Proofreading and editing your eLearning courses can sometimes feel a little awkward, to say the least. However, both proofreading and editing are the essential components of the eLearning development process. One of the best ways to catch mistakes is to create and follow a style guide. While things that will be included in that style guide will vary from project to project, there are certain things that should be applied to every project.
- Always check punctuation as misplaced comas may confuse learners.
Incorrect punctuation may also cause learners to misinterpret content.
- Check subject-verb agreement to ensure consistency. Oftentimes, in addition to subject-verb disagreement, writers make errors with pronoun-antecedent agreements. If not corrected, these errors can cause a lot of confusion.
- Do not trust your spell checker. Even though spell checker can be a great tool, it does not catch all the errors. Therefore, if there are words that sound the same, but have different meaning, your spell checker may not catch them.
- Always explain abbreviations used in your course. Even if the abbreviation is a common knowledge among trainees, there is always a chance that at least one person taking the course won’t know it or will need a reminder. You do not need to spell out what the abbreviation stands for every time you use it, but definitely explain it the first time it occurs in your course.
- Make sure that your capitalization and spacing are consistent. For example, decide if you want to use one or two spaces after a period and stick with your decision. If, due to the nature of the project or per client’s request, certain words or phrases have to be capitalized, be sure that they are always capitalized.
Remember, even best grammarians make mistakes and everyone misses errors and typos once in a while; therefore, it is always a good idea to ask someone who has never seen the course before to review it with a fresh set of eyes.
Good suggestions I am currently developing new courses for the Oil&Gas industry. We often use acronyms our students may not be familiar with, this hinders the students learning by adding confusion.
After writing and reading several drafts the power to detect mistakes gets very weak. I agree, a style guide such as checklist can be very efficient. A new set of eyes is a great approach weather it belongs to an editor or a peer.
Thank you for your valuable suggestions.