Custom course development is a 6-12 week process. The more complex your project is, the more time it will take to make. It seems logical right? To get the results you are looking for, review cycles are built-in at each stage of the process. Beginning with analysis and ending with evaluation, the five stages will help you create a custom course that delivers instructional results while engaging your audience with striking visuals.
Needs analysis
Before you do anything, you need to make sure you really need to make a course. You want to rule out solutions like sending a PDF, holding a webinar, making a video series, or even conducting in-person instruction.
To quickly analyze your business reasons for investing in custom content, answer the following questions:
- Why do we want to make a learning course?
- Who is it for?
- What do we want my audience/employees to accomplish?
- What are the learning gaps in my audience?
- What challenges will we face?
- What is the business purpose?
- When do we need it?
- How much can we invest?
- How will we deliver the learning course?
Once you have answered these questions, you should be able to identify the need of your audience, which will put you in a great place to explore learning solutions.
Proposal
Now that you understand the need for your audience, it’s time to review your options. The proposal stage is a detailed document that becomes a formal conversation. Inside, comparable solutions in the marketplace accompany the rationale. There is also a strategy that includes instructional theory, modality, project plan, deliverables, measurement, and expected results. The costs, listed line-by-line, are easy to review. And, of course, there are terms to make sure everything runs smoothly. Finally, there is a review cycle is built-in to allow you to modify the document.
Instructional design
Once the proposal has become an agreement, it is time to turn up the intellectual heat and start designing your instruction. A writer, a.k.a an instructional designer, will review your source content and schedule an interview with your team, including the subject matter experts. This initial startup meeting will take about an hour. A few days later, you will receive a design document. The document is like an outline that features learning objectives, a recommended form of instruction, and a delivery strategy.
Offer your feedback, revise the design document, and then it’s on to storyboarding. An eLearning storyboard is a Word document that serves as a detailed instruction manual for making your course. Audio, visual, and programming direction are all in this document. Again, you offer your feedback, revise the storyboard, and then it’s on to visual design.
Key terms: design document, storyboard
Visual design
With an instructional plan in place, it’s time to focus on how things look and sound. In this stage, we plan and execute the on-screen graphics, animations, narrations, and videos. A graphic designer and creative director drive your thoughts and ideas into an engaging multimedia experience. Then, camera operators or animators/motion graphic artists bring the visuals to life. Similar to the previous stages, built-in review cycles make sure the process stays on track. If you have a style guide, great. If not, that’s fine too. Visual design is about shaping the look and feel you want for your audience. Most importantly, visual design is about increasing the engagement of your audience. Good visuals make your message memorable and enhance your credibility.
Key terms: style tile, narration, screen layout
Development
Now that a script is approved and we’ve made all of the visuals, it’s time for the chef to step up and expedite the final instructional dish. A developer (sometimes called a programmer), will utilize the tool of your choosing to create the interactive experience. Again, you offer feedback at what is called the Alpha and Beta stages, until you are satisfied with what is known as the Gold version. The last thing to do is upload your completed course to a website or to an LMS as a SCORM package.
Key Terms: Alpha, Beta, Gold, LMS, SCORM
If you’d like to learn more about creating custom courses, please head over to learningcarton.com or please join me. Be a part of my feedback loop. Comment, subscribe, or if you prefer, email me directly at chris@learningcarton.com
