An Introduction to SAM for Instructional Designers
The ADDIE model is probably the most well-known approach for mapping out the course design process. But it isn’t the only game in town these days. One popular alternative is SAM: the Successive Approximation Model. Created by Allen Interactions, SAM offers an instructional design approach consisting of a few steps that you repeat as many times as necessary. These iterations address common instructional design pain points like meeting timelines, staying on budget, and collaborating with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). So what is SAM? And how is it different from ADDIE? Is one better than the other? Let’s dig in and uncover some answers to these questions. What’s the difference between ADDIE and SAM? ADDIE and SAM are two different approaches for crafting learning solutions that share some similar language. To better see where they differ, it’s helpful to understand how each of them works. Let’s start with ADDIE. ADDIE ADDIE stands for Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate. It’s a linear approach—like a production line—with each step depending on the successful completion of the previous one. To borrow some terminology from project managers, ADDIE is a “waterfall approach.” And in a traditional waterfall method, analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation are all treated as ordered steps in the overall development process. While this model is preferred in many organizations, some folks say this sequential approach contributes to many of the challenges faced by instructional designers, including: Prolonged development cycles: Have you ever had your project come to a screeching halt in the development phase? It’s not uncommon for new training or technology requirements to emerge in the project development phase, bogging down your productivity with re-work. Communication challenges with SMEs and stakeholders: Even the most thorough explanations and storyboards are still open to interpretation. And with a sequential approach, SMEs and stakeholders typically don’t get to try a hands-on version of the project until well into the development phase. This can mean it’s not until you’re near the end of the project—when you’re out of time and money—that you discover your vision doesn’t match theirs. No time for testing: When projects run out of time or money, what’s the phase of the process we tend to skimp on? In my experience, it’s testing. Shortchanging this step may save you time, but with risky downsides like a training product that doesn’t work—or work effectively—to address a critical performance gap. Successive Approximation Model (SAM) SAM, on the other hand, is considered to be an “agile approach” that can be scaled from basic (SAM1) to extended (SAM2) to suit your needs. Both SAM models use iterative cycles to create the end product right from the start—all while continually analyzing and refining your work as it’s being produced. Proponents of using agile methods for creating e-learning claim that models like SAM can alleviate many of the challenges discussed above—in particular, improving the project team’s visibility into the instructional design process and reducing development time frames. The basic process—SAM1—can be a good fit for smaller projects or teams. This flavor of SAM is a simple model with three iterations of the familiar instructional design steps of evaluation, design, and development. Using this approach, everyone’s ideas and assumptions can be discussed, prototyped, and tested early on, bringing you closer to a usable product more quickly. And what if your project is more complex? That’s where SAM2 comes into play. SAM2 is an extended take on SAM1. It consists of eight iterative instructional design steps spread across three project phases: Preparation, Iterative Design, and Iterative Development. In addition to the incremental cycles, another notable feature of the SAM2 model is the preparation phase. It consists of two steps to help you prepare for your design and development work fast: gathering information and then holding a brainstorming and prototyping meeting known as a “Savvy Start.” Which is better—ADDIE or SAM? When it comes to evaluating which design model is a better fit for you and your team, it really boils down to what you’re trying to achieve and what your work environment will support. When applied in the right situations and fully committed to by everyone involved, SAM’s flexibility can get you to a successful final course fast. Its iterative approach both helps you use prototypes to get stakeholder buy-in quickly and also makes it easy to pivot should your course requirements change. However, many instructional designers work in organizations that have embraced agility in theory but not so much in practice. Applying an agile approach like SAM can be difficult when your environment doesn’t encourage rapid feedback or flexible processes. In those cases, ADDIE’s waterfall model may be a better choice. Because ADDIE is a waterfall method that’s been used for years, it might make clients, stakeholders, and even team members more comfortable. And while it’s still not as flexible as SAM, many people find an adapted version of ADDIE that includes some iterative loops does a good job of splitting the difference between both methods. More Learning Whatever design model you follow—whether it’s ADDIE, SAM, or another one entirely—weighing your options for more thoughtful, responsive development practices can be a great way to build collaboration and grease the wheels for smoother training rollouts. Start by digging into these related articles from the archives. An Introduction to ADDIE for Instructional Designers What’s the PADDIE Model of Instructional Design? Best Practices for Effective E-Learning Project Management How to Manage E-Learning Project Scope Creep What design model is closest to how you really work? What are your thoughts on ADDIE vs. SAM? We love hearing from you, so share your thoughts in a comment. Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.What is E-Learning?
Have you ever watched a YouTube tutorial or signed up for an online course? If so, then you've experienced e-learning. The term “e-learning” might sound intimidating, but it's just a fancy way of talking about the use of electronic devices (computers, tablets, or phones) for educational purposes. In this article, we'll explore a more detailed definition of what it is, why it’s valuable, and more. Sound good? Read on! How Do We Define E-Learning? Many people would recognize a basic e-learning course as a slide-based online activity that contains simple navigation buttons (such as Next and Back) and incorporates quizzes with true/false or multiple-choice questions. But not all e-learning courses share the same fingerprint. For example, it could be an inherently responsive web-based course that allows learners to have a great learning experience no matter what device they’re using to view their course. Or maybe it’s a software simulation that demonstrates the click-path through an application. Or an interactive course that features role-playing and complex decision-making. In this article we’ll take a deliberately broad view of e-learning, and appreciate its near-infinite and ever-evolving forms. Why Is E-Learning Valuable? E-learning offers many benefits that more traditional training options, such as facilitated sessions or lectures, don’t provide. For example, e-learning ... Can be either an asynchronous or synchronous activity: Traditionally, e-learning has been asynchronous, which means there is no predetermined time for the learning to take place. Everyone can go at their own pace, and take their time to learn what they need to know, when they need to know it. However, more synchronous e-learning is now being offered through web conferencing and chat options. The great thing about e-learning is it gives you the option to do either or both. Has a global reach: E-learning can simply be placed online and easily accessed by people around the world. There is no need for expensive travel or meetings across multiple time zones. Spans multiple devices/mobile: Online courses can work on computers as well as on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. This means e-learning courses can literally be in the hands of the people who need them at all times. Is just-in-time/needs-based: E-learning authoring software is so easy to use that anyone can create, publish, and share a course within a few hours, allowing you to provide people with resources and training they can access right when they need it. Is more efficient: With e-learning, you can develop a course that can be distributed electronically to thousands instead of having to organize in-person training sessions whenever people need to be brought up to speed. Reduces costs: All of the abovementioned factors result in a cost savings for organizations that use e-learning courses to replace some of their traditional instructor-led training. Allows for consistent quality and content: When you develop an e-learning course, you can deliver the same message to all learners consistently. In classroom training, the message, equipment, and other conditions can vary widely from one session to the next, which can affect the outcome of the course. And that’s just the beginning! As you can see, e-learning can be an extremely valuable asset to your organization. How Do You Create E-Learning Courses? In the early days, e-learning courses were typically custom creations, coded by programmers and developers using highly specialized apps. In those days, it could easily require an entire team to create a simple, linear e-learning course. E-learning design is now much more accessible. Today’s course development apps, also called authoring tools or authoring apps, are so advanced that anyone can create e-learning courses—without any programming or coding knowledge. There are many different types of authoring apps out there today, each with their own set of capabilities. Some apps, like Rise 360, have been specifically engineered to create e-learning courses that dynamically adapt to any screen size (also known as responsive e-learning courses). Other apps, like Storyline 360, are designed to create highly interactive slide-based courses. And of course there are also PowerPoint add-ons like Studio 360, which make turning PowerPoint presentations into e-learning courses a snap. Each app has a unique feature set, making it particularly well suited for a specific type of project. When you’re trying to decide which authoring app to use, always start by looking at your project requirements and objectives. If you’re having trouble figuring out which app is right for your project, here are a few articles that could help you decide: Overview of E-Learning Authoring Software Top 9 Considerations for Choosing the Right E-Learning Authoring App Why You Need the Apps in Articulate 360 and When to Use Them How Is E-Learning Shared? Once you’ve created an e-learning course, you need to distribute it to learners. There are many ways to do this, and—like everything else related to e-learning—those ways are constantly evolving and improving. Here, I’d like to look at two ways to share content: informal distribution and formal distribution. Informal Distribution Informal distribution of e-learning content typically means users are trusted to view the e-learning course, and their participation isn’t tracked or scored. One way to informally share an e-learning course is to put it on a web server, then send participants the link and have them view the course. You don’t really have a systematic way of knowing whether learners have completed the course, but sometimes that’s not necessary. Formal Distribution Sharing an e-learning course formally means there’s a need to track and record learner results. Most organizations that have a need for formal distribution of e-learning have specific systems and standards in place for this. Tracking is usually done in what is called a Learning Management System (LMS). An LMS allows you to administer, track, report, and document the delivery of your e-learning courses. Get up to speed on LMSs here. Certain standards are in place to report the information to the LMS, including AICC, SCORM,cmi5, and xAPI (Tin Can API).For a short overview of these norms, hop on over to this article. Starting to feel overwhelmed by all the acronyms? Make sure to bookmark the E-Learning ABCs so you can refer back to the definitions of the most commonly used e-learning terms at any time. What Makes an E-Learning Project Successful? Many factors contribute to a successful e-learning program, but the top two are: A production process that uses the right apps Solid instructional design Let’s take a closer look at these two essential elements. Apps Powerful apps let you create the functionality and interactivity that you want for your learners. They help you make e-learning that looks and works great, which goes a long way toward a successful e-learning course. The more user-friendly the app, the less time you’ll spend on technical issues. This frees you up to commit to the instructional design to craft a great learning experience. Instructional Design One way organizations measure the success of an e-learning project is by how much the learner’s knowledge and skills have improved after they’ve taken the course. To provide your learners with the best odds, you should have content that is designed in an instructionally sound manner. Instructional design is all about creating educational experiences that maximize learning and present content in the most effective way. If you’re new to instructional design, I recommend reading up on the basics to help you create instructionally sound courses with solid learning objectives. You can have the most fabulous-looking course in the world, but if the content quality isn’t top-notch, it won’t have the impact you desire. The Bottom Line E-learning course development is constantly evolving. Authoring apps will continue to improve; however, your focus should remain on using those apps to create the best e-learning possible. In its relatively short history, e-learning has come a long way, and offers immeasurable opportunities to help people learn better. I hope this overview of e-learning inspires you to push yourself to create engaging courses that will delight your learners. If you want to learn more, you should check out: An Introduction to Instructional Design Basic Elements of an E-Learning Course 4 Easy Ways to Organize Content for E-Learning This article is part of our E-Learning 101 e-mail course, a series of expertly curated articles that’ll help you get started with e-learning—delivered right to your inbox. You’re only a click away from becoming an e-learning pro! Sign up here to enroll.A Quick Introduction to SCORM
SCORM is one of those e-learning terms you probably hear all the time. But you may not know that it’s an acronym for the Sharable Content Object Reference Model—and yep, that’s a mouthful! Here’s what you need to know about it. SCORM is a standard for making sure e-learning courses and learning management systems (LMSs) can communicate with each other. It includes a set of technical specifications that ensure e-learning courses can report information to an LMS, relaying whether the learner completed the course, how they did on a quiz, and so on. Basically, if authoring software can export content that’s SCORM-compatible, you’ll be able to use it in a SCORM-compatible LMS. Originally sponsored by the Department of Defense to make sure different e-learning courses created by various developers would work on all their LMS platforms, SCORM quickly became the software standard for the whole industry. But it’s not the only one out there. AICC and TinCan (also known as xAPI) are other standards widely used in the e-learning industry. Creating SCORM-Compatible Content with Articulate Software If you use Articulate authoring tools, it’s simple to publish courses to conform with the SCORM standard. You can find those details here: Storyline 360 User Guide Tips Storyline 3 User Guide Tips Rise 360 FAQs Studio 360 User Guide Tips And we’ve got tons more resources on working with LMSs to help you master this terminology: Find more details on making sure your Articulate courses will work with your LMS in this guide. See how you can troubleshoot LMS issues with SCORM Cloud. And find out even more about LMSs in this detailed series. If your current LMS is clunky, hard to use, or difficult for learners to access, then check out Reach 360 from Articulate. This fast, flexible, frictionless LMS simplifies every part of getting great training out to the people who need it. And because you can publish your courses to it directly from Rise 360 and Storyline 360, it takes no extra work at all to ensure your course and Reach 360 communicate with each other perfectly.Instructional Design Basics for E-Learning Development
If you’re a newcomer to the field of e-learning or instructional design (ID), you might feel overwhelmed by the amount of information available online regarding the various ID models and all the different learning theories. Where to start? First, it’s a good idea to understand exactly what instructional design is. In simple terms, it’s the practice of making learning experiences effective, interesting, and engaging for a learner. Anyone can create an e-learning project, but a skilled instructional designer will build e-learning that meets the learning objectives and needs of the audience. You’ll be happy to know that there are some basic guiding principles of ID that can provide a good starting point for your first e-learning project, and can help you make your training more meaningful for your learners. In fact, even if you’re an experienced pro, you can apply these instructional design basics to tighten up your course. Know Your Audience Analysis is a big part of the instructional design discipline. You might analyze a variety of factors—but always make sure one of them is your audience. You need to know exactly who you’re designing your training for in order to develop a successful e-learning program. Ask yourself, and your client: Who are your learners and what are their needs? Are they computer-savvy or completely nontechnical? How much do they already know about the topic at hand? Knowing who your learners are and where they are coming from will help you decide how to develop content that best meets their needs. For more specific tips on how to do an e-learning audience analysis, check out this article: How to Do an E-Learning Audience Analysis. Separate “Need to Know” from “Nice to Know” Another key ID task is to distinguish need-to-know information from nice-to-know information. You should omit superfluous information that doesn’t help learners do their jobs or tasks. When you’re deciding what information to include in your course, ask yourself: Is this critical? Will the learners ever need to know this to do their job? If they don’t know this, what would be the impact? If the information falls into the nice-to-know category, leave it out. For example, if you’re designing an e-learning course on how to reply to a vendor e-mail, you don’t need to include a huge section on the background of your organization and its employees, or the history of e-mail. Just stick to teaching learners what they need to know to write effective vendor emails. Still struggling to decide what to include? Head on over to this article for more tips: The Dos and Don’ts of Separating Need-to-Know from Nice-to-Know. Follow a Basic Course Structure There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to designing your e-learning projects. To simplify the process for you, we’ve included a basic framework for e-learning courses: Welcome: Welcome your learners to the course Instructions: Explain how they will navigate the course, which buttons they need to click, etc. Introduction: Tell learners why they are taking the course, and what benefits they’ll receive by completing it. Objectives: Outline the specific course objectives, so learners have a good sense of what’s ahead. Content: Build your main course content here. Depending on the length, you might chunk it into lessons, each with its own intro, content, assessment, and summary. Assessment: Give learners an assessment to see whether they’ve actually learned the material. Summary: Revisit the course objectives you stated up front. Resources: Offer additional content or resources that reinforce the course material. Exit: Give final instructions on how to exit the e-learning course. Most e-learning courses follow this general flow. Keep in mind, this flow doesn’t prevent you from building decision-making scenarios that branch learners to specific content based on what they know; you’ll just do that within the content section. If this all feels a little nebulous, pop on over to this article to see some concrete examples: Basic Elements of an E-Learning Course. More Resources If you follow these simple tips, you’ll be on your way to designing stellar courses right from the start. But if you want to dig deeper and learn more about ID practices, check out these great resources: An Introduction to Instructional Design 4 Easy Ways to Organize Content for E-Learning What to Do When Your Course Has Too Much Content Top 3 Types of E-Learning Analysis Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any comments, please share them below. This article is part of our E-Learning 101 e-mail course, a series of expertly curated articles that’ll help you get started with e-learning—delivered right to your inbox. You’re only a click away from becoming an e-learning pro!Sign up here to enroll.10 Things You Can Create with Rise 360 Instead of an E-Learning Course
When an employee is missing a behavioral or performance mark, it’s not uncommon for orgs to assume that an e-learning course is a surefire way to address the problem. And if you’re not in a position to push back against these kinds of assumptions, odds are good that you’ve got a substantial backlog of courses on your plate. If that sounds all too familiar, here’s some good news: creating a full-blown e-learning course with custom interactivity from scratch can be overkill, especially if the risk of a learner failing to perform a task doesn’t put the organization in substantial jeopardy. That means you’re probably better off designing something that’s faster, cheaper, and easier to create than a course—at least for some of those backlogged projects. That’s where Rise 360, the web-based authoring app in Articulate 360, can really come in handy. With loads of prebuilt and customizable ways to present content, Rise 360 is a great option for making creative projects that aren’t just your typical e-learning course. The best part: your boss will think you’ve been working on it for days, when Rise 360 projects take only minutes to make! But don’t take my word for it. Check out these 10 course alternatives your fellow e-learning pros have cooked up with Rise 360 ... Ever been asked to create a course for a topic you’ve already covered elsewhere? It happens all the time. We create lengthy e-learning courses on a topic using rich supporting content that somehow gets lost in the mix. Want to pull that content out and make it the star of the show? Do what Anastasia Laur did and create a collection of Self-Study Resources. I love how Anastasia combined the list block, the tabs block, and the statement text block to create a sleek, totally custom lesson that sets learners up for testing success. Folks love to read and learn from great content in all its many forms. With an interactive e-book created in Rise 360, you don’t need your learners to tote a novel around to learn from you. Rise 360 content is inherently responsive, which means they can read and learn on the go from every device. While we’re talking about the joy of reading, here’s a surprisingly immersive option for engaging folks: create a text-based adventure game like this one from David Fair. By interspersing the story with reflection points (created with the quiz lesson type in Rise 360), David broke up a lot of content and made an engrossing and personal experience. Want to bring folks in your organization up to speed on the outcome of a big initiative or some vital research? It can be a challenge to present data in a way that’s compelling and easy to understand. But with Rise 360, you’ve got loads of creative options for bringing information to life. Check out this brilliant (and award-winning!) idea for summarizing information from Laura Lowden. Laura’s example features a cool custom interaction integrated right into her Rise 360 project using a Storyline block. So clever! Worried your learners will greet the prospect of training with some skepticism? One of my favorite strategies is to use a stand-alone quiz or pre-test to help build buy-in for learning. Creating a myth-busting quiz or a thought-provoking pre-test in Rise 360 is super quick and easy—and a great way to challenge a skeptical training audience. Time to ditch the old paper-based quick reference guide that’s way too bulky to be very “quick” to use! Check out this online quick reference tool which uses the accordion block in Rise 360. The accordion blockis great for chunking lots of information so it’s easier for folks to absorb. Need to create some scenario-based activities? In this interactive scenario, Tom Kuhlmann uses visual assets he created in PowerPoint along with the flash card interaction in Rise 360 to create an engaging exercise that gets you thinking. Learn more about how Tom created this cool example in his blog post “How I Built This Interactive Scenario.” Looking for a fresh way to show off your work? Don’t miss this example of an online portfolio created by Stephanie Hartnett. Whether you’re imagining a portfolio to spotlight your own work, or highlighting the work of others, assembling an online portfolio in Rise 360 is easy and the results are beautiful. (I might steal this idea and put my own spin on it by creating a portfolio of example courses I can use when working with Subject Matter Experts.) Online portfolios are smart and on-trend for creatives—and so are interactive resumes. Take this interactive resume designed by Nicole Legault. Instead of a static document, Nicole used Rise 360 to create a memorable experience that highlights all of the key areas covered in a typical resume: goals, work history, education, and general background. I really love how she incorporated a labeled graphic lesson as a sophisticated portfolio. Something like this could be a great way to highlight your team’s work—or a way of tooting your own horn just before your next performance review! Have a lot of video content but not sure what to do with it? Why not organize it and provide some context? For an example of what that might look like, here’s some curated learning content on the topic of leadership, pulled together by embedding videos from YouTube. By combining video with additional learning resources and self-reflection prompts in Rise 360, you can quickly create a great independent study resource or a powerful component in a blended training program using content you may already have. Discovering loads of creative inspiration is such a time-saver when you’re stuck for an idea, isn’t it? And with a tool like Rise 360 in your back pocket, bringing your creative ideas to life is easier than ever. Already getting creative with Rise 360? How are you using it to lighten your project backlog or transform training in your organization? Please share your experiences with us by leaving a comment below. Want to try something you learned here, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.Insider Tips for Working with Fonts in Storyline 360
Text is the digital representation of letters—so it’s a big part of most e-learning courses. And where there’s text, there are fonts! Fonts are the styling or design of your text and deciding which fonts to use for your Storyline 360 course is a critical early step. Once that’s done, it might be tempting to get straight to work. But before you get started, let’s walk through some things you should know about installing and working with fonts in Storyline 360. Installing Custom Fonts First things first: when you install Storyline 360, you get an assortment of popular open-source web fonts—Lato, Open Sans, and Montserrat, to name a few. Here’s a full list of the installed fonts in case you’re curious. If you’re already running Storyline 360, when you open an existing project, Storyline 360 will scan your project and let you know if any of the fonts you’ve used are missing from your computer so you can install or replace them. Once you’ve installed any custom fonts you’ve downloaded to your system (check out installation instructions here), they’ll automatically appear in the fonts drop-down list in Storyline 360 the next time you open up the application. Pro tip: If you install fonts while Storyline 360 is open, you’ll need to close Storyline 360 and then reopen it to see your newly installed fonts. It’s also worth noting that Storyline 360 does not support Adobe Type 1 PostScript fonts. However, it does support Adobe TrueType and OpenType fonts. Not sure if you have PostScript fonts in your project? Find out by following the instructions in this support article: Storyline 360: Adobe Type 1 PostScript Fonts Aren’t Supported. Testing Custom Fonts We use web fonts (WOFF files) in published Storyline 360 courses to ensure text looks exactly the way you designed it and remains sharp when it’s scaled up or down. However, sometimes browsers are unable to download the custom font files. This is often due to a server configuration or browser settings issue, but it can also be because the browser believes the file is corrupt. If the browser can’t download the custom font file, then it will substitute that font with a standard system font, so your course won’t look exactly the way you designed it. Though there are ways to overcome this issue (see this article), it’s still a good idea to test the custom fonts you plan to use before you apply them to your entire course. To test your custom font, create a slide or two using your font in Storyline 360 and then publish it. Upload the published output to the environment your learners will view it on—including desktops, smartphones, and/or tablets. Make sure the font you chose renders correctly across these devices and their web browsers. If the font doesn’t render correctly or scale well, swap it out for another custom font. Trust me—if you run into any issues, you’ll be glad you found them sooner rather than later. Choosing a Default Font By default, when you insert a textbox into a new Storyline 360 project, the font is Open Sans. You can manually change that font every time you insert a textbox, or you can set up a theme font. If you set up a theme font, your preferred font will appear automatically whenever you insert a new textbox. Creating a theme font saves time and ensures a more consistent visual design. The process is pretty straightforward. You can learn how to do it in this article: Storyline 360 Working with Theme Fonts. Swapping Out Fonts Quickly and Easily What if you need to update a font throughout an existing Storyline 360 project? If you created a theme font, simply update it and it’ll automatically swap out the font everywhere in your project. If you didn’t use theme fonts in your project, use the Find and Replace feature. Simply choose the font you want to replace and the font you want to use instead and Storyline 360 will do the rest! Here’s how it works: Go to the home tab on the Storyline 360 ribbon, click the drop-down arrow next to Find/Replace. Choose Replace Fonts. Use the “Replace” dropdown to select the font you want to replace. Use the “With” dropdown to choose the new replacement font and then click Replace. That’s all there is to it! And here’s a .GIF to show you the above steps in action. Wrap-Up Thanks to these pro tips, working with fonts in Storyline 360 is a breeze. But if you’re still struggling to decide which fonts to use, check out these helpful articles: Finding Fonts That Fit Your E-Learning 5 Formatting Tips for Creating Dyslexia-Friendly E-Learning 8 Questions to Ask When Choosing Fonts & Formatting Text for E-Learning Have any tips you want to share? Leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you! And if you want to try something you learned here, but don’t have Articulate 360, be sure to start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.E-Learning for Beginners
New to e-learning? Our in-depth e-book will tell you everything you need to know. You’ll be creating great courses in no time! Grab this free e-book to learn: What e-learning is all about How e-learning can benefit your organization and learners The step-by-step process for creating courses How to get the right content from subject matter experts What technology and tools you’ll need in your toolkit How to design e-learning that really worksAll About Learning Objectives for E-Learning
Most clients have a specific outcome in mind for learners when they initiate an e-learning project. So how do you make sure learners reach the desired learning destination? By creating clear objectives, or milestones, that move learners toward the goal in a specific, measurable way. In this article we’ll look at why learning objectives are important, what makes them “good” (or “bad”), and how to craft solid e-learning objectives for your courses. Here we go! Why Learning Objectives Are Important Learning objectives are the cornerstone of every e-learning course. They’re the reason you’re creating the course. They guide you as you select the content and activities to include. And they help you determine whether your course has been effective. So basically, without learning objectives you won’t know why you’re creating the course, what content to include, what activities to choose, or how to gauge the success of your course. Seems pretty important when you put it that way, doesn’t it? What Makes Learning Objectives “Good” Despite their importance, all too often learning objectives are vague and unclear. Say you’re creating a course for mortgage company employees on how to process FHA loans. The goal may seem clear on the surface: you want learners to understand how to process FHA loans. But how will you know if your learners have reached that goal? You won’t—because understanding isn’t something you can measure. “Good” learning objectives are SMART objectives. They’re: Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-related Let’s take a closer look at how to use this simple formula to write your learning objectives. Writing SMART Learning Objectives How do you write SMART learning objectives? Start by taking a step back. Think about the smaller tasks that learners need to accomplish to achieve the larger goal. Then choose a specific, measurable action verb that accurately describes what learners need to accomplish. For example, do they need to be able to recall a product name? Explain a concept? Evaluate the risks and benefits of different choices? Avoid using verbs like understand or know; they’re difficult (read: impossible) to measure. Check out Bloom’s Taxonomy for a list of verbs that work well for learning objectives. Instead of: At the end of the course, learners will know how to process an FHA loan Try: At the end of the course, learners will be able to: identify the documents required identify the credit requirements identify the employment requirements Let’s check those objectives against our SMART criteria to make sure we’ve covered everything: Are they specific? Yes. They outline three specific requirements the learners need to be able to identify. Are they measurable? Yes. You could present learners with a multiple response question for each to determine whether or not they can correctly identify the requirements. Are they achievable? Yes. If the course explains to the learners how to identify these requirements, they should be able to do it. Are they relevant? Yes. Assuming the course content is focused on how to identify these requirements. Are they time-bound? Yes. When will the learner know how to identify these requirements? At the end of the course. Now those are some SMART objectives! You’ll be able to use them as a guide to build a helpful course and measure its effectiveness. The Bottom Line Without solid learning objectives, you’ll be hard-pressed to build an effective e-learning course. After all, how can you choose relevant content and activities if you don’t know what learners need to be able to do after taking the course? And if you can’t measure whether they’ve reached those objectives, you won’t know whether your course was successful in helping them do that. So next time you start a new e-learning project, be sure to think carefully about your learning objectives and ensure they’re SMART before you start building out your course. Looking for more instructional design tips? Check out these helpful articles: An Introduction to Instructional Design An Introduction to the ADDIE Model for Instructional Designers An Introduction to SAM for Instructional Designers An Introduction to Bloom’s Taxonomy for Instructional Designers Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X (Formerly Twitter).An Introduction to Instructional Design
As an instructional designer, I’ve had my fair share of blank stares when I tell people what I do for a living. E-learning? Instructional design? When I talk about my job I may as well be speaking in tongues. If you’re reading this article, I’m guessing you’ve been either on the giving or receiving end of this kind of interaction. Let’s take a few minutes to break down what instructional design (ID) is, what instructional designers do, and why it’s an important part of e-learning development. What Is Instructional Design? Fundamentally, you can think of ID as the process of taking information and framing it in a way that makes it interesting and easy for learners to understand. That might be a little oversimplified, but it’s a good place to start. The ID process is usually based on one of many different theory models. The one that’s best known and most widely used is called ADDIE, an acronym for the five phases in the model: Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate. Here is a brief overview of each phase: Analyze: This first phase of the ID process is arguably the most important, as it allows you to identify the key elements you will need to design an effective e-learning course, such as the training needs, the learning objectives, and the learner profile. Design: During the design phase, instructional designers take everything they learned during the analysis phase and start planning and structuring the content. This includes the project’s learning activities, exercises, assessments, visual design, and interface design. The document produced during this phase of development detailing all these decisions is called a storyboard and serves as a blueprint for the course. Development: The development phase is where instructional designers take the storyboard they created in the design phase and actually create the activities, exercises, graphics, etc. This phase also involves beta testing and debugging any issues that turn up. Implementation: This is the phase where the course is uploaded to a Learning Management System (LMS) or put online so learners can access it. Evaluation: After the implementation phase, the course is evaluated to measure how well it achieved the objectives detailed in the analysis phase. The course evaluation may result in revisions and an updated version of the course. The ADDIE approach is the current ID standard. Of course there are other ID models, such as the SAM Model, but they aren’t as widely used. To take a deep dive into the ADDIE model, check out this article. What Do Instructional Designers Do? The people who practice ID are often, aptly, called instructional designers, but there are a lot of other names used for this role: training designer, instructional technologist, e-learning designer, e-learning developer, educational technologist ... the list goes on! Now that you’re familiar with the ID process, maybe you’re wondering, What does an instructional designer actually do on a day-to-day basis? One thing I’ve always loved about this role is the wide range of activities it involves. Here are some of the things instructional designers do during the course of a project: Analyze training needs Analyze audience / identify learner profiles Define learning objectives Identify the appropriate learning strategy for a given course Rewrite and restructure content according to learning objectives Create multimedia elements to support content (images, audio, video, etc.) Create assessments to test learner knowledge / skill acquisition Design the course’s look and feel (color scheme, fonts, slide layouts, player, etc.) Storyboard the course prior to development Develop the course in an authoring tool Deploy the course on an LMS Measure the course’s impact on learners’ work performance The ID role varies from organization to organization. Depending on the size of your team, you may find yourself doing more or less of the above-listed tasks. Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list and is merely intended to give you an idea of the kinds of things instructional designers do. Why Does Instructional Design Matter? I think Tom Kuhlmann said it best in his article What Everybody Ought to Know About Instructional Design: “Without instructional design, the learner might or might not get the information they need. Because of instructional design, you can get the learners to cut through a lot of extraneous information and get right to the important stuff.” If you’re building a course, chances are you’re doing it because you want learners to acquire new knowledge or skills. Solid instructional design will help ensure that happens. Wrap Up Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the basics of instructional design and why it's an important part of the e-learning course creation process. If you want to continue learning more, here are some other articles you may want to check out: Instructional Design Basics for E-Learning Development 8 Simple Steps for Creating Online Training How to Do an E-Learning Needs Analysis How to Write Good E-Learning Objectives for Your Online Course 4 Easy Ways to Organize Content for E-Learning 5 Habits of Effective Instructional Designers And remember to subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X (Formerly Twitter). And if you have questions, please share them in the comments.Your Handy E-Learning Course Review Checklist
Remember taking tests back in elementary school when your teacher told you to always check your answers before turning it in? Same for an e-learning course. Before you deliver a course to learners, you want to look over your course to make sure it’s the very best it can be. But when you’re reviewing your course, what should you look out for? Every e-learning project is different, so no one checklist will work for everyone; however, here are some of the main things you’ll want to watch out for in your review. Review the Course Content No surprise here. The content is the most important part of your course, so you want to make sure you’re hitting the mark. If you’re not a subject matter expert, you should find one to help you with this part. Here are some questions to ask as you look through your course: Are the learning objectives measurable? Does all the content support the learning objectives? Is there any content that could be taken out? Is there any content missing? Have all the facts been checked and referenced appropriately? Does the course follow a logical order? Do the images accurately represent the course material? Do the examples and/or scenarios accurately portray the real-life context? Will the learners find the characters relatable? Does the quiz focus on the course objectives? Are the quiz questions clearly stated? Are all the quiz options believable (even the wrong answers)? Do you clearly state what learners need to do to pass the course? Here are some additional resources to help you fine-tune your content: How to Write Good E-Learning Objectives for Your Online Course The Dos and Don’ts of Separating Need-to-Know from Nice-to-Know What to Do When Your Course Has Too Much Content How to Create a Successful E-Learning Knowledge Check Copyedit the Text If your course is like most, text is a key part of the learning experience. Grammar and spelling errors are not only distracting, they actually skew your key messages. Here are some things to keep in mind to make sure you’re getting your point across: Are there any grammatical or spelling errors? Are you using punctuation and capitalization appropriately? Are there any run-on sentences that you could split up into shorter, more concise sentences? Are you using the active voice? Are you using the same voice throughout (for example, “I” or “you”?) Can you replace any adverbs (for example, running rapidly) with more precise verbs (for example, sprinting)? Are there any superlatives like "high-quality" or "excellence" that you could take out? Is there any jargon you should take out or explain? Is the voice-over script written in a conversational tone? Does the voice-over script provide notes to the voice talent on pronunciation? If writing isn’t your strong suit, check out these articles for more tips: Top Writing Tips for E-Learning 5 Tips to Improve Your Technical Writing Skills More Than a Dozen Tips for Writing Awesome Audio Narration Scripts Listen Closely to the Audio If your course has any voice-over audio, make sure to listen to it with these questions in mind: Is the audio used meaningfully? Or is the narrator just reading the on-screen text to learners? Does the voice-over follow the script word for word? If not, do any of the slight changes make a difference? If not, edit the script to match the audio. If there are changes that affect the meaning, ask the person to re-record that section. Are there any distracting background noises that need to be taken out? Is the audio volume at a good level (not too loud, nor too soft)? Is the volume and quality consistent throughout the course? Does the tone and inflection sound natural? Never worked with audio before? This article will help you get started: Audio Basics for Online Course Design. Assess the Design While people say not to judge a book by its cover, the reality is that we all do it. The course design is the first thing your learners will notice. If you want them to pay attention, it’s important their first impression be a good one. Here are some questions to ask yourself to make sure you’re on the right track: Does the design respect the brand guidelines (if applicable)? Does the design complement the subject matter? Is the design cohesive throughout the course? Are the objects aligned as they should be? Are all the images of similar style and quality? Are images and illustrations meaningful? Or are they merely decorative? Are fonts used consistently throughout (type and size)? Are all screenshots free of personal information? Do all buttons and hyperlinks look and behave the same (for example, if one button has a hover state, do they all?) so learners understand they’re clickable? If your design skills need a little work, check out these helpful resources: Visual Design How-Tos for E-Learning Developers User Interface Design: 3 Things E-Learning Designers Need to Know Test the Functionality Building a course from scratch using a tool like Storyline that allows you to personalize everything (the player, menu, navigation, quiz options, etc.) lets you create your course exactly how you imagine it. But with all this freedom comes responsibility: it’s your job to make sure everything is working the way you intended. Here are some items to add to your review checklist: Buttons and Hyperlinks If you’ve personalized the navigation of your course in any way (by adding buttons, changing the branching options, etc), check and make sure everything’s working as expected. Here are the steps I recommend going through: Make sure there’s no Previous button on the first slide. Go through the course from start to finish, click on all the Next buttons. Make sure there’s no Next button on the last slide. Go backward through the course, clicking on all the Previous buttons. Now go through the course again, starting from the beginning. Click on any other buttons (that open a layer, for example) or hyperlinks and make sure they’re working as expected. Menu Can you access all the sections of your course from the menu? Are all the titles correct? Is everything in the right order? Player Is there a seekbar on all slides with audio or video? Does the seekbar end at the end of the audio or video? Or does it extend far beyond it? If your course has audio, did you include an audio button so learners can turn the audio off or adjust the volume? Animations Are the animations synchronized with the audio (if applicable)? Do all the animations appear and disappear as expected? Videos Does the video play all the way through? Is the audio high quality? Quiz Questions Go through the quiz, making sure to select the correct answers and review the feedback. Make sure the score correctly shows you’ve gotten 100% at the end and that the correct amount of points is shown (if applicable). Go through the quiz again, this time selecting the incorrect answers and reviewing the feedback. Make sure the score correctly shows you’ve gotten 0% at the end and that the correct amount of points is shown (if applicable). Go through the quiz a third time. Alternate right and wrong answers. Check the score again and make sure it’s correct. Go through the quiz a final time, alternating right and wrong answers again but in the opposite order as the time before. Make sure the score is reporting correctly. Note that if you’re using a tool like Rise, you can skip this part of the review since all the functionality is prebuilt and it works perfectly every time. Check for User-Friendliness Once you’ve tested your course and you’re sure the content, design, and functionality are as expected, ask a potential learner to test it. They’ll be able to give you some great feedback about the course content and usability that you, as the course creator, are too close to the project to see. Here are some questions you should ask them when they’re done viewing the course: Content Was the course helpful and relevant to your job? What are the three most relevant things you learned? How confident are you that you can apply the new skill(s) you learned on the job? Is there anything you didn’t understand? Do you think the quiz accurately assessed your understanding of the course materials? Were the questions too easy, too hard, or just right? Was the feedback too detailed, not detailed enough, or just right? Usability Were the navigational instructions provided explicit enough? Did you always know where to click, or did you sometimes feel lost and unsure where to click? Armed with this checklist, you can deliver your course to learners knowing you did everything you could to make sure it fits their needs, works properly, and looks professional. Remember: if it’s not perfect (and no course ever is) you can always go back and make changes later on, after you get learner feedback. And while we’re on the topic of course review, here are some other great resources you should check out: Why We Love Articulate Review (and You Will, Too) Speed Collaboration with Articulate Review 3 Ways Articulate Review Is a Big Gift for Course Developers 5 Steps to an Easier E-Learning Course Review Process Follow These 3 Tips to Put the “Pro” Back In Your Review Process Rise Example: A Course for Stakeholders on the Review Process What do you think of this checklist? Is there anything on your review checklist that I missed? If so, please share in the comments section below! 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