We all know the old carpentry expression “measure twice cut once”, and why it’s important to measure and measure again so as not to waste time and money, but how many of us apply it to eLearning development?

Measure twice, CLICK once, is an approach and attitude that we live by here in the CommsLearning team, and have done for over 18 years.

At the beginning of the year, our Director and eLearning Network (eLN) Board Member Paul, delivered a webinar for eLN members on the do’s and don’t’s of eLearning design following this approach.

He shared his lessons learned (often the hard way!) on why investing more planning and analysis time upfront will give you double back at the development stage when the pressure is really on.

In this blog, Paul brings the headlines from the webinar so you can streamline your eLearning projects from the ground up to deliver results-driven learner experience with minimal headaches and maximum business impact.

1 Preparation & Background

Don’t: Just start building!

The measure twice, click once approach is founded on the principle that if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail! So as tempting as it may be to jump straight into the design and development, don’t skip the planning and background phase.

There’s a process for a reason, and it works. Taking the proper time for planning at the beginning with a real focus on storyboarding will mean you get to the ‘fun bit’ armed with all the background information needed to create the very best learner experience.

Do: Map out your project

Define your scope with your stakeholders, formally and in a document. This doesn't have to be war and peace, in fact the best scopes are often the shortest. Less is more.

But be clear on WHAT change you are looking to effect with WHO.

And take a look at what’s already out there today, can you leverage off what’s already working and what doesn’t? Don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to yet learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before you.

2 Define the box

Don’t: Listen to your subject matter experts (SMEs)!

Of course we don’t mean that literally, but it’s important to remember that they are experts in their subject but NOT eLearning development.

It can be all too easy to be driven and pushed by the SMEs to build an enormous and ineffective eLearning module by deciding what goes in based on the existing source material provided.

Remember this is a different delivery mechanism, with different characteristics.

Do: Set a duration / length and stick to it

I find the easiest way to do this to do two tools / methods with one tracking length and the other duration.

To track length (or size) use the storyboard to set a number of screens that you are aiming for (i.e. 20-30).

To track the duration you can do this with a simple formula to estimate a duration based on a word count of either the script on the onscreen text.

However you choose to keep track of your eLearning project’s length and duration it will definitely keep you focused and help you reign in scope creep.

Don’t: Use your favourite tool

Unless that’s the best fit for purpose! Just because you are most comfortable with Adobe Captivate or you’ve just got a new license for Articulate Storyline that doesn’t mean it’s the best tool for the job.

Selecting which software to build eLearning in is a critical decision and shouldn't be steered too much by your own personal experience or your company’s current software licences.

Do: Select the tool based on the scope

Once you understand the brief, understand the audience and their learning styles and background, and have reviewed the source material, only then should you decide which tool is the right one to build the module in.

Don’t: Blow the budget on animation

Unless the content warrants it and the budget allows for that along with everything else that’s required.

Do: Map out your Bells & Whistles

Use the storyboard to consciously plan where you will make the content richer and more engaging (think animation and custom graphics) based on the overall flow and importance / complexity of each section.

It’s often great to start with a compelling ‘hook’ and if you have the skills / budget a custom animation or even video can be a great way to do this.

3 Form your team & get organised

Don’t: Do EVERYTHING yourself

Try not to be the Jack of All Trades and Master of None. Unless it’s your only choice to go it alone, play to your strengths and let others in your team play to theirs. A lesson I learned very early on is that although I enjoyed the visual side of eLearning development I wasn’t very good at it!

Do: Ask for help

Make friends with your marketing and creative team - you might need them!

Knowing the resources and skills you have access to is critical. You don’t have to outsource the whole project, for some clients will just provide the ID and they build. For others they have the skills to do everything but need some slick custom animations. Use external resources when you need specific skills but make sure you maintain control.

Don’t: Save files on your desktop

This might be an obvious one but it’s another bad habit that many of us slip into (creative types in particular it seems!). It will only lead to pain, frustration and delays further down the line when it’s time to find specific files.

Do: Create a standard folder structure

Getting organised with your filing is key for efficient workflow. By having a defined structure that you work to not only can you find things later in the project or even after the project has ended but more importantly it make collaboration with others possible.

4 Build it

eLearning design is obviously a large topic in itself which I won’t attempt to cover here other than to say you need to have a process and stick to it! Two key points though:

Don’t: Get distracted

Follow the stages outlined below, paying particular attention to the storyboarding and don’t allow yourself to get pulled off track.

If content comes in late, either reject it or if it’s critical take it back to the storyboard and consider it in the context of the wider course.

Remember if more is coming in based on your desired duration something else may have to go!

Do: Stay laser focused

Putting the effort in with storyboarding upfront will deliver a wonderfully calm and focused build process beyond that stage.

Almost everything you need will be to hand, and many of the structural and scripting decisions will have been made so you can just focus on making it come together beautifully in a rich and engaging way.

5 Review & Closedown

Storyboard (Alpha)

These days with builds becoming less complex and rapid authoring becoming the norm we tend to merge the old Alpha build stage with the storyboard.

Storyboard is still the most important phase in the project. Keep looping here until both you and your stakeholders are in agreement with how this is structured.

Remember, words can change later - but structure CAN’T!

Beta

It’s debatable how different this is from Gold other than it’s one review loop earlier.

Some people may leave out some of the more complex / costly / fixed elements such as animation, custom graphics or voiceover at this stage. However regardless if these are in or out this should contain ALL the content and represent a total end-to-end flow of the module.

Gold

This review should be in your opinion ready to release, but allowing your stakeholders to dot the I’s and cross the T’s.

Changes at this stage should be extremely minor. The purpose of focusing so much time and effort on getting the storyboard right at the beginning is so that feedback tapers off as the project advances.

Remember, minimal headaches is the aim here!

6 Closedown and tidy

An often overlooked phase is to tidy things up at the end of the project.

Take an hour or two to ensure all the source files are stored neatly in your folder structure. Is the final storyboard saved with an appropriate name?

Check that you’ve got a FINAL APPROVED GOLD copy of the deliverable output in an appropriate folder.

The team at CommsLearning are experts in bespoke eLearning design and development. If you’d like to discuss your project, get in touch with Paul to request demos and example pricing.

Measure twice, click once - eLearning do's and don't's