The Power of a Storyboard

In the last few days I have been working on two e-Learning courses for different customers. In both cases the storyboards were created for me by Content Consultants, otherwise known as SME's (Subject Matter Expert). One of my content consultants has a strong learning background the other is truly a SME. Seeing these two very different storyboards helped me to realize just how important a strong storyboard is.

When I write e-Learning courses that I am going to develop I find that I slack off on the level of details I include because I know I will be putting into our authoring tool, Lectora 2008. I also know what I want to accomplish. Based on my experience this week it has help me to understand what exactly I should include on my own courses just in case someone else creates the course. In my organization the client sees the storyboard before the course is created. A strong storyboard will gives them a better description of the product they will be receiving.

I wanted to share some of my lessons learned after this week.

• If there are specific images, in my case screen shots, that need to be included in the course either include a link as to where the images can be found or the actual images. Descriptions just don't cut it.
• Speaking of images don't just do a piece of the image if you want your learner to understand exactly where the specific section is located. It doesn't help if they don't have a road map to guide them.
• If the course is going to have a drop down list of items the learner can choose from be sure to include every option the user can select from. Writing in the storyboard to have the learner select C without listing A-D won't really help once it time to develop the course.
• Details, details, details. This should have been first! In my case both courses are for new individuals to the company. Be sure to include the "why's" don't just assume that everyone will be on the same page. Learners need to understand why they should do something before you tell them the instructions on how to do it.

In the end both courses are working out just fine. However, I find myself asking a lot more clarifying questions to my SME because I have gaps in my materials.

Thanks for letting my share my best practices. I hope they helped. Until next time.