From workbook to e-learning course No.2: Creating a storyboard

Posted by William Webb on 08 November 2011 · filed in E-learning

We were recently given the job of converting a workbook for an existing training programme into an e-learning course. It was designed to give students the vital information and resources they will need prior to attending a face-to-face training day.

Challenges

• Budget - we had a limited budget and short timespan to finish the project - about 6 weeks from brief to final product
• Accessibility - the course had to be accessible for those with visual impairments including screen reader support - if you ever need help to understand colour blindness, try this simulator: http://www.etre.com/tools/colourblindsimulator/
• Content - the subject matter was very word-heavy and technical, which doesn't translate well into an online course, which ideally shouldn't take more than an hour to complete

The storyboard
Having already established the learning objectives (see blog no. 1), it was time to go through the workbook thoroughly in order to produce a storyboard. We used a storyboard built in Word which begins with a summary of contents page, and then a form for each potential course page with various boxes to be filled in:

• Main/section title
• Page number and title
• Text
• Images/diagrams
• Multimedia
• Notes

This stage was vital because it enabled us to consider how to present each page of the course, and it formalises the client's feedback. It is particularly helpful to define appropriate use of inter-activity and multimedia (audio, video etc.).

Creating the Storyboard wasn't a simple case of cutting and pasting from the original workbook. We had to consider how it was going to convert into an engaging online course that would stimulate learning, produce an assessment of things learnt and anticipate the face-to-face training day. To do this we needed answers to the following questions:

• Who was our target audience? (e.g. beginners, people with prior knowledge of the subject, a mixture)
• What training was taking place on the face-to-face day, and would there be any other training? - it would be useful to prepare students for this in the course
• Should the workbook be rearranged, re-titled or edited for jargon?
• Is all the text relevant to the learning objectives? The client wanted most of the text to remain, so we had to think of ways to reduce the amount of text on each page - we did this by putting definitions into pop-up text boxes and relegating less important information (with the client's permission) to an appendix
• Is information repeated and/or can it be conflated, or better dealt with on the face-to-face training day?
• What images and activities are appropriate for the subject matter?
• Is the subject suited to humour?

Break up the text
With factual, word-heavy technical material, it is important to break up the text with sub-headings, questions, activities, mini-quizzes, relevant images and case studies that bring to life what is being learned so that it's not all abstract ideas and theory.

Images and actvities
For this course I created my own images as I have a background in graphic design. I would not have wanted to use clip art as it invariably looks poor and it would have taken a long time to find images that precisely matched the subject matter. I can also adapt the images for use with Lectora functionality and make them coordinated in their appearance. With limited time and a restricted budget, I determined to create images that contained elements that could be rehashed or adapted slightly for use over several pages of activities.  

Activity block
Sometimes a page does not shout an obvious piece of inter-activity. In order to break through 'activity block' you can turn this around by asking a question about the subject to be presented - sometimes an activity idea will flow from this, but just asking a question or questions is better for the learner than a page of text.

Testing
The course finished with a final test with a pass mark of 75%. The incentive to pass the test is to gain a place on the training day, but also each correctly answered question earns the learner a piece of a puzzle. This makes it seem less like a test and more like a fun activity with a reward.