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.399Views0likes19CommentsFree Webinar: Secrets to 95% Safety Training Satisfaction
It’s here, it’s free, and now, it’s on demand! Our best-of webinar replay is here: Discover how a leader in safety training achieved 95% learner satisfaction and adeptly handles shifting compliance needs. We think you’ll love this guest’s tips for getting real results with e-learning. About the guest: Irish Rugby Football Union This fan-favorite interview features Colin Moran, National Training and Education Manager at the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU). The IRFU is the national governing body for rugby in Ireland. Colin’s team creates training for hundreds of teams across the country. Their learning audience includes everyone from elite and recreational athletes to volunteers, medics, coaches, and referees. Managing such a diverse audience makes it challenging to ensure that training is relevant and engaging for all. Learning Luminaries: On-demand webinar In this webinar, you can expect to learn how the IRFU training team reduces administrative work and adapts their training to different learner needs. You’ll also discover: Why and how the IRFU got stakeholder buy-in to transform their paper- and slide-based training into interactive e-learning. Online training tips and tools the IRFU uses to quickly deliver vital regulatory updates to game staff, volunteers, and players. A needs-based, learner-centered approach to training design that’s led to 95% learner satisfaction. You’ll also get a sneak peek of a microlearning course Colin’s team created to prevent head injuries and quickly respond to regulatory changes. Ready to tackle your training challenges and get inspiration from a fellow e-learning pro? Watch the free on-demand webinar here.379Views0likes0CommentsA 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.199Views0likes16Comments10 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.102Views0likes13CommentsAn 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.99Views0likes47CommentsBasic Elements of an E-Learning Course
When something’s new, it can feel complex and difficult. And when you’re first getting into e-learning and you view a finalized course, it’s hard to imagine what all the moving pieces are. However, when you pull back the curtain and look at the most basic elements of an e-learning course, you’ll realize that most courses are made up of the same fundamental components. If you’ve taken or designed at least one online course, you should recognize most of these course building blocks. While there’s no rule saying you must include these components in every course, it’s helpful for new e-learning designers to be familiar with the basic elements and where they fit into the overall course structure. Course Welcome or Opening This is the first thing your learners see when they open your course. In addition to welcoming learners visually, it usually provides options for navigating the different sections of the course. Remember that the welcome content sets the tone for your course, so it’s important to start off strong! Here’s an example of a welcome screen created in Rise: Here’s an example of a Content Library welcome template you can insert into your Storyline 360 project: Instructions Depending on the type of course you’re creating, you may want to include instructions to help learners understand how to navigate through the course. If you’ve built your own custom navigation using a slide-based authoring app, you could use arrows, callouts, and text to point out the important features of the course player. Noteworthy features include navigation buttons, resource tabs, a transcript menu, and help buttons. If you’re using the built-in course player that comes with your authoring app, you may not need to go into that level of detail. But even if you’re using standard navigation, it’s still helpful to let your learners know if they need to turn on their speakers, whether there’ll be a quiz at the end, and how much time they should set aside to complete the course. If you’re using a web-based app, like Rise, it might look something like this: If you’re using a slide-based app like Storyline, a simple instructions slide could look more like this, for example: Learning Objectives Objectives give learners an overview of the course goals. Usually presented in bullet point format, the list shows actionable tasks the learner should be able to do after completing the course. However, objectives don’t have to be listed in bullet point format. Often, it’s the client, business partner, or organizational style guide that requires objectives to be presented that way. There’s a trend in the e-learning industry to find creative alternatives to the bulleted format. For example, you could create an accordion interaction in Rise so your learners can explore the different objectives at their own pace, like in the screenshot below: Or, if you’re using a slide-based tool like Storyline, you can create a stylized objectives layout to catch your learner’s eye: Here are some additional resources and discussions on making bullet points more engaging: Convert Your Bullet Points to Interactive E-Learning with Video Five Surefire Ways to Get Rid of Bullet Points Ideas on Getting Rid of Bullet Points to State Course Objectives Reducing Bullet Points and On-Screen Text Animating Bullet Points — Is It Possible to Animate More Than One? Content This section is the meat of your course, where all the learning happens. Here you can include text, images, charts, tabs or timeline interactions, scenarios, screencasts, videos, and much more. There are many different ways to present your content, but here are a couple of ideas to get you started. Text and Images Example created in Rise Content Library template available in Storyline 360 Scenarios Example created in Rise Content Library template available in Storyline 360 Timeline Interactions Example created in Rise Content Library template available in Storyline 360 Depending on your content and course objectives, your course could include just one or two of these elements, or all of the above and much more! Let your objectives guide you through the creation process and help you decide how to best present your content to help your learners reach their target. Practice Activities The purpose of practice activities is to help learners strengthen their skills and knowledge. As such, they should include content presented earlier in the module so learners can apply what they just learned. Here’s an example of a practice activity you can create in Rise: And here’s another example created in Storyline 360: Knowledge Checks & Assessments Knowledge checks and assessments are quizzes at the end of each topic, module, or course, where learners can test their progress during a module. The main difference between the two types of quizzes is that knowledge checks do not generally count toward the final score, while assessments do. They might look like typical quizzes (i.e., true/false, multiple choice, etc.), or take on a more casual format, such as a scenario in which learners must make decisions about what to do in a real-life situation. Check out this example of a quiz question created in Rise: And this one created in Storyline 360 : Summary At the end of each topic, module, and course you’ll often find a summary of the key points from that section. They can include links to additional resources to help highly motivated learners take their knowledge to the next level. In Rise, that could look something like this, for example: Or if you’re working in Storyline or another slide-based app, you could create a slide like this one: Contact Info & Resources At the end of each course you’ll usually find contact information for the trainer or subject matter expert (SME) as well as some additional resources to help support learners as they apply the skills they’ve learned in the course to their jobs. Typically they include one or more of the following: Contact information: People to contact for help or questions about the course Continued learning: Additional resources beyond what was in the course Job aids: Handouts from the course that can be used as performance support In Rise, you could create something that looks like this, for example: Or you could build a slide like this in Storyline or another slide-based app: Final Thoughts As a course designer, you have unlimited options for combining e-learning elements in your courses. Your experience level, combined with expectations for your course and learners, will influence many of your choices. If you’re a new e-learning designer, try covering these common elements to start. Good luck! Leave a comment or post in the forums if you have any other questions about these e-learning elements or want to share ideas for combining them in unique ways. Follow us on Twitterand come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.99Views0likes27Comments3 Steps for Creating Your First Rise 360 Course
Everything you need to create modern, engaging e-learning is at your fingertips with Rise 360. Not sure where to start? This handy guide will help you create your very first microlearning or full-length course in three easy steps. Let’s get started! 1. Choose the type of learning experience you want to create: microlearning or a full-length course Start by choosing whether you want microlearning or a full-length course. Your choice will depend on the content you want to share with learners. Microlearning courses aren’t just short courses. They’re bite-size pieces of content focused on a single learning objective. They’re approachable, bingeable, and easy for users to review and apply. Microlearning courses are also great for learners on the go because they’re easy to consume on phones or tablets. Full-length courses give you the opportunity to go in-depth on a certain topic. Made up of multiple lessons and knowledge checks, courses may include multiple learning objectives and, as a result, take longer for the learner to experience. Learners almost always use a computer to access full-length courses. So how do you know which format to use for your course? When choosing between the two, ask yourself: How many learning objectives do I have? If you only have one, a microlearning course is the clear option. If you have more than one, could each one stand alone or are they interdependent? If they could be split up, you could create a series of microlearning courses. If they’re interdependent, then a full-length course is the best option. Once you’ve made your decision, go to your Rise 360 dashboard. Click Create New and choose Course or Microlearning. 2. Search for a template or start from scratch It's always a good idea to look at templates and see if there’s already material you can use or adapt to your learning objectives. Articulate offers two types of templates: placeholder and real content: Placeholder templates include guidance and ideas to help you create a fully customized course. Real content templates have pre-written content you can adapt to fit your learning objectives. After choosing the type of e-learning you’d like to develop, you’ll see all available templates. Select Preview to explore a template before you choose it. You can use the search bar to find templates by keyword. And for full-length courses, you can use the left-hand panel to explore templates by category. When you’re ready to use a template, click Select This Course. If you don’t find exactly what you need, don’t worry: You can always customize a template or even start from scratch. Just click +Blank Course/Microlearning to begin. 3. Add your content Once you’ve chosen a template or started from scratch, you can add in your content using blocks. Blocks give you different ways of formatting your content in a lesson or microlesson. There are many types of blocks: text blocks, image blocks, interactive blocks, knowledge check blocks, and more. You can use different block types to make your content unique and engaging. Clicking All Blocks or the + sign in your lesson or microlesson will open a list of block types in a left-hand panel. If you change your mind about the type of block, you can easily choose a different block from the same category by clicking the dropdown menu in the top-left corner of the block. For example, the paragraph block gives you the option of reformatting your content into different types of paragraphs, headings, statements, and a note. Not sure how to pick the right block? Think about what your learner needs. For example, if you have a lot of content that may be overwhelming as a text block, consider using a tabs block to break up the text. Or, if you want learners to compare and contrast different chunks of information, consider using an accordion or flashcard block. As the course author, this is your opportunity to get creative! Here are some articles for inspiration: 6 Rise 360 Blocks to Use Instead of Bullet Points 7 Creative Ways to Use Images in Rise 360 Courses 6 Rise 360 Block Types to Use to Compare and Contrast Concepts 5 Different Ways to Create Scenarios in Rise 360 3 Creative Ways to Incorporate Your Logo into a Rise 360 Course More Resources Creating microlearning or full-length courses in Rise 360 is superfast and easy. In just three steps, you’ve already started putting together an elegant course customized for your learners. And when you’re done drafting your course, you can share and review your content with stakeholders easily thanks to Review 360. Here’s more information on how to use Review 360: Getting Started with Review 360 Rise 360: Publish Content to Review 360 Your Most Asked Review 360 Questions Once they’ve been approved, you can easily publish from your Articulate 360 dashboard. Here are some guides to get you started: Rise 360: Share Content with Learners How to Share E-Learning Courses with Learners Want to try creating your first course in Rise 360, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial. And subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest e-learning examples.99Views0likes0CommentsHow to Share E-Learning Courses with Learners
After gathering course content and assets, designing and developing your project in a course creation app, and gathering stakeholder approval, you’re finally putting the finishing touches on your e-learning course. But as you go to share your course with learners, you find you have yet another decision to make—except this one doesn’t seem as straightforward. You realize you need to think about how you’ll give learners access to your course. In this article, we’ll walk you through the most common options so you can decide what’s best for you. Tracking Systems If you want to track information and create reports about who is taking your courses, the amount of time they spend, and their quiz scores—whether it’s to keep records of training participation or for compliance purposes—you’ll need to use some sort of tracking system. There are two main types available today. Let’s take a quick look at each of them. Learning Management Systems (LMSs).LMSs are the most common option for sharing courses that require tracking. In many cases, they don’t include robust authoring capabilities. So you need to create your courses with a separate authoring app and upload them to your LMS before you can share them with learners. Some LMSs, though, have integrations with specific authoring apps—such as Reach 360 and Articulate 360—which can make it easier to get courses into your LMS and ensure they communicate clearly with each other. Learn more here: An Introduction to LMSs. Learning Record Stores (LRSs). LRSs allow you to track learner activity across multiple platforms—like e-learning courses, websites, or apps—and get a more complete picture of how and what your team members are learning. However, it’s important to note that not all LRSs allow you to host your courses, so sometimes using one requires that you also have an LMS. Learn more here:An Introduction to LRSs. Intranet or Internet Websites If you don’t need to control access to your course, keep track of learner progress, or record quiz scores, you can simply upload your course to your company’s intranet or internet website. Not sure how to do that? Head over here for a step-by-step guide: How to Share an E-Learning Course on Your Intranet or Internet Website. Video-Hosting Sites If you’ve created a short explainer video or teaser to get people excited about your course, you might decide that the best way to share it with learners is via a video-hosting site, like YouTube. Wrap-Up While it might seem like there are lots of options to choose from, the systems your organization already uses, your training objectives, and your learners’ needs will often guide you to a natural choice. There isn’t a wrong or right answer. Rather, there’s an option that’s best for you. Have a question about sharing your course with learners that I didn’t cover? Post a comment below! And once you’ve decided how to share your course with learners, check out the articles below for help choosing the correct publishing format: Rise 360: Share a Course with Learners Choosing the Right Publishing Option for Your Storyline 360 Project Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to 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.99Views0likes0CommentsWhat's the PADDIE Model of Instructional Design?
You just landed a consulting job helping a company ramp up their new-hire training. You’ll be the one-stop shop for creating onboarding materials. How exciting! It’s a big-name client and you’re eager to start. You sit down to begin your needs analysis and you freeze—not only are you missing a project budget, but there’s no timeline or list of stakeholders. You don’t even have a style guide, much less contact information for someone in the marketing department to get one. Where did you go wrong? You’re positive the analysis stage of ADDIE is the right place to start. But if that’s right, why are you missing key information? If you’ve ever reached for the ADDIE model and found it’s not enough, you know the scenario I described intimately. Although it’s a tried-and-true method, the ADDIE model is lacking a core piece of any project—planning. Enter PADDIE, the ADDIE model with planning! But why PADDIE? And what are some of the key things that should happen in the planning stage? This article will discuss just that. Why PADDIE I’ve always thought ADDIE was the weak link in an otherwise robust group of instructional design methodologies. Over the course of my career I’ve found its linear stages restrictive and its lack of planning frustrating. I’ve never been able to successfully launch a project straight from the analysis phase. At a minimum, you need to know what you’re analyzing and your basic project parameters before kicking off! As a new instructional designer, there were a few times I ended up in hot water because I didn’t realize how crucial planning was. No one told me to do a deeper dive into the project background before starting the analysis. Learn from my mistakes and include a robust planning stage up front. What to Include in the Planning Stage When you first kick off a project, there are certain things you need in order to be successful. Without this information, you’ll miss project milestones, blow your budget, and probably frustrate your stakeholders. Let’s take a look at key items to nail down in the planning stages of your project to ensure everything goes smoothly. Agree on a project timeline and deliverables. Once you get your deadline from the client and agree on key delivery dates, you’ll commit to what will be delivered on those dates and who to send the deliverables to. You can also use this to solicit buy-in from subject matter experts and get everyone involved to commit to the timeline. Review your project budget and plan accordingly. Compare the amount of money the client can spend to the time it’ll take to complete the project. If the hours to complete the project exceed their budget, go back to the client and negotiate course features—such as length. Looking at this up front is a great way to ensure the project is feasible. Talk to your stakeholders or reviewers and agree on a chain of command. It’s not always clear who should review your project deliverables —like scripts and storyboards—or in what order. By defining the order in which people will review—and who gets final say—you’ll save time in the review stages and ensure you prioritize the right feedback. Identify additional resources and where to get them. Do you need to use a course template the client provides? Is there a style guide to follow? Who provides this information? Knowing what additional information you need and requesting it from the right person is key to staying on track! While these are all great considerations for the planning stage, there are definitely other things to keep in mind. I’ve found the more I know, the smoother my project goes. So make sure to keep an eye out for additional information that can help you. Wrap-Up Hopefully you’re feeling confident about your course design process and see the value of including a planning phase up front! If you’d like additional information on ADDIE or other instructional design methodologies and theories, check out the links below: An Introduction to the ADDIE Model for Instructional Designers 26 E-Learning Examples to Help Course Designers Learn About the ADDIE Model An Introduction to SAM for Instructional Designers An Introduction to Bloom’s Taxonomy for Instructional Designers E-Learning Project Plan 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).99Views0likes5CommentsA Quick Introduction to LMS and LRS Standards
There are a few common reasons why folx go looking for information on Learning Management System (LMS) or Learning Record Store (LRS) standards. If you’re one of them, maybe you’re doing your due diligence to make sure your course will work with a specific LMS or LRS. Or maybe you’ve come across some cryptic references to e-learning standards (cmi5 is what exactly?) and want an easy-to-understand explanation. No matter what brought you here, you’re in the right place. This article is all about giving you the plainspoken lowdown on LMS/LRS standards and why they’re important. Along the way we’ll unpack a few acronyms (specifically, AICC, SCORM, xAPI, and cmi5) and give you a little history lesson, too. Ready? Let’s get to it! What are LMS/LRS standards and why do we need them? Organizations use LMSs and LRSs mainly to track learner data like course completions and quiz scores. As you can imagine, there are lots of different ways to share data between digital systems. Without an agreed-upon process, your course could end up sharing data in a way that your LMS or LRS can’t understand. This is where LMS/LRS standards come in. Each standard (AICC, SCORM, xAPI, cmi5) is essentially a shared language for communicating with an LMS or LRS. Having standards ensures that, no matter the authoring app or LMS/LRS you’re using, information can be shared without any fuss or complicated coding. If you’re using an LMS that’s integrated with your authoring app—like Reach 360 is with Storyline 360 and Rise 360—you don’t have to worry about these standards because your course files and LMS all work together automatically. And if you have an Articulate 360 subscription, don’t forget that it now includes the Reach 360 Starter plan, so you can use it to share training with up to 300 learners a year at no additional cost! However, if you’re using an LMS/LRS that isn't integrated with your authoring app, you need to know which standard to publish to. In the world of e-learning, there are four common standards: AICC, SCORM, xAPI, and cmi5. Let’s take a closer look at each one. AICC The oldest e-learning standard, AICC (which stands for Aviation Industry Computer-based Training Committee), was created in 1988 to ensure that aviation training could be designed, delivered, and evaluated across various computer-based training platforms. Eventually, the specs in the AICC standard became popular outside the aviation industry. The AICC dissolved in 2014 due to declining membership and the rise of other e-learning standards. Although the AICC standard is no longer evolving, it’s still fairly common for authoring apps and hosting platforms to be AICC-compliant. Many organizations have useful legacy training content that was originally published as AICC, so they look for LMS platforms that allow them to host that content and authoring apps that allow them to maintain that content. Before the AICC dissolved, the committee started working on a new standard called cmi5, which I’ll highlight in just a bit. SCORM SCORM, which stands for Shareable Content Object Reference Model, was released in 2001. Despite its age, it’s still an industry standard that defines how to package course content so that LMSs can recognize it and extract information about learner activity. The SCORM standard in all its iterations has proven to be a catalyst for broad adoption of e-learning. However, as we saw with AICC, standards need to continuously evolve to meet the ever-changing landscape of modern technology—like cloud computing and mobile devices. While SCORM specifies how courses and LMSs should communicate, it does so in ways that are a bit out of date. Another common complaint about SCORM is that it only tracks a limited amount of information about learner activity—like completion, scoring, and quiz interactions. If authors want to track more detailed information about the learner experience—like which links learners clicked or if they tend to get stuck in a specific part of the course—they can’t. Ultimately, these limitations gave rise to the creation of xAPI. Learn more: A Quick Introduction to SCORM xAPI When xAPI came out in 2013, it was billed by many as a replacement for SCORM. Unlike SCORM, which only tracks how learners interact with courses on an LMS, xAPI tracks a broader array of learning activities and experiences across a wide variety of platforms—from mobile apps, video games, and Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality training simulators to enterprise systems like talent management and help desk applications—using an LRS. In theory, this allows e-learning pros to track almost anything, anywhere, opening up tons of possibilities for gathering and analyzing more meaningful and performance-oriented data. However, in practice it can be complicated to implement, since you have to manually define everything you want to track and how. Not to mention that very few systems outside of the Learning and Development (L&D) industry have adopted this standard or are even aware of it, so the tracking possibilities aren’t quite as extensive as you might think. Learn more: An Introduction to xAPI cmi5 Although cmi5 sounds like the name of a Star Wars droid or a top-secret espionage organization, it’s far less exotic. Cmi5 is the most recent e-learning standard, released by ADL after the AICC dissolved. To create cmi5, they basically took xAPI and added rules specific to e-learning content to make it easier for course authors to set up. In short, like xAPI, cmi5 tracks and records learning experiences wherever and whenever they happen—course creators just don’t have to do as much mental gymnastics to get it to work. For this reason, many e-learning pros tout it as the preferred option for tracking, calling it the best of both worlds. More Learning Does all of this sound like an L&D version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears? If AICC is out of date, SCORM is too constrained, and xAPI lacks definition, does that mean the cmi5 standard is just right? In case your head is spinning, here’s a table that recaps the basic use cases for each of the four standards: Standard LMS or LRS? Use Case AICC LMS Legacy e-learning courses with basic tracking needs like completion, scoring, and quiz interactions. SCORM LMS E-learning courses that don’t require tracking beyond completion, scoring, and quiz interactions. xAPI LMS and LRS Learning experiences that extend beyond e-learning courses and require highly detailed, customized tracking—via an LRS. Note that xAPI was designed to record general experiences, with a light focus on e-learning content. cmi5 LMS Learning experiences that extend beyond e-learning courses and require highly detailed, customized tracking—via an LMS. Note that cmi5 includes special functions specifically tailored to e-learning content. I don’t know about you, but I take comfort in knowing that our industry has a rich history of evolving standards. For almost thirty years, L&D folks have been working hard to create and iterate standards that give practitioners the tools they need to help their orgs keep pace with today’s learners. Want to learn more about the hosting platforms that use these standards? Here are a few resources to check out: All About Learning Management Systems (LMSs) An Introduction to LRSs99Views0likes6Comments