“Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is nightmare” – Japanese proverb

Everything starts with a ‘why’, whether it’s implicit or explicit. In the educational field, it’s preferable to make the ‘why’ explicit, as it serves as a guiding principle (or an anchor) to return to during the rest of the design process (and is required for accreditation). It also allows you to make policy decisions from the get-go, to inform the entire process.

Defining the purpose involves conducting a broad, overarching, needs analysis. This phase of the educational design process results in a vision statement (or a so-called professional framework/profile) that provides clues for both the content (learning outcomes) and the format (instructional design) of the program.