Is it a best practice to always include a course description and course navigation instructions? My last employer didn't do this, but I saw a review checklist by Nicole L. (great!) that had this as an item. I've always included them in Rise because it prompts you to do so, however, I'm working on my first SL course now.
I have included direction at the start and during interactive slides or questions so people understand right in the moment. I prefer light instruction at the beginning and during the course where needed. I agree that it is typical to add in during final reviews where there seems to be question.
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Philip M. Landry
P.O. Box 1362, Douglas, MA 01516
(508) 341-0265
http://www.hsepartneringsolutions.com The content of this email is confidential and intended for the recipient specified in message only. It is strictly forbidden to share any part of this message with any third party, without a written consent of the sender. If you received this message by mistake, please reply to this message and follow with its deletion, so that we can ensure such a mistake does not occur in the future.
There should be a course description but not necessarily in the course itself. A lot of my clients put the description in the LMS so users can see what the course is about before taking it. If you put the description in the course, users might launch it only to find that it isn't what they want and then abandon the course without completing it. You might have a few lines on the splash page or second slide to orient the user as to what to expect but save the full description for someplace else.
As for navigation instructions, the navigation should be intuitive enough that you don't need instructions. Although having said that, it still boggles my mind at the number of people who need guidance for things I assume are simple. If you decide to include overall nav instructions, make them optional so that more experienced users don't have to suffer through a tutorial on how to click the next button. If you include interactions or exercises that require instructions, include them at the point of the interaction - not in a tutorial at the beginning. Again, I would suggest making these instructions optional.
Thank you for this. We include a full description in the LMS so I was also worried about redundancy. For this first course I'm creating, I've built a pre-test that I'm using as an introduction to the course. No matter what the "score", it's going to indicate what they can gain from taking the course. Does that make sense?
I actually agree that I really shouldn't need a full page of instructions. I mean, the arrows are right there! LOL. Yet, I do get what you mean by some people really missing the obvious. I'll follow Phillip's advice and indicate when a resource is available on the first slide that references one.
Thank you so much. I like the idea of just adding the instructions where needed. I have a few resources available for download so I'll add a call out to them.
5 Replies
I have included direction at the start and during interactive slides or questions so people understand right in the moment. I prefer light instruction at the beginning and during the course where needed. I agree that it is typical to add in during final reviews where there seems to be question.
[cid:image001.png@01D6E374.7009A4C0]
Philip M. Landry
P.O. Box 1362, Douglas, MA 01516
(508) 341-0265
http://www.hsepartneringsolutions.com
The content of this email is confidential and intended for the recipient specified in message only. It is strictly forbidden to share any part of this message with any third party, without a written consent of the sender. If you received this message by mistake, please reply to this message and follow with its deletion, so that we can ensure such a mistake does not occur in the future.
There should be a course description but not necessarily in the course itself. A lot of my clients put the description in the LMS so users can see what the course is about before taking it. If you put the description in the course, users might launch it only to find that it isn't what they want and then abandon the course without completing it. You might have a few lines on the splash page or second slide to orient the user as to what to expect but save the full description for someplace else.
As for navigation instructions, the navigation should be intuitive enough that you don't need instructions. Although having said that, it still boggles my mind at the number of people who need guidance for things I assume are simple. If you decide to include overall nav instructions, make them optional so that more experienced users don't have to suffer through a tutorial on how to click the next button. If you include interactions or exercises that require instructions, include them at the point of the interaction - not in a tutorial at the beginning. Again, I would suggest making these instructions optional.
Hi Nancy,
Thank you for this. We include a full description in the LMS so I was also worried about redundancy. For this first course I'm creating, I've built a pre-test that I'm using as an introduction to the course. No matter what the "score", it's going to indicate what they can gain from taking the course. Does that make sense?
I actually agree that I really shouldn't need a full page of instructions. I mean, the arrows are right there! LOL. Yet, I do get what you mean by some people really missing the obvious. I'll follow Phillip's advice and indicate when a resource is available on the first slide that references one.
Thank you!!!
KK
Hi Phillip,
Thank you so much. I like the idea of just adding the instructions where needed. I have a few resources available for download so I'll add a call out to them.
I like the idea of using the pre-test in this way.