Without a successful model in place, your training efforts miss the mark. They don't inspire change. They're not motivational, they're boring. Take content for example. These days, training provided by companies and organization is often burdened with content and lots of text, and it's much too light on learning experiences and opportunities to practice. Even e-learning technology that stands ready to present interactive video, animation, and graphics, tends to be laden with text-heavy presentations, delivered in a page-turning format.
Boring instruction is costly, damaging, ineffective, and wasteful. Consider the following effects that boring instruction has on learners. Lost learner attention. Gaining learner attention is critical to enabling instruction. No attention means no learning. Boring instruction dampens the learner's desire, ability to focus, and willingness to develop new skills and performance behaviors.
The Successive Approximation Model (SAM) is a particularly valuable process for the design and development of interactive learning events that are meaningful, memorable, and motivational. It is a fast, agile, and collaborative model that many instructional designers are using.
Boring instruction is costly, damaging, ineffective, and wasteful. Consider the following effects that boring instruction has on learners. Lost learner attention. Gaining learner attention is critical to enabling instruction. No attention means no learning. Boring instruction dampens the learner's desire, ability to focus, and willingness to develop new skills and performance behaviors.
The Successive Approximation Model (SAM) is a particularly valuable process for the design and development of interactive learning events that are meaningful, memorable, and motivational. It is a fast, agile, and collaborative model that many instructional designers are using.
Dr. Michael Allen introduced this model in his book, Leaving ADDIE for SAM. This model is based on the agile, iterative methodology. In an iterative model, you'll repeat a process or a stage, and continue to build upon each repetition.
In contrast to content-focused design, the CCAF (context, challenge, activity, feedback) design (described in Leaving ADDIE for SAM) seeks to place learners in realistic situations that most accurately resemble the real-life performance needing improvement. This means that the learner is presented with situations (or scenarios) to practice the components of this performance.
SAM has four phases – preparation, design, development and rollout. Each stage follows an iterative process to come with the final deliverables of that stage. Collaboration and communication is key in this model since the repetitive nature requires flexibility.
Preparation: The preparation phase begins with gathering information and then having a conversation with the team about the goals and objectives. This conversation is known as the Savvy start.
Design: Then we move into the design phase. It has three stages: evaluate, design and prototype. This cycle is repeated three times, incorporating the feedback from the prototype into the next round of evaluate, design and prototype.
Development: This phase consists of three step model- development, implementation, and evaluation. The cycle is repeated three times, incorporating feedback from the implementation into the next round of development. This iterative process is designed to look for any errors, make improvements, and allow for flexibility before moving on to the next stage.
Rollout: This is the final stage. After you've completed the iterative design and development, you've already reviewed and incorporated your feedback.
Pros
SAM is relatively new to the instructional design world. It's even been adopted by the ASTD, the American Society for Training and Development. The collaborative nature of SAM allows teams to be flexible, and the repetitive review stages leave lots of opportunities to communicate any changes or feedback. Changes are incorporated right away. Changes that need to be made to the training, or external changes, like budget or schedule, are incorporated very fast. For this reason, SAM can save time and money.
Cons
SAM is repetitive. While this is also a benefit, it can be a drawback. Some critics of SAM argue that the repetitive nature can lead teams to become desensitized to the review process and this can allow for errors.
Another argument is that the repeat of cycles can waste time and resources, especially if the project doesn't require that level of review.
In contrast to content-focused design, the CCAF (context, challenge, activity, feedback) design (described in Leaving ADDIE for SAM) seeks to place learners in realistic situations that most accurately resemble the real-life performance needing improvement. This means that the learner is presented with situations (or scenarios) to practice the components of this performance.
SAM has four phases – preparation, design, development and rollout. Each stage follows an iterative process to come with the final deliverables of that stage. Collaboration and communication is key in this model since the repetitive nature requires flexibility.
Preparation: The preparation phase begins with gathering information and then having a conversation with the team about the goals and objectives. This conversation is known as the Savvy start.
Design: Then we move into the design phase. It has three stages: evaluate, design and prototype. This cycle is repeated three times, incorporating the feedback from the prototype into the next round of evaluate, design and prototype.
Development: This phase consists of three step model- development, implementation, and evaluation. The cycle is repeated three times, incorporating feedback from the implementation into the next round of development. This iterative process is designed to look for any errors, make improvements, and allow for flexibility before moving on to the next stage.
Rollout: This is the final stage. After you've completed the iterative design and development, you've already reviewed and incorporated your feedback.
Pros
SAM is relatively new to the instructional design world. It's even been adopted by the ASTD, the American Society for Training and Development. The collaborative nature of SAM allows teams to be flexible, and the repetitive review stages leave lots of opportunities to communicate any changes or feedback. Changes are incorporated right away. Changes that need to be made to the training, or external changes, like budget or schedule, are incorporated very fast. For this reason, SAM can save time and money.
Cons
SAM is repetitive. While this is also a benefit, it can be a drawback. Some critics of SAM argue that the repetitive nature can lead teams to become desensitized to the review process and this can allow for errors.
Another argument is that the repeat of cycles can waste time and resources, especially if the project doesn't require that level of review.