Interactive ELearning Course on a Budget

Isn’t this the dream of designers and clients alike? To build a highly interactive, engaging, and effective eLearning course on a tight budget. And by tight budget I refer to both time and resources: delivering a completed course quickly and at low cost with few needed resources.

Well, just in case the above paragraph and title of this entry has you excited, let me stop and clarify that this article will NOT provide a recipe for creating a highly interactive and effective eLearning course on a small budget.

I know – bummer, right?

I recently met with a prospective client who expressed the desire for 63 hours of completed web-based training (WBT) at a level 3 interactivity (meaning inclusion of video, audio, branching scenarios, customized feedback, and complex interactions). However the budget was only $5,000-$10,000. Even applying development metrics for a level 1 WBT, it would be extremely difficult to pull that off.

While this request may be extreme, it does highlight an important issue that arises frequently in the instructional design field. Clients want quick courses, at a cheap price, and they want them to be great. Not just great, but so great every learner magically knows everything they are supposed to know. And if you aren’t willing to produce such a course, then someone will bid lower than you to take that work.

The end result? More and more courses are created that, in my opinion, are nowhere near the caliber they could have been in terms of effectiveness and quality. More and more courses perpetuate the eLearning stereotype of glorified PowerPoints with next buttons that adhere to the mantra “let’s cram as much information as we can, throw it all at the learner in a series of slides, and hope that knowledge miraculously sticks and our performance/revenue/morale increases.”

For both the client and designer alike, it is frustrating.

So what did I do with the client who wanted a massive, interactive, effective WBT for a tiny dollar amount? We had a long, informative conversation over very good coffee during which I tried to stress a few key pieces of knowledge.

Change will likely not occur by throwing facts at learners.

Can we create lengthy rows of PowerPoint slides and fill them with all the content you would ever want your employees to know? Sure. Will your employees actually learn any of what is presented in those slides? Probably not.

This is because learning involves change. And change requires motivation and engagement. A good instructional designer can advise you on the best way to motivate and engage your learners. If they suggest a series of slides with text on them, find a new designer.

Just because you can make a course doesn’t mean you should.

We are often requested to design courseware for clients who want to jazz up their compliance training. Complaints are high in an area of business ethics, equal employment opportunity, IT security, or harassment. They want us to design a WBT that will solve this. But does the organization actually know that training is the solution? Is it a lack of knowledge on their employee’s part? There are so many other potential causes of performance gaps (e.g. lack of motivation, unclear expectations, process breakdowns, poor attitudes, unproductive working beliefs). Find an instructional design team that can perform a comprehensive analysis of the situation and advise you on the best path forward to get the change you desire.

Interaction is not the same as multi-media.

While the use of graphics, audio, and video can enhance your courseware, the inclusion of multi-media does not generate automatic learner engagement. My health insurance company recently released a series of “interactive” videos that were supposed to assist me in making plan selections during open enrollment. Although the video included my name on the title screen, I was not engaged nor was it interactive.

Interactivity involves context and challenging activities. Find an instructional design team that can create meaningful interactions for your content.

Trust your instructional designer.

Did this message come across already? If you are confident that you hired a knowledgeable and experienced instructional designer or instructional design team, then trust their advice and opinions. While you may not choose to take all of the advice, know that your designer has the best interest of your learners at heart and wants to see your company and your project to success.

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Kelly Novic is an instructional designer with Victor 12. She has over 12 years' experience designing and developing web-based, virtual, and face-to-face training for a variety of clients and settings, including higher education, non-profit, corporate, and government.

Developing Templates: Storyboards

As a company, we have developed templates for a variety of common documents and tools used during the process of eLearning analysis, design, and development. These templates include things such as style guides, course design documents, storyboards, facilitator guides, student guides, and quality assurance reports. For this entry, we’ll be considering the important elements that should go into a storyboard template.

We use storyboards for several project types, and more than one storyboard template is utilized. Our storyboards for web based training (WBT) are much different than the ones we use for virtual instructor-led training (VILT). However, the goal for all of our storyboards is the same: to organize and convey the designer’s vision to all members of the team, including graphic artists, programmers, subject matter experts, and the client.

For our WBT storyboards we include the following elements:

• Storyboard number

This number consists of the module and/or lesson number as well as a unique identifier for each storyboard. We count our storyboards in multiples of ten so that we can add storyboards during design without having to renumber every board.

• Visual elements

What does the screen look like? What do the buttons look like? Where are all of the components in relation to one another? What graphics are being used?

• Navigation instructions

Navigation not only includes next and back directions between storyboards, but also branching instructions. Directions should be provided for every linking item on the screen, including hyperlinks that open documents or webpages.

• Question responses and feedback

For our knowledge check or test question storyboards, we provide correct or example responses, as well as positive and negative feedback and actions.

• Voiceover

The specific voiceover script is written in the storyboard. We later pull this script out into a separate document for an additional round of quality assurance prior to sending it off to a voice actor.

• Animations

What action happens on the screen? Do any elements enter or exit the screen, and if so what are their specific starting and ending locations? Do elements highlight, move, grow, or shrink? Are there any avatars, and if so what are they doing?

• Graphics

In addition to representing graphics directly on the storyboard screen area, we make sure to list out the graphic name or file number in addition to any modifications required. If a new graphic is needed, we provide examples or specific descriptions of what is required from our artists.

Our VILT storyboards include the following elements:

• Storyboard number

Just like the WBT storyboards, the VILT storyboard numbers consist of the module and/or lesson number as well as a unique identifier for each storyboard in multiples of ten.

• Layout type

Which pods are needed? Where should these pods be located? If a new layout is needed, what should be the layout name? When created, screen captures are added to convey visual information.

• Pod content

Every pod that is used in the layout type should be accounted for in the pod content section. For example, if a sharing pod is being used then we name the specific document or presentation being shared. For a poll pod, we include the exact question and answer choices.

• Timing

How long should the presenter and student spend on each storyboard?

• Presenter directions

For our presenters, we provide directions for what they should say as well as what they should do.

• Host directions

Similarly, for our hosts we provide directions for what they should do during and between each activity and layout.

Utilizing thorough and well thought out storyboard templates can create a streamlined design and development process. Keep in mind, however, that there may be times when a project needs extra flexibility. Templates are there as guides and should not lock you in as a designer.

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Kelly Novic is an instructional designer with Victor 12. She has over 12 years' experience designing and developing web-based, virtual, and face-to-face training for a variety of clients and settings, including higher education, non-profit, corporate, and government.