From K12 Teaching to Instructional Design

Scripting content from source documents or from Subject Matter Experts is a very important part of Instructional Design. Scripting can be very complex if there are scenarios and interactions.  However, for this course, we will focus on the very basics of scripting.  For this week, we will create a 800-word script for eLearning.

Now that you have a script, the next step is to create a Storyboard.  Scripts can be very complex, or simple. This depends from company to company.  A simple Storyboard may be enough for a skilled ID who focuses on brining the eLearning to life visually.  The Storyboard typically has three columns.  One column for the title/slide.  Another column for the narration. And the third column for visuals and programming notes. 

After your script has been fully approved by stakeholders, the next step is to record voiceover. The voiceover can be recorded by a professional voice actor, or it can be recorded by the ID. Typically for internal trainings, the ID will record the voiceover. As IDs, it is good to know how to record voiceover for your courses. As long as we can record and make edits to the audio recording, it is good enough for most training. Our voice quality and delivery does not need to be at the level of professional voice actors.

There are many eLearning authoring tools out there.  However, Articulate Storyline is by far the most popular in the U.S.  I highly recommend using this authoring tool over others.  Since Storyline is very pricey, I recommend taking advantage of their 30-day trial and find ways to redo the trial when the 30 days is over.  For anyone who is just starting out, the cost is very steep if you are not making money from it.

You will be able to design the cover slide and the objective slide for your eLearning module.  You will also be able to leverage resources to better enhance the slide designs.

You can implement this strategy for designing a cover slide for almost all of your modules. 

Syncing voiceover narration with onscreen objects in your eLearning engages the learner by not only hearing the content, but also supplementing it with what they see on screen.  It also create movement on screen which help draw the learners attention. 

In Articulate Storyline, syncing objects is very easy.  After you have imported your slide audio narration, you'll want to move the onscreen objects on the timeline so that they appear in sync with your audio. 

This section is likely the most important part of eLearning development.  Of course, the accuracy of the content and the script itself is very important, but in reality, most stakeholders, managers, and future employers will assess your eLearning development skills based on what they visually see.  Be sure to spend at least 1-2 hours on every slide to make the design good.

Be sure to utilize the resources available in the internet to guide your contents slides.

For every eLearning module, it is always good to have some sort of knowledge check to assess that the learner has grasped the content.  For every 5 minutes of eLearning content, you'll want to have around 2-3 questions.  Typically, multiple choice, true/false, multiple select, and drag and drop are the most common.  We want stay away from free response questions as they are much more difficult to assess.

Since this is your first eLearning project, use the basic knowledge check features in the authoring tool.

Now that you eLearning module is designed in the authoring tool, it is now time to publish your course.  Every authoring tool has the ability to publish the course so that it can be uploaded to an Learning Management System or anywhere on the internet.  For almost all companies, just publishing the course as a SCORM package will be good enough.  Unless the LMS administrator or the client requests a specific published setting, you can just use the default settings.