Instructional Design for eLearning: The Process

Explore how the course creation process starts with the client brief, guiding e-learning design from the initial brief to development.

Examine how a client brief defines course scope by listing objectives, and illustrate required details with an Excel 2010 example, highlighting what a brief should include before the next step.

Evaluate a client brief using a checklist to ensure target audience, course objective, raw content, duration, level of interactivity, budget, language, mascot, quizzes, and assessment are covered.

Identify and specify key brief elements for e-learning design, including target audience age and gender, objectives, raw content, client questions, interactivity level, mascots, quizzes, and assessments.

Remember to wait for a fully verified brief with all client questions answered before starting your e-learning course creation. Avoid starting step two to prevent extensive rework.

Explore how to handle raw content from the client or through research, validate it before continuing with course creation, and map the journey of raw content to the next video.

Analyze raw content against the brief, mapping it to objectives, audience, and duration, and flag gaps or mismatches to adjust terminology and length.

Calculate course duration by dividing the total word count by 150 words per minute to determine the voiceover length.

Analyze content for alignment with the brief, identify discrepancies, and highlight them to the client to clarify before moving to the next step.

Clarify all client questions before creating your e-learning course to ensure content matches the brief, preventing rework and costly backtracking in the instructional design process.

Chunk content by breaking it into smaller, bite-sized pieces to improve comprehension in instructional design for eLearning.

Show how content chunking converts unstructured raw content—like opening Excel 2010—from steps (Windows icon, all apps, Excel 2010 logo) into a logical, memorable sequence.

Learn course-level and screen-level chunking to understand how to manage content at two levels and apply chunking strategies in design.

Break the course content into modules, then divide modules into lessons or units, and further split lessons into screens or topics to illustrate course-level chunking.

Explore course structure with modules, lessons, and screens, and explain how to create a new workbook or worksheet using a menu and button option, or via keyboard.

Explore screen-level chunking to break each screen's content into smaller chunks using subheadings, bullets, tables, short sentences, short paragraphs, bold fonts, or images to improve readability and retention.

Demonstrate screen-level chunking through module, lesson, and screen headings, divisions, and highlighted steps. Show how to open a new blank workbook via menu and button with clear steps.

Progress to step four of the instructional design process, focusing on reading your content and preparing for the next video.

Explore content treatment and learn what treatment means and how to treat your content in the following slides.

Define content treatment by selecting how to display course content, such as text, images, or animations, and align choices with the course interactivity level set by the client.

Explore how interactivity levels—from basic to complex—form e-learning, moving from text and static images to audio, video, simulations, branching scenarios, and drag and drop quizzes.

Explore the three levels of interactivity: level one with static text, images, quizzes; level two with audio, videos, animations, hotspots; level three with animated videos, avatars, and branching scenarios.

Advance to step five by creating the content outline, with a detailed walkthrough promised in the next video.

Explore the course outline, why we need it, types of course outlines, outline templates, and the elements of a course outline as step five in the course creation process.

Learn how a course outline, or content outline, maps the information you plan to include—covering your introduction, structure, objectives, content, and duration.

Outline your course to organize thoughts and structure modules, topics, screens, and content with durations. It prevents omissions, sparks ideas, and guides chunking and treatment before the storyboarding process.

Explore types of course outline templates using Word and Excel formats, and review a sample Word document outline to help clients understand and approve instructional designs.

Explore the essential elements of a course outline, including project details, brief summary, cost structure, module introductions, learning objectives, topic content, quizzes, assessments, and duration.

Complete your course outline and send it to the client for review. Verify client approval before storyboarding to avoid rework and wasted effort.

Explore why storyboarding is the final step in course creation, examine the need for a storyboard, and review various storyboard templates and their elements.

Define your storyboard as the blueprint and map of your course, detailing text, graphics, animations, audio, interactivity, transitions, and navigation. Understand why this story matters for effective course design.

Create a storyboard before course development to align with the client, prevent wasted effort, and secure approval before proceeding.

Compare storyboard templates in Word and PowerPoint, using PowerPoint to give clients a visual layout of the course and reduce development risks; download attached templates and create your storyboard.

Identify and organize the storyboard elements, including overall project information, navigation and screen details, audio and video instructions, graphics, interactivity, and on-screen text guidelines.

Send the completed storyboard to the client for review, obtain approval and sign-off, and prepare the project for production.