While there are dozens of tips I could provide about developing an eLearning course using popular eLearning software, such as Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline, I think the most effective tips lie elsewhere.
Deeply Understand The Need
The number one tip I’d like to offer is to deeply understand the need that your eLearning course should address. As content developers, we are often given a project by our superiors or a client, and never really ask why. We then sit down with Subject Matter Experts to understand their content and start to ideate about what possible solutions we could create to illustrate it. Our first thoughts often include jumping right to buzzwords, like microlearning and gamification, to enhance the content and make it more engaging. We are very good at making training interactive, but this tunnel vision often leaves us missing the boat when it’s all said and done. From analysis to the final evaluation, our stakeholders and users should be more involved to ensure we cover all of their needs, and to determine that what we are building is the right solution.
Here are my tips to ensure we deeply understand the need:
1. Determining Why
Sitting down with stakeholders is never easy, but it is essential to find out why this project is necessary. Schedule a meeting and get all of your stakeholders to invest some time upfront. This kickoff meeting is crucial to capture their needs as well as determining your project scope. Ask questions like: Why do you believe people need this training? What will happen if the project doesn’t get done on time? Can we trade better quality for a bigger budget? Asking these questions will help to establish what is most important to them and help shape a lot of your decisions moving forward.
2. Clearing The Air
After your initial kickoff meeting, send an email to stakeholders listing all of your assumptions about the project. Confirming everything you discussed will help to clear any incorrect assumptions and provide you with documentation about the scope of the project. The only way to fail is to be too vague. Without clarity upfront, the project will end in frustrations and edits.
3. In-Depth Analysis
Here at Cognosante, we use design thinking methods to conduct our analysis. It has helped shape our content development through deep ethnographic research and innovative solutions. You may use any number of different methods to conduct your own analysis, but sit down with your users and see what their day-to-day life looks like, and how this training will fit in. This method will help to determine the true need behind your project and how your users will interact with it on a daily basis.
4. The Paper Prototype
Once you have established your need and have all the content for the project, the next step is what we call the paper prototype. The paper prototype uses large white pieces of paper where you storyboard your designs using hand drawings. It is important to use hand drawings because it allows users to have an immediate reaction to the concepts rather than the visuals. This process provides real feedback to your solutions and helps determine if your users’ needs are being met and is also the step where stakeholders can provide their input and have significant buy-in to the project.
5. Pilot Early And Often
Piloting early and often is essential. We want users to have exposure to the project as often as we can. Engage stakeholders for their feedback during big changes and at the end of completed sections. This engagement will ensure you are staying within scope and mitigate last-minute changes that you may not expect. Having users touch the project through each stage ensures they are getting what they need.
You have the tools available to make great projects. Spend the time with your stakeholders, and users, to make the project both meaningful and engaging.