I know there is a a few posts already on big projects, but i haven't found any that actually have there end outcome of what they achieved while attempting/creating it. If i am wrong please link me to it :D. Just a general question as i have so far created the first module out of 8, Quite big modules as well with 20 sections with show me and try me in each section along with quizzes, So im interested in seeing what other people have achieved and how they went about it!
I created a four-course project not too long ago--about 3.5 hours or so of learner seat time. Not gigantic, but neither small either.
Advice:
With tons of related content, I think the biggest challenge is achieving variety in presenting material.
1. Though I mostly develop in Storyline, if I had to do it over again, I'd take a harder look at the Studio 13 built in interactions. Sure, mostly click-and-reveal, but they look good, and with 20+ interactions, there's variety in spades. And quick to build.
2. If you use voiceover, consider at least two voices: male and female. Same goes if you are doing text-only course and using characters: mix of male and female. (Hey, it's been pretty successful for the human race.)
3. Goes without saying, but...make sure to mix up the question types you use. Storyline and Studio offer you many options.
4. Give your learners breaks. As Dirksen says, "There gonna take them whether you give them or not." After a good deal of content, let them take a breather, by asking an open ended question or have them write down what they thought was the most salient point.
5. Let your learners know the progress they are making. Consider some type of progress bar, and don't shy from encouraging messages, like "You are almost there, just one more scenario..."
I've managed or have been a part of a few larger projects. One with 12 modules that were about 20 minutes each, another with about 25+ modules around 25-30 minutes each.
I'm going to come in from a project management perspective first.
Task Management
If you don't already, I highly recommend something like Trello or Asana (both free) to track tasks. While you may not feel the need to have an extreme project plan or anything like that, it's extremely helpful to assign someone tasks such as "review course" so you always know where something is in the process.
Quality Assurance
I'd also recommend making sure you have a good QA process down. Whether it's a QA document in Google Sheets or similar, make sure it's easy to use, versioned, etc. Again - make sure you're assigning someone this task, and giving them a link to whatever spreadsheet or bug tracking page you want them to use.
Also be wary of changes that could affect other courses as well! For example, perhaps you are using a couple of characters throughout the modules. Make sure they don't contradict themselves due to changes! (E.g. a character believes 1 thing in a module, but then does the exact opposite in the next).
And I highly recommend having someone else doing the quality assurance - not just you :).
Set Expectations!
And be truthful then add some. If you think a task is going to take you 2 hours, double it to 4 hours.
Communicate!
As a project manager, I tried to get daily updates on my larger projects (well really, all) - even if it was "nothing was done today." It helps me know when something is starting to go wrong and I can jump in and help. It is not a way for me to judge the developer, it is simply a way for me to assess the health of the project.
Now for an instructional design perspective. Some of this advice won't matter if you're simply going off of storyboards created by someone else, but they may still be something to keep in mind as you're going along (or in future projects).
Length
Are you saying that these 8 modules have 20 sections each?
How much is the seat time in one of the 8 modules?
Do you expect the learners to take each module in one setting?
If the learners don't need to take the module in one sitting, even with Articulate's "return to..." feature, I'd recommend perhaps splitting up the modules even more into 15 minute bites (or whatever makes sense). You can then lump them together into courses on your LMS (hopefully). That way, learners can continue the modules on other computers or don't have to worry about clearing their cache.
Basically, try not to overwhelm the learner.
Content
I would also make sure that all of the content is necessary to the course. Is there content in there that won't be used often by the learners and could be easily just looked up and digested in a few minutes on your intranet? Or perhaps just added into the resources?
Learn by Doing
As much as you can, have the learners learn-by-doing. Set them up in scenarios, questions, etc, where they learn through the feedback. I also highly recommend Cathy Moore's action mapping.
Be Consistent in Your Design
Your buttons should be the same colors & design, your headers should be the same font and size, and so on. This, in the end, should really just make things easier for you. This doesn't mean to not add variety to the types of interactions you include, just make sure your learners are actually able to traverse the interaction without having to re-learn how to navigate the course.
I'm sure I could go on in the instructional design side, but I'm not sure how much of that particular advice you need :)
My biggest project was a monster redevelopment of a non-credit course with 42 lectures (many of which had multiple modules) and more than 30 different SME's, all of whom had to come to our location for voiceover and video recording sessions.
All of the lecture content was in PowerPoint that we "transformed" using then Studio '09. Most of these lecture files contained at least 40 slides. We also shot a brief video introduction for each SME.
This project was ripe with problems from the start.
The ID had resigned when the initial development began, so the development was put on hold until I, the new ID, started. So this is what I had to deal with right out of the gate in a new job.
With only 1 full-time ID (me) and a 16-hour-a-week person (who had near zero ID skills), we weren't anywhere close to being properly staffed to handle development of this scope.
The "video equipment" they were using for the intro videos was a webcam (horrible video and audio quality); the video was shot in an office room without properly lighting (people were washed out in bright yellow); the computer used for the VO could barely handle running Studio (Studio continually crashed or lagged); the computer mic recorded poor quality.
As a result of No. 3, I had to convince the division to buy the proper equipment (video camera, studio lights, lavalier and computer mics, new computers), then spec it out, then assist in the ordering. When all the equipment arrived, I had a 10-day window before sessions were to start to get up to speed on the equipment, develop a workflow and train my assistant who was technology-challenged, afraid of the equipment and not interested in learning.
The number of days/times (only 2 days during the week with 1 time during the day) that were originally available for SME's to schedule studio time wasn't convenient for them. As a result, hardly anyone was signing up, which means we weren't getting finished content. Upon recognizing this problem, I expanded the schedule so that time slots were available in the morning and afternoon, 5 days a week.
No standard look had been developed for the course. So I had to come up with something right before we started working on the first lecture.
In the end, we had to change the launch date and then later run the course with unfinished content because we couldn't going to make the revised launch date. Eventually, we (mainly me on my own) finished the content. So what was scheduled to be a 10-month development process ended up taking almost 2 years to fully complete.
As you can imagine, what I learned is what not to do when faced with a giant project and what can happen when you don't have a skilled ID in place at the beginning of the process. Based on this experience, I've been able to avoid all of the issues I listed in future development, both big and small. With that said, I still haven't figured out a way to redevelop that content in order to upgrade the quality (using Storyline 2) without having adequate staff (1 1/2 people) and without bringing everything else to complete stop.
Thank you! Great advice i will definitely have to change a few things now, The main thing im struggling with is how to keep the user interested or somewhat not bored to death! These will help heaps thank you!
Thank you! great advice, to answer your question basically there is 8 training manuals to do with a product/s that the company create, that the they have 4 trainers that travel world wide to teach engineers how to install this security system. In each book there is about 20 sections and each may take 2-10 minutes. This will go on a hosting system that the programmers here will do, just to go back a step basically the the course the trainers do is a 4 day course (so its pretty full on) then after the 4 days they do a test to see if they are ready to get there license to install and set up the system. So we have outsourced a online testing environment (Which is pretty extreme and well done) that people who don't have the money to get our trainers around the world to train them can firstly pay to get all the online courses (Which im creating) and then sit the test online in there own time! :) hopefully that explains what the project is! So we dont expect for them to sit in in 1 sitting. Thank you heaps for this perspective from a project management has really opened me up to that side of things and understanding that allot more and should definitely help me out during this! :)
Wow sounds like it was a very huge job! Thank you heaps for the reply :) im glad you got it finished in the end after how long that was and the problems you faced! That's the biggest project i've heard of so far, Well done!
6 Replies
I created a four-course project not too long ago--about 3.5 hours or so of learner seat time. Not gigantic, but neither small either.
Advice:
With tons of related content, I think the biggest challenge is achieving variety in presenting material.
1. Though I mostly develop in Storyline, if I had to do it over again, I'd take a harder look at the Studio 13 built in interactions. Sure, mostly click-and-reveal, but they look good, and with 20+ interactions, there's variety in spades. And quick to build.
2. If you use voiceover, consider at least two voices: male and female. Same goes if you are doing text-only course and using characters: mix of male and female. (Hey, it's been pretty successful for the human race.)
3. Goes without saying, but...make sure to mix up the question types you use. Storyline and Studio offer you many options.
4. Give your learners breaks. As Dirksen says, "There gonna take them whether you give them or not." After a good deal of content, let them take a breather, by asking an open ended question or have them write down what they thought was the most salient point.
5. Let your learners know the progress they are making. Consider some type of progress bar, and don't shy from encouraging messages, like "You are almost there, just one more scenario..."
Hope it helps a bit. --Daniel
Great tips from Daniel!
I've managed or have been a part of a few larger projects. One with 12 modules that were about 20 minutes each, another with about 25+ modules around 25-30 minutes each.
I'm going to come in from a project management perspective first.
Task Management
If you don't already, I highly recommend something like Trello or Asana (both free) to track tasks. While you may not feel the need to have an extreme project plan or anything like that, it's extremely helpful to assign someone tasks such as "review course" so you always know where something is in the process.
Quality Assurance
I'd also recommend making sure you have a good QA process down. Whether it's a QA document in Google Sheets or similar, make sure it's easy to use, versioned, etc. Again - make sure you're assigning someone this task, and giving them a link to whatever spreadsheet or bug tracking page you want them to use.
Also be wary of changes that could affect other courses as well! For example, perhaps you are using a couple of characters throughout the modules. Make sure they don't contradict themselves due to changes! (E.g. a character believes 1 thing in a module, but then does the exact opposite in the next).
And I highly recommend having someone else doing the quality assurance - not just you :).
Set Expectations!
And be truthful then add some. If you think a task is going to take you 2 hours, double it to 4 hours.
Communicate!
As a project manager, I tried to get daily updates on my larger projects (well really, all) - even if it was "nothing was done today." It helps me know when something is starting to go wrong and I can jump in and help. It is not a way for me to judge the developer, it is simply a way for me to assess the health of the project.
Now for an instructional design perspective. Some of this advice won't matter if you're simply going off of storyboards created by someone else, but they may still be something to keep in mind as you're going along (or in future projects).
Length
If the learners don't need to take the module in one sitting, even with Articulate's "return to..." feature, I'd recommend perhaps splitting up the modules even more into 15 minute bites (or whatever makes sense). You can then lump them together into courses on your LMS (hopefully). That way, learners can continue the modules on other computers or don't have to worry about clearing their cache.
Basically, try not to overwhelm the learner.
Content
I would also make sure that all of the content is necessary to the course. Is there content in there that won't be used often by the learners and could be easily just looked up and digested in a few minutes on your intranet? Or perhaps just added into the resources?
Learn by Doing
As much as you can, have the learners learn-by-doing. Set them up in scenarios, questions, etc, where they learn through the feedback. I also highly recommend Cathy Moore's action mapping.
Be Consistent in Your Design
Your buttons should be the same colors & design, your headers should be the same font and size, and so on. This, in the end, should really just make things easier for you. This doesn't mean to not add variety to the types of interactions you include, just make sure your learners are actually able to traverse the interaction without having to re-learn how to navigate the course.
I'm sure I could go on in the instructional design side, but I'm not sure how much of that particular advice you need :)
My biggest project was a monster redevelopment of a non-credit course with 42 lectures (many of which had multiple modules) and more than 30 different SME's, all of whom had to come to our location for voiceover and video recording sessions.
All of the lecture content was in PowerPoint that we "transformed" using then Studio '09. Most of these lecture files contained at least 40 slides. We also shot a brief video introduction for each SME.
This project was ripe with problems from the start.
In the end, we had to change the launch date and then later run the course with unfinished content because we couldn't going to make the revised launch date. Eventually, we (mainly me on my own) finished the content. So what was scheduled to be a 10-month development process ended up taking almost 2 years to fully complete.
As you can imagine, what I learned is what not to do when faced with a giant project and what can happen when you don't have a skilled ID in place at the beginning of the process. Based on this experience, I've been able to avoid all of the issues I listed in future development, both big and small. With that said, I still haven't figured out a way to redevelop that content in order to upgrade the quality (using Storyline 2) without having adequate staff (1 1/2 people) and without bringing everything else to complete stop.
Thank you! Great advice i will definitely have to change a few things now, The main thing im struggling with is how to keep the user interested or somewhat not bored to death! These will help heaps thank you!
Thank you! great advice, to answer your question basically there is 8 training manuals to do with a product/s that the company create, that the they have 4 trainers that travel world wide to teach engineers how to install this security system. In each book there is about 20 sections and each may take 2-10 minutes. This will go on a hosting system that the programmers here will do, just to go back a step basically the the course the trainers do is a 4 day course (so its pretty full on) then after the 4 days they do a test to see if they are ready to get there license to install and set up the system. So we have outsourced a online testing environment (Which is pretty extreme and well done) that people who don't have the money to get our trainers around the world to train them can firstly pay to get all the online courses (Which im creating) and then sit the test online in there own time! :) hopefully that explains what the project is! So we dont expect for them to sit in in 1 sitting. Thank you heaps for this perspective from a project management has really opened me up to that side of things and understanding that allot more and should definitely help me out during this! :)
Wow sounds like it was a very huge job! Thank you heaps for the reply :) im glad you got it finished in the end after how long that was and the problems you faced! That's the biggest project i've heard of so far, Well done!
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