E learning development best practices
- 1. Best Practices and Standards for eLearning Developers EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY SERVICES JULY 2015
- 2. Rationale This is not a “how-to” instruction manual for using Captivate or uploading to the LMS. Rather, this guide was created to help our team: produce eLearning modules that have a standard, user-friendly look and interface work more effectively together and independently interact with our customers in the most helpful way possible. In this way, it’s not the logo or the template that will be our brand, but rather professionalism and excellence! As we know, things are in flux around here, and therefore some of our guides, standards, and processes will need adjusting in the not-too-distant future. This presentation will be updated as changes to our request forms, SharePoint site, and other variables occur. Let’s use Asana to keep the conversation open and on-going about our work in developing eLearning modules.
- 3. Claiming a Task or Being Assigned a Task SHAREPOINT Whether you claim a new item to work or you’ve been assigned as the developer of a new item, be sure to tag the request with your name in SharePoint immediately so nobody else begins working on it, too.
- 4. Workflow Template in Asana CHARTING PROGRESS Make a copy of the workflow template in Asana for each new eLearning module assigned to you. Use the template to keep track of your progress, upload relevant documents, and take notes as you develop the module.
- 5. PowerPoint Template LOCATION The eLearning template is stored on the SharePoint server for use by educators and ETS staff. If eLearning authors continue to send PowerPoint presentations using the old SSM University template or other non-standard themes, direct them to this page to access the new standard template.
- 6. PowerPoint Template COVER SLIDE We are now including the author’s name and title on the cover slide, as well as the date the module was created or revised.
- 7. PowerPoint Template COURSE DESCRIPTION Course descriptions are required. This information is often provided in the original request uploaded to SharePoint, but if it’s not, please contact the course author and ask them to provide a brief description that includes some or all of the elements listed on the template slide. When you create the presentation, please remember to remove the parenthetical “(required)” and replace the template text with relevant information provided by the course creator. This information can be copied/pasted into the course description area in the LMS.
- 8. PowerPoint Template COURSE OBJECTIVES Course objectives are required. This information is often provided in the original request uploaded to SharePoint, but if it’s not, please contact the course owner and ask them to provide a couple of learning objectives. When you create the presentation, leave the prompt “Upon completing the class, learners will be able to…” in place, and just add the objectives.
- 9. Clean Up as Necessary BEFORE AFTER
- 10. Prepare for Upload to Captivate BEFORE AFTER
- 11. Pro Tip! Make sure the PowerPoint has at least one completely blank slide in it before uploading to Captivate. This will allow you to create new slides as necessary within Captivate. If you don’t use it, just delete it before final publishing.
- 12. Importing to Captivate 8 SETTINGS Make sure you have “High Fidelity” checked when importing PowerPoint presentations based on the new template to Captivate 8. If this box is unchecked, the slides will appear with a black background. Checking “Linked” will allow you to edit the PowerPoint slides from within Captivate 8.
- 13. Adding Interactions BUTTONS Add a “Next” button to the cover slide.
- 14. Adding Interactions BUTTONS Add “Back” and “Next” buttons to all other slides, except for quiz question slides.
- 15. Let’s Assess! ALERT If there is an assessment, use the blank slide to create a new slide that will come between the end of the instruction and the beginning of the quiz. (You could also create this slide in PowerPoint before importing and simply add the buttons later.) This will alert learners that they are about to begin a quiz and give them an opportunity to review before taking the quiz.
- 16. Quiz Settings BUTTONS Change the “Submit” button in quiz slides to “Submit Answer.” Remove all other (Next, Clear, Back) buttons.
- 17. Quiz Settings RESULTS SLIDE Change the “Continue” button in the results slide to “Submit for Credit.” Move the “Retake Quiz” button to the left.
- 18. Skin Editor PLAYBACK CONTROL If “Next” and “Back” buttons are in place and there is no audio, there is no need for playback controls to appear at the bottom of the presentation. Remove the playback controls in the Skin Editor, which is found in the Project menu.
- 19. Skin Editor PLAYBACK CONTROL If the module does have audio, that is a good reason to keep the playback control bar in place, in the event the learner wants to mute the sound. In this case, remove all other controls except for mute.
- 20. Testing TESTING IN BROWSER Before “producing” the module in Captivate, test it in your browser to check for overall look and functionality. Make sure the headings and font size and style look uniform. Make sure the buttons work properly and the quiz functions as it should. Use the Preview menu or hit F12 to preview in browser.
- 21. Testing ALLOWING THE COURSE AUTHOR TO TEST Before finalizing and uploading the eLearning module to the LMS, send a test link to the course author so they can review and, perhaps, suggest revisions or edits.
- 22. Workflow UPDATE END STATUS IN SHAREPOINT Once you are completely finished building the module, uploading it to the LMS, and making assignments (or having IHT make them), make sure to update the status of the task in SharePoint. Indicate that the project is 100% complete, the exact course code used, your name, and that the assignments are done.
- 23. Workflow UPDATE END STATUS IN ASANA When the entire eLearning module is complete, check it off in the tasks area of Asana. This will help us keep an accurate record of how many eLearnings we build, and how long it takes us.