Building an E-Learning Module
Being able to build an effective e-learning module has been one of the many goals I have had throughout my learning design and technology graduate program. I recently took one of my last classes in my course sequence LDT 504, where I got the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of Articulate Storyline to build my own e-learning module. Today I want to highlight the good and the difficult tasks that I have found in building an e-learning module, and then I want to highlight some future changes that I can see with e-learning going forward.
The Overview:
For context, I was assigned a task where I was to select a scenario-based design case to help me with building my e-learning module. I chose to work on the Mia Grace Environmental Foundation. Please review a little about my role below:
After virtually meeting with Carol, essentially my goal was to create a learning module to help the parents of students work with their students in order to help their students who were working with the foundation understand the project goals with sustainable practices and make the project more meaningful for students.
The Bad:
As I stated in this case, I was only able to virtually meet with Carol just from what was provided in my graduate course. I felt like after virtually meeting with Carol there were many questions I had about the course content and goals, but since this was not a face-to-face meeting I couldn't ask the questions I personally needed based on the information I had. This aspect led to a very poor planning part on my end for the project. In my graduate course, I was then instructed to use the software Twine. Twine was used to build a storyboard for the project. Georgieva states, "A storyboard in instructional design is a visual representation of the training. It shows how the content will be structured (module per module, screen by screen), and how it will be visualized" (Georgieva, 2019). In my experience for this project, building a storyboard was the most difficult part of the design process, especially with the limited information from Carol. It also did not help that Twine was a new software for me to use to create the storyboard. I think in my future career as a learning designer I really want to stress meeting more with SMEs so that I have a clear understanding of the goals of a project so that I can more easily build a more clear storyboard. I also think in the future, instead of using software like Twine, I would rather use sticky notes for my storyboard and use fewer details when building my story just because I find it difficult to be as detailed about what I will create right away.
The Good:
Second, once I got past the initial storyboard part of the design process, I had a relatively easy time building the rest of my e-learning module. The first thing I did before I even started using Articulate StoryLine was build a script for the project. Pappas states, "Well-written eLearning scripts have the potential to change the lives of your online learners... your eLearning scripts should sound organic. Online learners must feel like they are dealing with an actual person they can relate to instead of a computer who happens to know a lot about the subject matter" (Pappas, 2016). For my script, I used Google Slides to help create my script so that I could focus on what I wanted to say on each slide, which later helped create my module in Storyline. Using Google Slides also allowed me to have an easy time creating audio without many "um's" or long pauses and required minimal editing of my audio, which saved me a lot of time. I found the narration process easy because since I was previously a former teacher, I felt it was easy for me to create a script that helps learners understand the "why" in a relatable way because that is naturally how I taught my students in the past, so I really didn't have to change my tone much in my audio, which helped a lot.
Third, after building the audio for my learning module in my graduate course, I learned the importance of interactions in an e-learning module. Edwards states, "The CCAF model: meaningful context, appropriate challenge, relevant actions, and instructional feedback" (Edwards, 2016). The CCAF model was a great tool that I used to help build interactions within my learning module. One of the many ways I did this in Storyline was by using triggers. "Triggers can be used for a variety of actions, such as showing or hiding objects, playing media, adjusting variables, or even sending results to a learning management system" (LDT 504, 2024). Triggers were used in my learning module for a variety of things, such as "previous" and "next" buttons to guide learning, response feedback for knowledge checks and assessments, and module interactions to guide the learner. Here is an example of using triggers in my learning module:
The Future of E-Learning:
As most people know, technology is constantly changing. The recent introduction of generative AI, augmented reality, and microlearning, it is without a doubt going to completely change the learner's experience. I have actually played a lot with AI specifically and feel like if used correctly, it can really help with understanding material more deeply. I think that learning will change and learners will be able to get a more comprehensive and rich learning experience than ever before. I think that the role of the learning designer now will be to embrace these changes and not to limit learners and to develop learning modules with a broader range to not put limits on learning potential and encourage deeper thinking from all learners so that they will be ready for the changes to come.
Conclusion:
Overall, my experience building an e-learning module was mostly positive with building a script, audio, and using Articulate storyline triggers. I also think that I am excited about the future advancements within e-learning. I do think that e-learning can be challenging without enough background information on the project, so my hope as I continue as a learning designer is to get to know my learners better and build relationships with SMEs more to enhance the planning process.
References:
https://canvas.asu.edu/courses/192396/pages/m5-triggers?module_item_id=13910731
Edwards, E. (2016, May 10). Learning Interactions: Elevate Your eLearning By Considering The Big Picture Links to an external site.. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/learning-interactions-elevate-elearning-considering-big-picture
Georgieva, V. (2019, July 5). How To Create Effective Storyboards For eLearning? Links to an external site. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/create-storyboards-effective-elearning-tips
Pappas, C. (2016, May 29). 7 Best Practices For Writing Perfect eLearning Scripts Links to an external site. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/7-best-practices-for-writing-perfect-elearning-scripts
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