Designing elearning theory

[jswift]

Hi,

I'm completely new to designing elearning. I have just purchased Articulate in an effort to produce timely and cost efficient learning for our people. I am finding the product very easy to use but would like some guidance around the design. Does anyone have any tips for me or could direct me to a good website or book?

Thank you.

Julie

[joe2008]

Hi, and welcome to the forum,

I would be sure to subscribe to the Rapid E-learning Blog, and download the Insider's Guide:
The Rapid eLearning Blog

Kineo also has some good information
E-Learning Company of the Year - Kineo - Home

In terms of books, I think William Horton's E-Learning by Design and Ruth Colvin Clark's E-Learning and the Science of Instruction are pretty good.

[ssemler]

Especially as you learn how to work with Articulate and design for elearning, it may be helpful to look at a variety of elearning courses to get a sense for what elearning can and cannot do. One of the mistakes we made in the '90's was to try to use elearning for all types of training, when it wasn't really appropriate. (Caveat: Before all the long-time professionals skin me alive, I want to acknowledge that there are awesome and creative ways to get beyond many of the inherent limitations of computer-based instruction, if you have the expertise and resources!)

In general, the more that the instructional relationship is between a single learner and a body of content, the more appropriate elearning is as an instructional strategy. Good elearning makes knowledge transfer and decision making very fast, flexible, and easy for learners.

The more that learners will need to engage with other people to practice some skill in real time without being limited to programmed options, the less helpful elearning will be. Here are some examples where elearning may be more of a stretch: coming up with inspiring responses in the moment as a leader, actually saying the right thing at the right time in a conflict situation, handling your own emotional reactions during a stressful conversation, delivering a major sales presentation to an audience of supporters and opponents.

My advice to folks who are getting into elearning is to listen, learn, share, and be involved with others. And, perhaps more important, is to be patient with oneself! There are a lot of technical details to learn, in addition to the instructional design theory many of us come in with. As you see the cool things your peers and pioneers can do, you will expand your own skills. Explore and enjoy!

[lambert17]

I agree with the Clark and Horton book recommendations. I also like the Michael Allen series on e-learning.

Good luck. I know you'll enjoy using Articulate.


Jay

[JewelRuby731]

Hi Julie,

You chose a great product! :-) Articulate is definitely my favorite of the software available.

I focused on instructional design in graduate school, and while we learned many different theories about how to develop strong online courses/training programs, one of the easiest (and the most fool-proof) is ADDIE. You can find out more information about ADDIE here: College of Education - ADDIE If you consider each of these steps in ADDIE, you'll be able to develop the best courses for your learners.

Good luck with your designs!

Julie (yes, my name's Julie, too!)

[GerryWaz]

Hi!

In terms of books to supplement your learning, the first book on Articulate software (which was due out last month and is now due out next week) will have some instructional design basics in it, along with helpful other information on the software.

AP 09 Users Guide

Amazon.com: Essential Articulate Studio '09: Patti Shank, Jennifer Bircher: Books

Have not seen the book yet but have high hopes it will help supplement the learning of our beginners.

[blairrorani]

Try Action Mapping by Cathy Moore - Way more effective than ADDIE and focussed on learners instead of all the designing people think they have to do to design a learning experience (Resources for elearning instructional design from Cathy Moore)

Then read pretty much every post at the creating passionate users blog (Creating Passionate Users: Learning isn't a push model)

Worked well for me.