When I’m developing an e-learning course in a PowerPoint-based tool, like Articulate Presenter, I obviously create the storyboards in PowerPoint (PPT) most of the time. Most of my SMEs use PPT at work anyway, so they’re comfortable with it. In Notes View, the upper section of the page shows my mock-up or rough sketch of the screens, and the Notes Pane below contains my notes about the OSDs (on-screen directions), programing notes, course content, and audio/visual ideas.

My gratitude for the Master Slide feature in PowerPoint knows no bounds! This post is about a 127-slide storyboard for an e-learning course on a 401(k) plan, for a non-linear course where learners can choose the topics they want to review. And, once viewing the selected topic, the learners go through branching scenarios in a non-linear fashion.

The PPT storyboard successfully completed two review cycles! Then, one day, about a week or so before launch on the enterprise LMS, I got the SME phone call:

“Ah, we’re changing the title of the course…. ”

From: [ ACME's Retirement Plans ]

To: [ ACME's ACRONYM 401(k) Plan ]

Because I had built the storyboard/course on PPT’s Master Slides, I could keep my cool and calmly tell the SME

“No problem! That’s an easy fix.”

With the course background and main title on the storyboard’s Master Slide, I only needed to change the title one time, and that change was applied to all 127 slides.

Okay, I can hear you now:

“That’s a no brainer!”, you cry out. “We all know about that. It’s old news.”

I’m a Mentor, You’re a Mentor….Wouldn’t You Like to Be a Mentor, Too?

True, the above is a no brainer perhaps, but not everyone thinks about using the Master Slides, especially SMEs. I often mentor SMEs in rapid e-learning course design and development. I tell them that it really pays to think through, plan, and try to capture everything needed (requirements) at the very beginning of a project.

During the A-Analysis phase of ADDIE, the SMEs need to thoroughly brainstorm not only the course content and outcomes, but how they will use their design and development tools such as PPT. And, that’s where you and I, as Learning Consultants, come in as mentors.

As a mentor, that Analysis phase includes sharing with my SMEs the PPT storyboard tips-and-tricks that keep the project on time and within budget. This is important because many times SMEs will throw a PPT slide deck at e-learning designers and developers and say,

“Make this an online course. I need it in a month.”

When we all mentor our SMEs on how to effectively and efficiently use PPT as a tool, we can all relax a little bit more during Alpha and Beta review cycles.

If you have your favorite PPT tips-and-tricks, please share them in your Comment on this post! Or, tweet them to me on Twitter.com

@jenisecook  on Twitter.com

The mentor role ensures that I’m “Always Learning”, and that I pass on lessons learned to my SMEs.

Actually, it was a bright, sun-filled Saturday morning, but it began to feel like a stormy day. After I had showered, with no issues, my husband took his turn while I cleaned up the breakfast dishes downstairs.

I heard him shout. From downstairs. From the kitchen, away from the stairway.

“The pipes are going to burst!”, cried out my damp (and clothed, again) husband. Running back up the stairs to the bathroom, I stood in shock as he turned on the water. The vibration rattled the shower.

Being the Internet and social media type that I am, I immediately went to my Web browser and searched on “plumbing+vibrating+pipes”. I thought about tweeting in a panic to my Twitter peeps, but the Web search kept me busy enough.

My husband reviewed the research and resolved that it was air in the pipes. He shut off the main and cleared all water out of our pipes. That didn’t work. Then, we suspected it was from our local water company’s system. Nope. No evidence there.

We even called the president of our homeowner’s association, a very handy man. He couldn’t figure it out, either, and in despair we began to anticipate a potentially high plumbing bill which would have been a financial storm at the time.

In a short moment of desperate calm, my “fix it” husband stared at the shower and at the hanger that hung from the shower head, holding various wash cloths and soaps.

And…his razor.

His battery-operated, fancy-schmancy razor.

As far-fetched as this may sound, the way the razor rested in the hanger apparatus caused it to power on and buzz against the shower wall when my husband turned on the water. And boy, did it make a racket!!

The razor must have shifted its position in the hanger after I showered and hung up a wash cloth. To this day, we still can’t figure out how the water running up through the pipes turned on the razor.

This is a true story, and we both learned a huge lesson that sunny and potentially stormy Saturday.

Occam's Razor: A simple solution to what was perceived to be a much greater problem.

We made assumptions about the “exploding shower pipes” but they were the wrong ones. Our assumptions were too complex. We failed to stop, look around, take a step back (and a breath) and consider the simplest, most obvious causes.

We failed to apply Occam’s Razor to our little razor situation.

After we laughed and calmed down, we sat in the kitchen and reflected on how this happens in businesses. We discussed different projects at our respective employers, and the “craziness” that could occur among team members and cross-functional colleagues when faced with a problem (an “opportunity”).

How do you and your colleagues handle business “opportunities”, especially those that seem to present a crisis? Do you review them calmly and apply Occam’s Razor?

Occam’s razor is a principle that generally recommends that, from among competing hypotheses, selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions usually provides the correct one, and that the simplest explanation will be the most plausible until evidence is presented to prove it false.

Most of us do, and that’s good for business. I wanted to share our true story as a fun reminder to all of us. When there’s a situation to solve, remember to KISS, first, until proven otherwise!

(KISS = Keep It Simple, Silly!)

Or, Do It My Way…

With apologies to Frank Sinatra, then there’s my way of organizing and managing e-learning project files. The “system” I use I borrowed from my early Web site design days. Our Adobe Dreamweaver and Flash instructor showed us a system that works well for both individual designers and those who work on multiple projects shared by several designers. See my screen shot below:

On my local drive (my C: or hard drive), I have a directory, or folder, named “Articulate Presenter”. Inside that folder I file all of my Articulate e-learning project files. In the image to the right, “00ProjectFolders” I keep as a template for future projects. I simply copy that folder and paste it with a new name, such as, “ACME New Hire Orientation”. That folder is the main project folder, and it contains lots of subdirectories (subfolders) inside. Those subfolders contain the precious assets for my projects. They are:

ACME New Hire Orientation (example project name)

• Assets
• Engage
• PPT
• Published Output
• Quizzes

The “Assets” folder really helps me keep things straight, and is organized this way:

Assets (folder)

• audio
  • music
  • vo (for voice overs/narration)
• docs (for PDFs and Word files)
• img
• swf (for Flash *.SWF files)
• video (FLVs, MP4s)

I know I’ve described this structure quickly. So, if you have questions about how I organize and manage my e-learning project files, please send me an e-mail message.

And, help us all to learn more as well. Please share your ideas in the Comments below, and be sure to visit Tom’s blog and add your 2 cents there.

Yesterday, I was asked how I estimate the number of hours it could take to design and develop learning activities for a training (workplace performance improvement) project.

My answer? “It depends.”

That said, my colleagues and I do have to provide clients with an estimated delivery date for projects, and so I fall back on a few helpful resources.

A Few Resources for You

Dr. Karl Kapp (on Twitter, @kkapp) wrote an article for ASTD in 2003, then revised it in 2009, along with co-author Robyn A. Defelice. This article is worth your study and application when you estimate time for your projects. For me, it is an invaluable resource, so I hope it helps you:

Time to Develop One Hour of Training – Dr. Karl Kapp and Robyn A. Defelice

http://www.astd.org/LC/2009/0809_kapp.htm

David Gaw also refers to this ASTD resource and adds a few thoughts of his own at his blog:

http://www.changeordered.com/2009/12/how-long-to-develop-an-hour-of-training.html

And, here is Dr. Kapp’s original 2003 article:

http://www.astd.org/LC/2003/0703_kapp.htm

“Time to Create Course” Thread on the Articulate Forums

Earlier this year, we had a lively discussion on the estimating topic in the Articulate Forums. From the link below, you’ll find three forum pages of posts, including a long one from me. The nice thing is several forum members contributed their thoughts from real-world experience. I know you’ll find helpful advice from this source:

http://www.articulate.com/forums/general-discussion/15680-time-create-course.html

Keep Track of Your Project Hours

One e-learning consultant in another state told me his “secret”. When he gets a brand new client, he does not work on a fixed, project fee basis, he always works on an hourly basis. When a new client is new to e-learning, he finds he’s also a coach as well as an ID and a developer, and the coaching takes up more of his time. He reports his time to the client weekly (or twice a month), and he said the reports help “reign in” the client when needed due to the client always changing things after a design was approved.

I open up a simple Excel file and track hours that way. I include meetings, conference calls, and time spent communicating through e-mail messages. I know not everyone likes ADDIE, but each element is a good header for me to use to track time on a project for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.

How do you estimate? Please share with us by writing a Comment below.

Welcome to “The L-Files”, and the first post in a future series where I’ll discuss my role as “The Liaison” on various project teams. It’s common for instructional designers, technical communicators, business analysts, and others to find they are acting as diplomatic liaisons as well as doing their assigned tasks on a project team. I’ll not only post my own stories, I’ll share others’ great adventures when I find them.

Today’s Post

I was assigned to an e-learning course project as the client-side Instructional Designer to work with a virtual e-learning design and development vendor. The client’s required Compliance/Code of Conduct course was deployed to about 3,000 in-house and field staff.

The Vendor’s Storyboard

Previous client-side instructional designers struggled with working in the vendor’s storyboard format. However, when I began working with the vendor team, I found their MS Word, Detailed Design Document easy to use. I let the vendor know I would use their storyboard document, and they immediately expressed their appreciation.

My ability to adapt encouraged a very positive business relationship between the project manager at the vendor site and the remote Instructional Designer. It also greatly shortened the course development life cycle, and increased the vendor’s effectiveness during their internal QA phase.

The client trusted my ability and my decision, and the internal project sponsor benefited as well. We deployed the course on time.

The Client’s Design

I’m used to using PowerPoint storyboards for rapid design of e-learning courses. So, when the Sponsor of this Compliance course had a unique format that he wanted developed, I first designed it in PowerPoint so he could see the potential interactivity.

This PowerPoint storyboard also helped the vendor understand the unique interactivities the Sponsor wanted. We clearly saw how many image files would be needed, and how the potential learner activities would (or would not) work. I then worked with the vendor to “translate” this PowerPoint storyboard into their preferred Word storyboard.

It didn’t take very long at all! Sadly, I no longer have my project log. So, I can’t give you the total hours it took for me to use two storyboard formats as The Liaison between the client and the remote vendor. My process did save project time, and it eliminated the frustrations the team members felt in the past.

I’m “Always Learning…” how to build good will and facilitate the processes in a project team.

And, I invite you to share your experiences as well in this post’s Comments section.