Content to build a course from - how polished does it need to be?

Jul 09, 2014

I have a number of traditional books (finance) that could (with a fair bit of restructuring) lend themselves to becoming elearning courses. My big question is - just how much prep do we need to do on the content, or can a good instructional designer take a book as it is and build from there?

Thanks for your help

9 Replies
Leah Hemeon

Hi Melissa,

An instructional designer with eLearning experience should be able to take raw content (like the finance books) and work with you to identify the course goals to determine how best to structure the content for an online format. Depending on their experience and/or working style, they may even work up a storyboard or mockup for the design. Some instructional designers (like myself) do both the analysis/design as well as development so would be able to take the project right through to a final product.

There would likely be questions about audience, purpose, etc. as they conduct the analysis and design the course. It's always a good idea for you, as the requestor, to know what it is you want to accomplish with the course otherwise it's easy to get lost in details. However, a good instructional designer will lead you through that process of figuring out what's relevant to your objectives and what's not. That's what we do best!

Good luck!

Leah

Joshua Roberts

Melissa,

One thing you will need to keep in mind with this is that depending on the options you choose it will affect the length of time that you need to spend on a project. Of course taking a project that has near perfect content is a lot quicker than having to analyse this yourself in order to piece together the information that is required.

Just be careful when you are giving project timelines that you factor in the current state of the content!

Holly MacDonald

Melissa -

I would suggest that your prep should be on the purpose of the course, the learning objectives as well as the business decisions behind the project (is scope, budget or deadline most important).

An ID will take that information and your content (book) and help match the two together As Leah described above. You'll find that there are some places where the content "translates" simply and others where it isn't a great match. You should anticipate places where the ID suggests an activity that isn't in the book or identifies where the content could be supplemented or improved. It's a very collaborative process.

You should be looking for a partner that understands the vision of your project (who is going to use it, how do they access it, what's their motivation in learning this, etc) as well as someone who can do the design/development of your modules. Make sure you consider more than just estimate in your selection. You'll want to have a relationship with a provider if you have several books that you want to "convert" to e-learning.

It sounds like a fun project.

Good luck!

Holly

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