Using Storyboards for Better ELearning

By: Justin Ferriman • October 6, 2014
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devAny successful project has a well thought-out plan. In the elearning world, this plan is called a storyboard – and they are vital to course development.

While it sounds straight-forward, if you have never created a storyboard before then you may not know where to start.

Before you create your storyboard though, you need to have an idea of its purpose. The course storyboard details the various components of your elearning course prior to development. In many cases, it will even include the actual content.

There are a variety of reasons why this is beneficial. One major benefit is it ensures that your course is content centered rather than over-emphasizing animations, interactions, or other “bells and whistles”. Another reason storyboards are essential to online course design is because they act as a contract between you and the key stakeholders. In many cases, the storyboard has to be signed-off before you start building the course.

Before you start with your storyboard creation, you should address the following:

  1. Evaluate needs – figure out the the ultimate needs of the learners and address them with the content.
  2. Define course goals – the course goals should satisfy the overall objectives.
  3. Select instructional technique – determine if the course will include branching, linear approach, gamification, etc.
  4. Define content sequence – put the content in a logical order, and split up content in multiple courses as needed.

Once you have these items each defined, you will be ready to build out your storyboard accordingly.

Reference:
SHIFT ELearning

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter