Tour 4: Design an e-learning course

Stops on this tour

What to do

What you'll need from the travel pack

Skip this step if you have completed Tours 1 or 2

To look at a sample course:

• Click the Sample designs tab and pick a box for one of the seven sample designs.
• Read the summary, then click on the Story and listen to the designer's description of how the course works.
• Open the Map and check the delivery options used (the horizontal coloured bands).
• Still on the Map, see if you can identify how many different e-learning strategies are used in this design (for content, activities, support and assessment).
• Finally, complete the Learning design webquest.

Learning design webquest quiz (Word doc 61KB)

Skip this step if you have completed Tour 2

Designing an e-learning solution for a training need starts with deciding which delivery options to use.

Delivery options guide (PowerPoint 4MB)

Skip this step if you have completed Tour 3

If you ready to get serious about an e-learning course, project or initiative, it make sense to pick the idea which has the best chance of success.

• Review your current products and capability by filling in pages 2-3 of the E-learning opportunity analysis template.
• List three promising e-learning ideas for your organisation on page 4.

E-learning opportunity analysis template (Word doc 143KB)

Skip this step if you have completed Tour 3

Now complete a reality check of your three ideas.

• For each idea, score each criteria 1-10 (1 = very weak, 10 = very strong).
• Circle any low scores (1-3) and consider if they are critical to success. If they are, note any practical and affordable strategies for improvement.
• Rank your three ideas, guided by your scores for each and how they shape up in terms of critical success factors.

E-learning opportunity analysis template (Word doc 143KB)

One of the key questions to address is whether you will use self-paced e-learning or facilitated e-learning — or a mixture of both.

• Check the pros and cons of self-paced versus facilitated e-learning in the article, Facilitated or self-paced ?
• Confirm or revise your ranking of the three ideas and choose one of them to move on to the design stage.

Facilitated or self-paced? (Word 387KB)

For your top-ranked e-learning idea:

• clarify which mix of delivery options you will use (learning management system, face-to-face, workplace activities, communication tools, virtual classroom, online group collaboration tools etc)
• plot your delivery options by labelling the horizontal coloured bars on the E-learning course map - blank (use two sheets joined if you have lots of delivery options)
• tip:
  Use the sample design map you looked at in the first stop on this tour as a guide.

E-learning course map - blank (Word doc 102KB)

Complete a ‘design rough’ for your course:

• Complete a draft design by sketching (pencil is good) the learning sequence using the four design icons (content, activity, support, assessment) on your labelled Course map.
• Tips:
  Start with a part of the course, such as a typical week.
  Select and position the assessment tasks (yellow circle) first.
  Do it on a whiteboard first (or instead) with coloured markers.

If you need to show others what you are planning:

• Use the drag-and-drop icons in the E-learning course template to prepare a printable electronic version of your design.

E-learning course template (Word doc 175KB)

If you need to convince someone else that your idea has legs, or just to promote it, make a short digital story presenting a simple business case (or rationale) for the initiative.

• Check the Gallery for information on PhotoStory 3, a free tool from Microsoft (Windows only).
• If necessary, download and install Photostory 3 and follow through the steps in the demonstration. You will need a microphone (or microphone headset) for your computer.
• Follow the directions to complete the Adding more e guide.
• Book a room, invite everyone and play your story.

Adding more e (Word 81KB)