Make Working with SMEs a Breeze with These 3 Downloads
One of my favorite things about being an e-learning designer is creating courses on a wide variety of topics. I’ve learned so much over the years! When I look back on it, it’s almost like I had to become an expert in every subject in order to create the most effective learning experience. And while some of my knowledge came from my own research, more often than not it was gleaned from the content provided by my project’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). Subject Matter Experts play a critical role in course design. They have the knowledge, experience, and insight to help you create the most impactful training. Despite their importance to your projects, working with SMEs can also be challenging. From different perspectives around how content should be presented to old-fashioned beliefs around how people learn, many e-learning pros find themselves in a battle of wills with their SMEs when all they really want is a productive partnership. This problem can be especially vexing when creating custom e-learning in a powerful app like Storyline 360. With so many creative possibilities, there are countless ways to present content. So how do you help your SMEs visualize different treatments and bridge gaps in understanding, all while building positive relationships with your SMEs? Here are three documents I’ve found essential for communicating clearly and aligning expectations from the start. Document 1: Project Kickoff Questions Before meeting with your project’s SMEs, it pays to do a little prep work. If you already have some source content pulled together, study it to get a basic understanding of the material. And if you don’t have content, research the topic or the company to make the most of your time with your SMEs. As you study, prepare a list of questions to help guide the conversation and show the SME how much you value their time. Need to kick-start your thinking? Download and customize this Project Kickoff Questionnaire for your needs. Download With all of your prep work done, you’re ready to set up a meeting with your SME to discuss the project. Make sure to bring your list of questions, and then listen actively and take notes. This is your time to build trust with your SMEs and identify knowledge and performance gaps to determine the right solution. Document 2: Project Plan After you determine the right solution, it’s time to put the details in writing so you’re all on the same page. A project plan can be a great way to align expectations. In the project plan, you can include the project background, course information, deliverables, timelines, and any other important details. Once you’re done preparing the project plan, have the SME review it and confirm its accuracy before moving forward with design. Need help creating a project plan? I’ve got you covered! Download this free project plan template. Download Document 3: Storyboard Now that you and the SME are on the same page, it’s time to start designing the project. If you’re using a slide-based authoring app like Storyline 360, the best way to make sure you have a solid foundation for development is to create a storyboard. A storyboard is the blueprint for a course that outlines the content screen by screen. Storyboards help your SMEs visualize how the content will flow and allows them to make edits before you start development in your authoring app. Note: If you’re using a web-based authoring app like Rise 360, you can skip the storyboarding phase and go straight to development since it’s easy to use and quick to make changes. Need help getting started? Then download and customize this storyboard template with your content. Download What Next? After the storyboard is finalized, you can feel confident knowing you have a solid foundation to start building your course. Taking the time to develop project kickoff questions, create a clear project plan, and storyboard the content before you start developing it in your authoring app will set you, the SME, and the learners up for success. For more ideas on working with SMEs, check out this series on Everything You Need to Know About Working with SMEs. 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 questions, please share them in the comments.3 Ways to Embrace Constructive Failure in Your E-Learning
I was chatting with an e-learning designer about her struggles to get her boss to let her design something other than click-and-read e-learning. She summarized her challenge like this: “I work in a highly regulated, high-accountability environment. We design e-learning that makes it as easy as possible for people to pass the quiz. So how can I convince my boss to let me do something more creative or performance-oriented when passing the quiz is all anyone cares about—and failure is never an option?” Sound familiar? When it comes to learning topics with a strong performance component—things like proper hand-washing technique or customer service skills, for instance—merely forcing learners to pass a quiz isn’t enough. What learners need are opportunities to fail. Why fail? Because failure is both an unavoidable and powerful part of the learning process. When I say “failure,” I'm not talking about destructive failure that erodes someone’s self-confidence or leads to career stagnation. I’m talking about the kind of failure that opens up opportunities for further instruction and lays the foundation for learning. So how do you talk to your boss about the positive aspects of failure when you’re in an environment that characterizes all failure as inherently bad? Here’s some food for thought. Position Constructive Failure as a Good Way to Manage Risk People shy away from taking risks because failure is a possible outcome. But avoiding risk entirely isn’t realistic, nor does it foster the kinds of behaviors that spur individual or organizational growth. A more sustainable approach is to manage risk—a task where e-learning shines. That’s because e-learning designed with performance in mind encourages folks to explore and take risks in a predictable environment where there is less accountability. It gives people a safe place to practice applying their skills in a way that’s minimally destructive and less public, while giving an opportunity to intervene with some constructive support in the form of contextual feedback that tells people what they did well and where they need to improve. In short, e-learning that embraces a bit of “safe” failure gives your organization a smart way to help learners identify their mistakes and correct them in training, before they surface on the job. Talk About Learning As a Process Some organizations act as though learning is an event—something to be controlled in order to achieve the successful outcome of a passing score. But passing a quiz may only be a measure of someone’s ability to take a test, not necessarily of their ability to perform a critical task. If your organization is obsessed with quiz scores, start talking about learning as a dynamic process made more complex by the fact that it’s both highly iterative and highly individual. In other words, learning and growth happen when we give people safe environments to practice—which generally consists of an attempt, (potentially) failure, feedback, and then trying again. Address Your Own Failure Fears No one enjoys the prospect of failure—even “constructive” failure—including e-learning designers! But to really embrace learning as a process you need to face and overcome your own fear of e-learning failure. Here are some practical tips for doing just that. Set expectations and provide clear, achievable objectives. Afraid that learners aren’t motivated to take your course? People are more engaged and motivated when you demonstrate the relevance of training. Show them why they should care about the course right from the start. Explain what it is they’ll learn and how this new knowledge or skill will make them a better version of themselves. Present the objectives in a way that speaks to learners and make sure each one can be achieved within the technical confines of e-learning. Write focused, relevant, and compelling content. One common design fear is that learners will simply tune out because the content you’re sharing is dull. But just because the content is boring doesn’t mean you can’t do things to make it more engaging. For starters, focus on keeping your content concise, relevant, and compelling. Transform passive reading into interactive exercises or illustrate the significance behind dull policies and procedures with a real-life story. For more great ideas for avoiding boring training, check out this article 3 Ways to Avoid Designing Boring Compliance Training. Put more trust in learners. Our own fear of design failure often manifests itself in the form of e-learning courses full of features like locked-down navigation, narrated on-screen text, or a 100 percent passing score, all in place to keep people from “cheating” or “skipping ahead” or to make sure they “get all of the information.” Why so much distrust of learners? Sometimes it’s part of your organization’s culture, but that doesn’t mean you’re powerless to nudge the conversation in a new and more trusting direction. Some ideas for putting a little more trust in learners include: Giving learners the option to test out of topics—or to skip the quiz altogether if it’s not a mission-critical training topic. Swapping out passive lecture and reading for more challenging decision-making scenarios. If you’re creating a course that doesn’t have a lot of performance expectations tied to it, demonstrating respect for their time and intelligence by keeping content short and easy to digest. Finally, be clear on when people are being scored vs. when they’re practicing. Afraid your learners are confused about your expectations? Nothing erodes the circle of e-learning trust faster than an e-learning bait and switch. Take pains to clearly communicate which activities are for practice and which are for a grade. For some more targeted pointers on designing compelling interactions, check out this handy (and free) eBook. Ready to Learn More? Failure is only a true fail when you don’t learn and grow from it. So if you’re continuously building your e-learning skills, look no further than E-Learning Heroes for help. Start by sinking your teeth into these related articles: 9 Ways to Encourage the Adult E-Learner by Tom Kuhlmann 4 Instructional Design Tips to Create Awesome E-Learning Scenarios by Nicole Legault 10 Tips for Becoming a Better Designer by Yours Truly And if you’re looking for some more ideas or guidance from fellow designers, you'll find a lively network of helpful peers to learn from in our Building Better Courses forum. How are you helping your organization embrace constructive failure? Share your experiences in the comments below. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and come back to E-learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.
