Let’s face it, developing technical training is not easy. It’s much easier to design a course about Sexual Harassment than about a new software that has just been released. However, many companies want to train their employees on using new tools or applications, and those who understand the importance of high quality training, hire professional designers to create the most effective and instructionally sound training solutions. Unfortunately, many instructional designers create technical training the same way they design all other training courses. The problem, however, is that the goal of any technical training is not to “show and tell” (even in the interactive manner), but to “practice and do.” Teaching learners how to use a new tool or application is not enough as doing so will not help you achieve the ultimate goal of a training program, which is to help learners obtain new knowledge and skills. In fact, if you teach your learners how to use the tool, they will most likely leave … [Read more...] about Instructional Design for Technical Training
instructional design
Agile eLearning: A windfall against “Waterfall”
ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate), a 5-step methodology in designing eLearning courseware, is commonly used in the industry. It traces its roots to the 1950’s Waterfall methodology of software design, where the development process gradually flows from one step to another, just like a waterfall. You can’t start step 2 until you’re done with step 1, and so on. As a result of new developments in how eLearning is viewed by training professionals, and significant enhancements in supporting IT and multi-media technologies, Agile methodologies have now sprung up. Agile eLearning design and development: Promotes a “parallel” way of developing courseware, as opposed to the serial Waterfall (ADDIE) approach Endorses the use of team-work as opposed to specialist roles (Designers, Developers etc.) that worked in insulation Infuses flexibility, speed and cooperation into the development process The Agile approach, which is based on short iterative full-cycles that … [Read more...] about Agile eLearning: A windfall against “Waterfall”
Agile Project Management for ELearning Development
Nowadays, more and more eLearning project managers lean towards agile methodology. As opposed to traditional project management approaches, agile methods let you adjust your courses as you go based on the need. Agile project management is an iterative method of managing the design and development activities for eLearning projects. The best part about agile project management is that it embraces change even late in the development phase. The main difference between agile and traditional approaches is that agile method reduces complexity of a project by specifying and managing small usable chunks of the project as opposed to managing the whole project at the same time. In agile method, team members handle most of the assignments, are responsible for managing their chunk of the project, and are accountable for quality control of their piece of the project. To ensure success of any project, agile project managers are responsible for managing the team’s environment … [Read more...] about Agile Project Management for ELearning Development
How to Write Effective Learning Objectives
All instructional designers are well aware of the benefits of learning objectives. However, even those who mastered the art of writing objectives often wonder of their effectiveness. First, let’s look at some of the reasons why we need to include learning objectives in our lessons. Most importantly, objectives tell learners what they should expect from the course. They also help learners understand what is important in the course and what they will most likely be assessed on at the end. While the advantages of learning objectives are evident, many learners find them useless and often skip over them. So, what can an instructional designer do to help learners pay attention to the objectives? There are several ways to handle this problem. First, instead of offering a bulleted list of learning objectives at the beginning of the course, instructional designers should try to find some creative ways to engage learners. One way to do that is to come up with a realistic attention … [Read more...] about How to Write Effective Learning Objectives