I'm going to be assisting in the design of a training course for builders meeting their compliance requirements. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Greg, congratulations on starting your first course. Starting with a project plan to determine scope, objectives and timelines, a design document and storyboard is a great way to start - assuming you are designing a course for eLearning. I believe Articulate has some free downloads/template that might be useful. Good luck!
Hi Maya. Thank you for your reply. Your suggestions look like a great way to develop a plan of attack! Being very new to this field, I’m still working out the challenges I face with getting proficient with different softwares and tools, as well as getting used to participating in communities such as this one. Are you an Articulate yourself?
Get very clear on what the actual requirements are, and just focus on the "need to know" vs. "nice to know." Instructional designers tend to present too much content, at the sake of allowing learners to practice with the content.
After you do your needs analysis with stakeholders (basically, figuring out what your learners really need to know) show them some slides or interactions, so you can get their feedback and give them an idea of what a course might actually look and feel like. So important to shape your stakeholders expectations, especially if they are not used to designing training.
Create a bit of buffer in your timelines. If this is the first crack at developing a good-sized course, you very well may need it.
Give back to this forum -- answer questions when you can, share your expertise. What goes around comes around. You know?
Hope that helps a bit. Thanks for your post. --Daniel
New project? What a kick! You’re going to luv using this product – very robust and feature-laden. I just finished my first one (spent a chunk of weeks on it). The comments in here that users and staff post are huge program development time savers, I totally agree with Daniel: give back where you can. It helps us all.
1. I echo Maya’s comments. Planning saves so much time. Give ‘em what they want - not what you think they want. Watch out for “rabbit holes” – time suckers where you chase trying to implement a concept, and it is not quite there. Hit those development milestones and circle back for the finesse. Like Daniel says above; time buffers. A 20 minute training product took me 3 weeks + to pull together (next time will be faster, I’m sure). Order of content? Bloom: Remember/Understand/Apply… 2. Save often, with a different name (I put the date/time in my names (190813 0600hrs). 3. Read up a wee bit on variable usage – won’t take long and they are an indispensable feature. Layers, layers – luv ‘em. 4. Not working as expected? Build a baby app and test the concept. 5. Recording (I assume you’ll have sound?): Allow yourself some time to get the recording right. I was not able to just stream-of-consciousness speak/record what had to be said for my audio tracks. I picked up a Yeti Microphone (by Blue Designs). 6. Other tools. In addition to Articulate, I used: IrfanView for image editing Audacity for recording/noise-cleanup ScreenHunter and Snipping Tool for image captures PowerPoint for features like changing object dimension shapes or combining images Excel for designing tables and installing in Articulate Scrolling Panels Microphone: Yeti by Blue 7. Handy Articulate “load it and done” features: Resources on the upper right, loaded it up with info URLs – saved me tons of development time Notes (on left) I used for my text/scripting. I put in exactly what I said in my audio. Users can read as I speak and I did not waste slide real estate with closed captions. Glossary what a great easy to use feature. I filled it on the left with terms and definitions. Real easy to edit and they just recently made it even easier. 8. Size. Decide if you are using wide screen and the older size. Real annoying to switch later. 9. Scenes: use them for every concept. Automatically organizes your work. Makes it much easier to add/delete/troubleshoot later. 10. Name everything: it will kill you later, if you left it as object 24, object 25, object 26, (lol).
Well, that’s my top Ten. Good luck. You have an incredible development tool and great support. Good luck! - dave
Do you know if you'll be using Storyline 360 or Rise 360 for this project? Either way, there's tons of resources available here in the community to help you out. You can check out tutorials here. Let us know if you have questions!!
Apologies for the delay in reply. Thank you for your suggestions. They have been extremely helpful. Once I gain more experience and confidence, I will definitely be contributing more. The community is awe-inspiring in terms of the collaboration and sharing that takes place. It has been invaluable starting out in this field.
My apologies for the delay in replying. I've been bogged down with work, additional study and branching into this new field. Thank you for your top 10 tips and additional resources. They have been very useful. Venturing into this new field and my first project has been an exciting adventure!! Coming from close to 15 years teaching in a high school, where you can be preparing and delivering up to 6x one-hour lessons per day, it's been very different and refreshing to have realistic time frames, with the option to incorporate buffers, when working on/with innovative learning objects.
Extending on Blooms, a useful resource/article that was provided in my course that provides a great summary and overview of numerous instructional strategies can be found at this link
Thank you for your advice and links. I've been starting out with Storyline 360 and slowly building my competence (and confidence!!) working through the tutorials. Along with the resources available, they have made this a whole lot easier!!
What a great article you shared. Thanks much! I am still chasing interesting docs on topics mentioned there. One other I would add is: Connectivism. It is a bit controversial and feather-ruffling, but makes total sense. Good luck with your project. You've already no doubt been thru trial by fire with your high school classes (15 years! OMG! - but all the kids you've helped). I never dared enter that arena! See you online.
11 Replies
Hi Greg, congratulations on starting your first course. Starting with a project plan to determine scope, objectives and timelines, a design document and storyboard is a great way to start - assuming you are designing a course for eLearning. I believe Articulate has some free downloads/template that might be useful. Good luck!
Hi Maya. Thank you for your reply. Your suggestions look like a great way to develop a plan of attack! Being very new to this field, I’m still working out the challenges I face with getting proficient with different softwares and tools, as well as getting used to participating in communities such as this one. Are you an Articulate yourself?
Hi Greg, happy to help.
And yes, I currently use Articulate 360. Specifically Storyline 360.
Hi, Greg: A few suggestions:
Hope that helps a bit. Thanks for your post. --Daniel
Hi Greg!
New project? What a kick! You’re going to luv using this product – very robust and feature-laden. I just finished my first one (spent a chunk of weeks on it). The comments in here that users and staff post are huge program development time savers, I totally agree with Daniel: give back where you can. It helps us all.
1. I echo Maya’s comments. Planning saves so much time. Give ‘em what they want - not what you think they want. Watch out for “rabbit holes” – time suckers where you chase trying to implement a concept, and it is not quite there. Hit those development milestones and circle back for the finesse. Like Daniel says above; time buffers. A 20 minute training product took me 3 weeks + to pull together (next time will be faster, I’m sure). Order of content? Bloom: Remember/Understand/Apply…
2. Save often, with a different name (I put the date/time in my names (190813 0600hrs).
3. Read up a wee bit on variable usage – won’t take long and they are an indispensable feature. Layers, layers – luv ‘em.
4. Not working as expected? Build a baby app and test the concept.
5. Recording (I assume you’ll have sound?): Allow yourself some time to get the recording right. I was not able to just stream-of-consciousness speak/record what had to be said for my audio tracks. I picked up a Yeti Microphone (by Blue Designs).
6. Other tools. In addition to Articulate, I used:
IrfanView for image editing
Audacity for recording/noise-cleanup
ScreenHunter and Snipping Tool for image captures
PowerPoint for features like changing object dimension shapes or combining images
Excel for designing tables and installing in Articulate Scrolling Panels
Microphone: Yeti by Blue
7. Handy Articulate “load it and done” features:
Resources on the upper right, loaded it up with info URLs – saved me tons of development time
Notes (on left) I used for my text/scripting. I put in exactly what I said in my audio. Users can read as I speak and I did not waste slide real estate with closed captions.
Glossary what a great easy to use feature. I filled it on the left with terms and definitions. Real easy to edit and they just recently made it even easier.
8. Size. Decide if you are using wide screen and the older size. Real annoying to switch later.
9. Scenes: use them for every concept. Automatically organizes your work. Makes it much easier to add/delete/troubleshoot later.
10. Name everything: it will kill you later, if you left it as object 24, object 25, object 26, (lol).
Well, that’s my top Ten. Good luck. You have an incredible development tool and great support. Good luck!
- dave
Hi Greg!
Congrats on your first project! That's so exciting!! Here's some articles and resources that might help you out:
Do you know if you'll be using Storyline 360 or Rise 360 for this project? Either way, there's tons of resources available here in the community to help you out. You can check out tutorials here. Let us know if you have questions!!
Hi Daniel,
Apologies for the delay in reply. Thank you for your suggestions. They have been extremely helpful. Once I gain more experience and confidence, I will definitely be contributing more. The community is awe-inspiring in terms of the collaboration and sharing that takes place. It has been invaluable starting out in this field.
Hi Dave,
My apologies for the delay in replying. I've been bogged down with work, additional study and branching into this new field. Thank you for your top 10 tips and additional resources. They have been very useful. Venturing into this new field and my first project has been an exciting adventure!! Coming from close to 15 years teaching in a high school, where you can be preparing and delivering up to 6x one-hour lessons per day, it's been very different and refreshing to have realistic time frames, with the option to incorporate buffers, when working on/with innovative learning objects.
Extending on Blooms, a useful resource/article that was provided in my course that provides a great summary and overview of numerous instructional strategies can be found at this link
https://outfindca.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/1530_hirumi_su303_0314_101429.pdf
Hi Nicole,
Thank you for your advice and links. I've been starting out with Storyline 360 and slowly building my competence (and confidence!!) working through the tutorials. Along with the resources available, they have made this a whole lot easier!!
Hi, Greg:
Good to hear from you. Agreed, this forum was HUGE for me as I got started in this.
Hi Greg!
What a great article you shared. Thanks much! I am still chasing interesting docs on topics mentioned there. One other I would add is: Connectivism. It is a bit controversial and feather-ruffling, but makes total sense. Good luck with your project. You've already no doubt been thru trial by fire with your high school classes (15 years! OMG! - but all the kids you've helped). I never dared enter that arena! See you online.
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