Case study · ADDIE retrospective
A career-switcher curriculum built end-to-end with a cross-functional team, walked here through the five ADDIE phases. 4C/ID architecture, multi-modal material design, and a Kirkpatrick L1–L4 measurement plan are named at the point each was applied.
Phase 1 of 5
Audience. Career-switchers entering UX / UI design from adjacent fields (often product management, marketing, front-end, or graphic design). Varied prior experience; mixed visual / textual / hands-on learning preferences. Russian-speaking primary audience.
Performance context. A graduate must produce a hireable portfolio and land their first UX / UI role within 3–5 months of program completion. Industry hiring requirements — not academic syllabi — are the brief.
Constraints. Yandex Practicum platform + brand standards; cross-functional team of designers, developers and reviewers; on-time launch at cohort cadence (cohorts open every 4–6 weeks).
Prior-art scan. The career-switcher bootcamp model in Russian-speaking EdTech is mature (Skillbox, Netology, GeekBrains). Differentiator: ruthless alignment to current hiring-market requirements rather than universal "everything about UX" coverage.
Phase 2 of 5
Why 4C/ID. UX / UI design is a whole-task complex cognitive skill — research, ideation, wireframing, prototyping, testing, presenting all sequenced under realistic project pressure. 4C/ID exists for exactly this transfer profile; it lets the curriculum sequence whole-task practice from constrained (single screen) to open (multi-page system) without losing scaffolding.
Module sequence. Reverse-derived from hiring requirements — what does a UX / UI hire need to ship on day one? Modules cover what employers actually ask in interviews + portfolio reviews, ordered from highest-leverage (research + wireframe) to advanced (design system + prototype handoff).
4C/ID component map.
Multi-modal materials decision. Each module ships in three modalities — visual (screencast + diagrammed examples), textual (longread + reference cards), hands-on (Figma file template + assignment brief). Reduces drop-off in mid-program — a real risk for career-switchers who fatigue when forced into one learning mode.
Phase 3 of 5
Three artefact types per module. Tutorial (theory + worked example), assignment (project brief + rubric), assessment (peer or expert review with rubric scoring). Same shape across all modules — students learn the rhythm by week 3.
Cross-functional pipeline. Curriculum design coordinated with three counterpart teams:
Iteration cycles before launch. Each module went through internal-team review, then small pilot cohort, then full launch. Iteration friction managed by tight rubric definitions early (reduces "I disagree with the score" downstream).
On-time launches. Cohort calendar publishing dates worked back to internal deadlines. Slippage on any module would have pushed the cohort start — coordination became the production discipline that mattered.
Phase 4 of 5
Delivery via the Yandex Practicum LMS in cohort-based programs. Each cohort had a fixed start date and shared timeline; students moved through modules together with mentor + peer-review checkpoints at module boundaries.
Cross-functional review pipeline continued post-launch: mentor feedback loops fed into the curriculum's next iteration cycle, so each cohort improved on the previous one.
Phase 5 of 5
| Level | Target | Instrument |
|---|---|---|
| L1 | Module-end NPS within target band | 3-question micro-pulse after each module |
| L2 | Per-module assignment + assessment scores at rubric target | Peer + expert review against published rubric |
| L3 | Portfolio quality at graduation — fundable on the job market | End-of-program portfolio review by industry-side reviewer |
| L4 | Graduate landing a UX / UI role within 3–5 months of program completion | Cohort placement tracking via alumni outreach + Practicum platform reporting |
The L4 outcome target — graduate placement within 3–5 months — was the design anchor, not a downstream metric. Every module decision had to defend its contribution to that outcome or it got cut.