A Few Practical Tips on Storyboarding

When I peruse my blog stats it always amazes me that my storyboarding posts are some of the most visited and my storyboard template has been downloaded far more than expected. I guess the practical things are the most valuable. Since there is such interest in storyboarding I thought I would follow-up and offer a few more practical tips on creating and using storyboards.

• Determine who you are making storyboards for. Are they for:
  - your client and/or Subject Matter Expert (SME),
  - developers you are handing the project off to,
  - your own use, or
  - a combination of the aforementioned.
  This will determine how detailed they should be, the technical information you need to include, and how "rough" they can be. For example, storyboards that are for my sole use are sketched out in pencil and the notes are to a level of detail that suits my own needs. If for a developer, obviously I would add far more technical detail and content, for a SME it would focus more on the content and I may leave out technical specifications, etc.


• Put storyboards up on a wall. This is the best way to get the feel for the course's flow and how well it is, or is not, designed. Keeping them on the wall is also a constant reminder of the project, keeping you looking at it, and will call out to your coworkers to take a look and provide feedback.


• Play with the storyboards. I write mine in pencil just for that reason. Once you read them over there will be many improvements that jump out at you. Make the changes and see how they work on the storyboards.


• Don't feel you have to stick to the storyboards. Sometimes what works on paper just does not translate well on the Internet. Also, at times the technology, resources, or time just does not allow exactly what is written on the storyboards  to happen. We often discover this during the development phase. Note: Whatever sacrifices you make do not make them at the cost of learning.


• Include good notes on navigation and orientation. Even properly arranged on the wall, a non-linear course's storyboards can become confusing without good notes on which link/button goes to which screen or event.


• Storyboards never do the final product justice. They are only representations and cannot fully capture the rich interactivity of the course. Be patient with them and remind anyone involved with the storyboards that they are an initial design and they will get an even better feel for the final product when it comes to life in the coming online drafts.

If you have additional storyboarding tips, please share them in the comments section. Thanks!

Here are past storyboard posts:

Storyboard Templates and Resources

It Came From Hollywood - Storyboarding

Need a Storyboard? Heres a Place to Get Them

To Storyboard or Not to Storyboard

May's Big Question

Learning Circuits' Big Question for May is "So what can, should, or will, we offer the digital generation by 2015?"

Five years is not very far into future, but in terms of technology things can change immensely in that amount of time. Just think of how learning technology has changed in the past five years. Off the top of my head here are a few things I think we will be offering in 2015.

• We are already seeing the impact of social media and informal learning, but we will see it blend immensely with both classroom and e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning will incorporate social media into courses allowing for more collaborative learning and formative evaluation by the course designer. As for the classroom, we already see a "back channel," but it will be more prevalent and more accepted, even encouraged, by facilitators. More access and advances in smart phones, tablets and smart boards will help blend e-learning, social media and classroom training.


• The cloud has also grown, but I see in five years much more robust development tools on the cloud. There are already great cloud tools out there, but I think we will see more e-learning development tools at the level of Flash, Captivate, Articulate, OutStart Trainer, etc. on the cloud. Much of which will be courtesy of open source projects. Among the many benefits, it will increase mobility on the developer's end. We designers/developers won't be limited to working only on the computer in which we loaded our Flash CS10.


• Adobe Flash will be alive and well. HTML5's full release is two years away. We probably will see it replace Flash for video/audio support, but it will fall short in its quality and level of interactivity and animation. HTML5 development tools will not provide the ease of creating rich Internet applications... at least not after only three years in. We will see Flash be the preferred medium of e-learning developers and a favored output (SWFs) of other e-learning dev tools. Upside Learning Blog has a good post on HTML5 and e-learning development that is a worthwhile read on this subject.


• We will offer even more edu-games. Again Flash will still be preferred as HTML5 just won't be there yet.


• On the design end, the industry will focus much more on offering truly engaging, instructionally sound courses and our audience will demand it. Hopefully page turners will be extinct by 2015.

Sign-offs for e-Learning Courses

When creating e-learning courses I ask stakeholders to sign-off on the final product. This is only after the review process is complete. Very often the stakeholders are also the subject matter experts for the course. Either way, I find that a sign-off provides confidence for me and my team that the course meets the approval and needs of the stakeholder, the content is accurate, and that we have a commitment from the stakeholders/SMEs for future reviews.

Here is what I include in a typical sign-off form. Granted, this may change depending on the project and any addendum requested by the stakeholder/SME. I keep it as simple and succinct as possible. The following points are included in the agreement.

• That the design and content for the course provides accurate information and complies with the organization's current policies and procedures.


• To conduct future reviews on a specific scheduled basis to verify its accuracy.


• To inform the course designer(s) of any future content, policy and procedure changes that affect the on-line learning program.


• The course will not be released on the learning management system (LMS) or Intranet without the completion of this form/agreement.

Please keep in mind, I am referring to a sign-off for courses created for internal use. A sign-off for an external client would be approached with greater detail.

Are there additional things you include in a sign-off? Please feel free to share in the comments section.

e-Learning and Games in Healthcare

After six years in banking, I have recently returned to the healthcare industry. Thankfully, e-learning is prevalent in healthcare and very receptive to the use of games. Games are a fantastic way to challenge learners and keep them engaged and interacting with the content at hand.

Like many in e-learning, I am responsible for both design and development along with playing the role of graphic artist too. This is what I refer to as my "one-man workshop." I think some in our field who are also a one-man, or woman, workshop may shy away from the use of games in e-learning because of the level of resources and time required to produce a game. Yes, we do see some great games out there that required large teams of designers, developers, graphic artists, etc., but that does not mean we can not create  e-learning games too. For me it is more of a matter of scale and taking advantage of the resources that are available.

I have been able to produce what I call mini-games, which I incorporate into courses and occasionally use as small stand alone games. In order to be able to produce games, I keep them small and not too complex. This reduces both design and development time. I also rely on some great resources that help make the seemingly impossible Flash development possible. Here they are:

• ActionScript for Fun and Games by Gary Rosenzweig - The last edition is from the days of Flash MX, but it is still a great resource when it comes to developing games that can be tweaked into e-learning games. Gary also has more updated resources online at www.garyrosenzweig.com.


• Flashkit game tutorials - They not only have a good collection of game tutorials, but also provide the source files which help immensely in dissecting and learning the ActionScript.

Back to healthcare, here are a few articles on use of games and e-learning in healthcare I would like to share:

• The Rise of Gaming in Healthcare


• Serious Games Futuring Medical Training in France


• Healthcare Industry Embraces Online Training

Here are also few examples of courses in healthcare/health sciences, including a few games (in bold), that I dug out of the Free e-Learning page:

• Blood Typing- NobelPrize.org


• Cardio-Pulmonary Resucitation (CPR) - e-Mersion


• Deep Brain Stimulation - Edheads.org


• Escape From Diab - NIH


• Interactive Health Tutorials - MedicinePlus


• How Your Brain Understands What Your Ear Hears - NIH


• Learn.Genetics (tm) - Genetic Science Learning Center


• The Human Genome


• Nanoswarm: Invasion From Inner Space - NIH


• Playnormous Health Games (K-12)


• SnacktownSmackdown - Kaiser Permanente (K-12)

It is very exciting to be part of an industry that sees such value of games in education and training. FYI: There is  also a conference next month (May 25-27) on the role of games in healthcare - Games for Health Conference. I won't be able to attend, but it looks great.

A Run Through of Flash CS5 From Adobe TV

Here is a video from AdobeTV of Greg Rewis' run through of some of the new features and improvements in Flash Professional CS5. These include text layout framework, code snippets, ActionScript editor, Spring for bones, video improvements, new deco brushes, and Flash Builder & mobile content.

http://images.tv.adobe.com/swf/player.swf

e-Learning via the BBC

I was adding another course on the  free e-learning page and what really jumped out at me is there are an awful lot of examples from the BBC. They have been producing a lot of great stuff, so I thought I would share all the BBC examples I have found. I am sure there are even more to be found on the BBC site.

e-Learning I have found at the BBC

Archaeology Games - BBC

Caveman Challenge - BBC

Computer Tutor - BBC

WebWise - BBC

Ancient History - BBC

British History - BBC

British History Timeline - BBC

Climate Challenge - BBC

Interactive Body - BBC

The Tsunami Disaster Explained - BBC (2004)

Ancient Greeks: The Olympic Games - BBC

Guide to the Basics of American Football - BBC

Viewing these and other quality courses and interactives is a great way to get inspiration and ideas for creating your own engaging courses. There are plenty more examples of e-learning on the Free e-Learning page.

Something You Won't See on The iPad

http://images.tv.adobe.com/swf/player.swf

The devices shown have Adobe Flash, but the iPad does not. So much e-learning is made in Flash, or published as SWF files, and iPad users will not have access to it. What a shame.