Development and prototypes......are you ready?

In the development phase of the ADDIE process, you are expected to apply what you have now established about your context, i.e. your students' needs and abilities, the shortcomings in the curriculum, the possibilities of the tools. This application needs to use the information from the analysis phase as well as the design phase.
One of the aspects I find comforting about this type of approach, is the fact that each phase encourages you to ensure that you have enough information and have done enough to move on. If for some reason you reach the development phase and are not sure of the exact steps you should be taking now in order to deliver the teaching and learning activity in full, then it means you have missed out on something and need to go back to the design or analysis phase. And this for me, is very encouraging.

By now you should all be at  a space where you have a clear idea of the problem, a decent plan to address the problem, and the tool you need to do so. The development phase is the fun part!

But what are you developing? Why are you developing? The answers may seem simple. Your assignment instructions tell you that we expect a prototype at the end of the module. Your programme tells you that everything you do is to facilitate learning.
So what is a prototype? Michael Allen, in the book "Leaving ADDIE for SAM," defines a prototype  as follows:
"A prototype is, by definition, rough and incomplete. A prototype is not a fully functioning instructional component......" 
In a HPE context, I would liken a protoype to a skeleton with a few muscles, and the epidermis attached. It gives me the basic idea of my work (a body with soft tissue attachments and a protective covering), but doesn't truly give me the ability to learn about the human body in its' entirety. Your protoype for this module may be one with ALL the muscles, but it will still take time, feedback and testing to decide if you have included all the layers of the skin and the internal organs.

I hope this makes sense and possibly eases the tension a bit regarding what is expected of you. Again, I will remind you that this protoype and the assignment you leave this module with is the beginning of an innovation in your teaching practice and will be very rewarding in the end.

Our weekly diagram is expanding and with this addition today, we also reach the end of the cycle with regard to what is reasonably expected of you to complete for the module. You can see now how the design and development phase could almost be seen as one activity. The next two phases are not always possible to complete in the short time you  are engaging with the module, but are important and should still be completed in good time.