eLearning Developer

10-Step eLearning Development Process Overview:

Written by Stephen Johnson (sjohnson @ mediamanagers.net – 866-501-5897)

1. Create an eLearning style guide: Your eLearning project should be a reflection of your organization’s brand and market position. Protect and reinforce your corporate/organizational identity through your eLearning projects. Be sure to document and communicate to everyone involved standards such as: Logo terms of use (size, colors, etc.); your official corporate colors (by Hex number); your corporate-mandated fonts (font, color, size, etc.) Remember also to select and stick with a targeted monitor resolution (800×600, 1024×768). You don’t want to have scrollbars appear for users of 800×600 resolution because you picked 1024×768 for example.
2. Define the eLearning project scope: Document items such as the course name, the estimated courseware runtime/seat time, your project start (kickoff) and end (production-ready) dates, general subject matter and existing course content (source materials like Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, etc.)
3. Complete a project Kickoff Questionnaire: This is a detailed questionnaire that identifies items such as target audience, eLearning standard (AICC or SCORM), Accessibility requirements (if any), general functionality/features (Glossary, help, search functions, etc.), desired interactivity and media complexity level (simple PowerPoint conversion or interactive Flash-based custom content), grading/testing requirements, audio/video, etc. Be sure that all key stakeholders and subject matter experts agree upon the items in this questionnaire or that at least the person with final signing authority approves the project specifics.
4. Perform initial content review and SME interviews: Gather any existing source material (instructor guides, student hand-outs, PowerPoint presentations, tests, quizzes, videos, etc.) and review them for possible reuse. Meet with a Subject Matter Professional and other key stakeholders to develop a rough course outline based upon key learning objectives. Map learning objectives to specific measurable items (e.g. in the form of test questions), and map those to content that covers these learning objectives. Identify any content gaps that may exist and fill them with subject matter interviews.
5. Develop course outline and Rough-cut Narration: Create a course outline that includes the key learning objectives in the order in which they should be delivered to the learner (if this is a linear-flowing course).  Write first-draft narration focusing upon creating analogies, explanations, exercises, and other items that most effectively communicate the given concepts. Review with SME and other interested stakeholders. Challenge the group to contribute creative (yet practical/doable) ideas and raise the bar.
6. Develop a prototype: Craft a full final production-ready representation of a short section of the course (e.g. 5-10 minutes).  Use this as an opportunity to, through proof-of-concept, confirm that you can pull off the creative ideas and deliver on the vision crafted during earlier stages. This prototype will establish the baseline and set expectations for the final end-product.
7. Refine and complete the storyboards: Based on lessons-learned during the prototyping phase, refine your rough-cut narration and develop final drafts along with complete media treatment notes.
8. Produce the Course: Record the audio, assemble the pictures, animations, and other visual effects, perform complete Quality Control on the courseware and deploy.
9. Evaluate the results: Review performance reports (your LMS should track and report useful/actionable data). Analyze how the course is performing for learners and vice-versa. Look for areas where the content may be weak and require modification. Interview learners for specific areas the liked or disliked about the experience.
10. Revise, re-deploy, re-evaluate, and refine: Continuously improve the course as budget, time, and necessity allow.

Does your organization need help building out a high-quality eLearning development infrastructure, or are you looking to work with an outside eLearning development agency? Contact me at sjohnson @ mediamanagers.net – 866-501-5897 to explore ways we may be of service.

Tips for “How to be a SME”

For more information or consulting advice call

Stephen Johnson – 866-501-6897

In the rapid eLearning and training development world, it is becoming more common for people who are experts at their specific job function to be recruited as subject matter experts. For many, this will be their first official involvement in a formal training initiative. So how can you prepare your high-performing employees for a role as a Subject Matter Expert? Here are some tips that may help:

1. Set the SME at ease: Make sure the SME understands that it is perfectly natural to have lots of questions about the eLearning or training development process. While s/he may be an expert on the job, translating that expertise into training material is not comfortable for everyone. The SME should feel comfortable operating in unfamiliar territory until s/he gets the hang of it.
2. Get SME buy-in: Often times if a new SME is uncomfortable, self-conscience, or otherwise uncertain about performing a SME role, they may raise objections or be difficult to work with. Be sure that the SME understands the role clearly and feels comfortable asking for clarification. Open and honest communication is key. Confirm whether or not the SME is excited or happy to take on this new role. If resentment is detected, try to get to the root cause of it or start looking for another SME – just in case.
3. Get SME manager approval/buy-in: Make sure that the SME-to-be is authorized by his/her superiors to work on your project. The SME should know that superiors value this contribution and have specifically identified the SME as the best choice for this project.
4. Involve SME early and often: SMEs are a crucial part of the project from inception to deployment. Their input will help to shape the course scope, instructional design, and final content. Involve the SME at project scoping, kick-off, source content aggregation/review, storyboard, media production, QA, deployment, and post-deployment analysis.
5. Clearly define the SME scope: How many hours, days, and weeks will the SME need to make himself available? In what form is feedback to be communicated (consolidated Word document, email, phone conversations, etc.) Generally the SME should help the instructional designers and writers by directing them in general directions and submitting corrective feedback rather than try to perform the ID role itself. Be sure your new SME knows the difference between collaborating and directing, rather than actually writing and developing.
6. Be Prepared: Make life easy on your SME. Come prepared with your questions in an itemized and focused list. Coax your SME to give you actionable feedback and do not allow ambiguous or unclear directions to go unchecked. The key is to make the most of everyone’s time. The SME is probably only performing this role as a temporary interruption to his/her normal workday, so show respect for the time given by being prepared.
7. Teach SME the ID Process: Take a little time going over basic instructional design principles. Explain the various roles each member of the team plays (instructional designer, writer, graphics, media production, quality control, project manager, SME, etc.) and how/when the SME will most likely interact with each of these roles. Often this is referred to as a Project Governance Document. Be sure to also explain the layout and general “mechanics” of your job aids including storyboards, quality control review/feedback documents, instructional design document (IDD), etc.
8. Teach the SME to speak your language: Be sure the SME knows how to formulate feedback in a way that is actionable. They should be told explicitly the difference between vague/ambiguous information vs. actionable. We’ve seen SMEs writing something like, “I don’t like this picture”. That’s not actionable feedback. Also, the SME should be prompted to avoid industry-specific jargon and to clarify or define all acronyms and “industry speak”, especially if training is targeted at new employees who may not be familiar with your company’s specific taxonomy.