prior knowledge
3. Demonstration of new knowledge
4. Application of new knowledge
5. Integration into real-world contexts

This model works exceptionally well for corporate training and professional development because it emphasizes authentic tasks and real-world application. Rather than teaching abstract concepts, you’re helping learners solve actual problems they face in their work.

Imagine designing customer service training using Merrill’s principles.

• You’d start with realistic customer scenarios (Problem-centered)
• Connect to what they already know about communication (Activation)
• Show examples of excellent service interactions (Demonstration)
• Let learners practice with role-playing exercises (Application)
• And help them develop strategies for handling difficult situations in their actual work environment (Integration)

Making the Right Choice for Your Project

Choosing the right instructional design model depends on several factors. Your timeline and budget constraints matter because some models require more upfront investment while others allow for faster development. The characteristics and needs of your audience influence which approaches will be most effective. Content complexity affects whether you need highly structured approaches or more flexible frameworks.

The level of stakeholder involvement also plays a role. If you’re working with subject matter experts who want to be heavily involved in development, SAM’s iterative approach might work better than ADDIE’s more linear progression. If you’re developing standardized training that needs to be consistent across multiple locations, ADDIE’s systematic approach might be more appropriate.

Many successful projects blend elements from multiple models. You might use ADDIE’s analysis phase to understand your learners and context, apply Bloom’s Taxonomy to write objectives and design assessments, structure individual lessons using Gagné’s Nine Events, and incorporate Merrill’s principles to ensure real-world relevance.

Putting Models into Practice

Consider how a large corporation approached compliance training using ADDIE. Their analysis revealed that employees weren’t just lacking knowledge but struggling to apply regulations in ambiguous situations.

The design phase focused on scenario-based learning with branching narratives. Development created realistic workplace dilemmas with multiple decision points. Implementation included manager support and discussion forums. Evaluation tracked both completion rates and actual workplace behavior changes, leading to iterative improvements.

A university transforming a traditional psychology course used Bloom’s Taxonomy to redesign their approach. Instead of focusing primarily on remembering theories and concepts, they restructured content to include analysis of case studies, evaluation of research methods, and creation of intervention strategies. Students engaged more deeply with material and demonstrated better retention and application.

When a technology startup needed to create product training quickly, they used SAM to develop microlearning modules. They created rough prototypes in days rather than weeks, tested with early users, incorporated feedback rapidly, and launched functional training while continuing to refine based on user data.

Tools That Support Your Design Process

Modern e-learning development tools align well with different instructional design models.

Articulate 360 and Adobe Captivate support rapid prototyping for SAM approaches while also providing robust development capabilities for ADDIE projects. Learning management systems offer analytics that support evaluation phases across all models. These are industry standards (and traditional tools). There are, however, many other learning platforms you can use that allow for course creation.

The key is choosing tools that match your model rather than letting tool limitations drive your instructional design decisions. Prototyping tools become essential when using SAM, while assessment platforms support Bloom’s Taxonomy implementation.

Making It All Work Together

Instructional design models aren’t rigid rules you have to follow exactly. They’re frameworks that help you make better decisions about how to create learning experiences that actually work. The best designers understand multiple models and choose elements that fit their specific context, constraints, and goals.

What matters most is that you approach e-learning design systematically rather than haphazardly. Whether you follow ADDIE step-by-step, use SAM’s iterative approach, or blend elements from multiple models, having a framework keeps you focused on what learners need rather than what’s easiest to build.