Critiquing e-Learning Courses

Apr 13, 2020

Hello Articulate Community!

I am currently in a position where I am now responsible for critiquing the e-learning materials that others put together.  I have some experience in creating my own courses and knowing what works and what does not, but I wanted to open up the discussion to the experts here to weigh in (as I have already learned so much from all of you!).  What are the types of things you look for when critiquing an e-learning that someone else has made?  This can be anything from visual cohesion to your brand, to the overall organization of the concept and how it is laid out.  Assume the format is anything Articulate-related, i.e. created in Storyline or Rise.  Thanks for any help you can provide!

 

5 Replies
dave faldasz

Hi Cristin!
Well, I can take a shot at this one...  and share some of what I get critiqued on, when I submit my courses for review:

Look and feel:
Consistent audio volume from screen to screen.
Minimal font styles used – and same font size/color from screen to screen.
Next/previous buttons all take you where you are expecting to go.
Choice of colors are not rude and everything is easily visible with chosen backgrounds.
Screen backgrounds are uniform, from screen to screen.
Items are rock solid identically located from screen to screen with no up/down left/right shift.
Voice over matched the notes script shown on the left.
Same bullet style/size from screen to screen.
Interactive actions and animations to engage the user (but not too much).
Animations relate to the topic – not just added for the sake of animation.
If appropriate, the animation is in sync with the audio – highlighted item/motion sequence.
Minimize “wall of words” on any single screen.
Logo on every page.
Pop up screens (layers) are implemented (and closed) the same way for every layer introduced
Slide layout uniformity.

Content:
Sections are well labeled and stick to topic.
Content info is in an orderly progression for logical ‘flow”.
There is a reason for every screen being in there:
       – ask the question ‘why do they need to know this?’
Every acronym is spelled out when first introduced.
Sentences make sense and concepts are simply stated

that's for starters.
I'll be interested to see what else gets posted on this!
Good - better - best... right?
Thanks for bringing up the topic.

-dave

 

Jodi M. Sansone

Hi Cristin,

Dave gave you a great list of things to look at.   I always start with a couple questions before I  review  actual the file.  As my background is advertising and marketing, I was always taught to ask creative people a about the creative strategy and audience before evaluating the actual creative.  So before you dig into a course, maybe start off with:

  • What is the goal of this project or course?
  • What were you trying to achieve?
  • What can you tell me about the audience?
  • Can we review the creative elements board first?

Designers may make choices that may be different from how you would approach an assignment, so it helps to understand what they had in mind before you comment on the work.  It will also make them feel like you care about what they were trying to accomplish.