Well, the title “The Story of Secretly Applying ISD in Courses Here” is a little misleading. I have never denied it. Some people have recognized it. I just never made a big deal of it. So let me explain.
First, what is ISD? Well, a gentleman named Harold Stolovitch, along with his longtime collaborator Erica Keeps, is best known for framing Instructional Systems Design (ISD) through the lens of Human Performance Technology (HPT). Rather than treating training as a simple transfer of information, Stolovitch views instructional design as an engineering discipline meant to transform learner behavior and drive measurable performance.
His work—most prominently in books like Telling Ain’t Training and its Field Book, and Engineering Effective Learning—breaks down ISD into two distinct levels: the macro engineering process (how to build training systems) and the 5-step instructional session structure (how to deliver effective learning).
Before I get into what ISD is, I need to tell a story: Somewhere around 1996 I was working in a team that was breaking new ground for the company I worked for and it was clear to me, as the Product Manager, that the team needed to understand the technology really well. We needed a subject matter expert (SME) that we could teach us this new technology. At the time technical training like that was available from a company called Telecom Research Associates (TRA). The SME came in, did a great job, however it was tellin’ not training. So after the training, I went one-on-one with the SME to get to what we really needed. Ironically, during that one-on-one, the SME said to me that I would make a great trainer and he laid out the opportunity.
Within a year I made the jump by creating my own consulting/training company and subcontracting with TRA. I taught and created courses for TRA for about 18 months. It was great experience and they had some excellent skill building that polished me as both a presenter and as a trainer. That said there was one thing missing: they never had labs or interactive learning. As I learned my training craft I had dug in with Bloom’s Taxonomy. It just was not in the cards with TRA. But, I was fully implementing it with my own private courses. I built the Online School, and every course had interactive lab experiments, lab systems, etc. I had been teaching my materials to Cisco Engineers when one day in 2003 one of the Cisco Learning managers told me about this new Stolovitch book and framework. He had a copy and we went over it. I loved it! It was in line with everything I was saying at the time, and from that point forward my training courses have had both the ISD and the Bloom taxonomy influence. Here we are some 20+ years later and it is still a great framework for training.
OK – so what is it exactly? Well let me break it down as follows (this is not meant to replace the book in any way shape or form):
1. Core Philosophy: “Telling Ain’t Training”
Stolovitch’s framework hinges on three foundational tenets:
- Learner-Centered & Performance-Based: The goal of instruction is not transmitting content, but transforming what the learner can actually do on the job.
- Active Engagement: Passive listening produces low retention. True learning requires active cognitive processing, practice, and immediate feedback.
- Instruction vs. Performance Support: Training is not always the answer. If a job aid or workflow tweak solves the performance gap faster and cheaper, ISD should recommend that instead of a full course.
2. The Macro ISD Process (Systematic Engineering)
In Engineering Effective Learning, Stolovitch and Keeps outline a structured, step-by-step engineering process for designing instruction. It builds on traditional ADDIE principles but adds heavy rigor to front-end analysis and validation:
Phase 1: Front-End Analysis
- Learner Analysis: Characterizing target audience entry skills, motivation, and prior knowledge.
- Context Analysis: Mapping out the environment where learning happens and where performance will be applied.
- Task Analysis: Deconstructing complex workplace tasks into specific observable behaviors and steps.
Phase 2: Design & Objectives
- Performance Objectives: Writing precise, measurable goals stating what the learner will accomplish, under what conditions, and to what standard.
- Criterion Measures: Designing test items and workplace evaluations before creating course materials to ensure perfect alignment with objectives.
Phase 3: Development & Interaction Design
- Activity Design: Creating interactive, task-focused learning activities rather than just lecture slides (this is what TRA did).
- Formative Validation: Testing prototypes on sample learners to refine materials before full-scale deployment.
3. The 5-Step Delivery Model (Lesson Level)
For structured training events, Stolovitch created the 5-Step Interactive Training Model. This sequence ensures learners remain engaged throughout any session:
[1. Rationale] ➔ [2. Objectives] ➔ [3. Activities] ➔ [4. Evaluation] ➔ [5. Feedback]- Rationale (WIIFM): Answer “What’s In It For Me?” upfront to build motivation and establish relevance before introducing content.
- Objectives: Clearly state what the learner will be able to do by the end of the session.
- Activities: Facilitate hands-on practice, simulations, case studies, or problem-solving exercises where learners process the material.
- Evaluation: Assess whether learners met the session’s objectives through observable performance.
- Feedback: Provide immediate confirming feedback for correct execution or corrective feedback to fix errors.
Is the ISD philosophy the be-all and end-all of training design. No. The training professional needs to adapt the ISD and Bloom concepts and methods into the training subject. I think if you use the above and the post on Bloom as you cheat sheets when developing courses of any kind, the impact will be positive, the learning experience will be elevated, and your impact on students, business, customers and the target audience will be palpable.
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