Earlier, we looked at how to be an elearning hero. Today, we’ll look at ways to jump start your projects.

You’re asked to put an elearning course together within a couple of weeks. What do you do? In the past, you may have told your customers that there isn’t enough time to build the training. Today, that’s not the case.

Rapid e-learning allows you to say “yes” to your customer’s hurried requests.

While the tools do give you a head start, you’re still going to be pressed for time.

Here are 5 simple tips to help you prepare for your next project.

1. Create a Generic Training Template

If you have limited time to develop your e-learning course, you don’t want to spend days trying to determine an approach. With the right template, you can stay ahead of the game. It should include learning objectives, a structure to present the information, and a means to evaluate the learner’s understanding.

You might want to design two or more templates that consider various types of training. One could deal with presenting information in a linear manner. Another could address performance-based training where the user has to learn and apply skills. Regardless of how you structure your template, the main point is to have a design template ready to go.

2. Create Models for Learner Interactivity

It’s important to capture the learners at a real-world level. They want to know why the training is important to them. Learning interactivity is one way to do that. Interaction goes beyond just drag and drop features. It’s more about getting the learner to connect with (and think through) the information presented in the e-learning course. This could include case studies and problem solving questions. There is a lot that can be done with interactions. They don’t need to be overly complicated to be successful.

Here is an excellent example of a learning interaction that is engaging and easy to build. I like the way Articulate’s gold medal gurus built the ergonomics course. The users are engaged and need to make decisions based on the information presented. They also get immediate feedback after the decision is made. It’s a perfect example of an interaction that is effective and easy to design.

Look at what other people are doing and make a list of interactions that work and that you could apply to your projects. Then when you start to look at your course content, you can pull from a list of proven interaction ideas. You won’t have to spend time trying to invent some.

3. Create Some Style Themes and Templates

No matter what type of course you build, you’ll still need to have a specific look to it. The nice thing about using rapid e-learning tools is that the player design is complete. You don’t have to spend a lot of time designing navigation features.

Even though the player is ready-to-go, there’s still a need to think through the overall look and feel of the training course. You can gain some ground if you pre-design templates and color schemes. There are a number of times where I’ve pulled one of mine out of the drawer (so to speak) and the customer was happy with it and ready to go.

Even if you’re using a PowerPoint to Flash tool like Articulate Presenter, you still have a lot of latitude in what you can do. The slides do not need to look like PowerPoint slides. Step away from the bullet points and treat the slide as a blank area and see what you can do. Here are three examples that I built in PowerPoint, yet don’t look like a bullet-point slide show:

1. Compensation Discussion
2. President’s Game
3. Fix My Thumb

The key is to have a few design ideas ready-to-go. This way you can put together a quick prototype without a lot of thought about the design.

4. Create Clip Art and Image Packages

It’s important to have the right images and visuals for your training courses. There are a few things you can do to get ready for your next project. If you’re using PowerPoint, you have access to online clip art and images. Take advantage of them.

Build a collection of images that fit the same style and look. You can group images together to create your own visual metaphors. In addition, you can change the colors of the clip art to match your template color theme.

It’s also a good idea to save pictures of people. You can pull people out of an image and use elsewhere. If you work in a production environment, you might want to go around and take images of the equipment and people working on it.

You can also use a photo editor to create your own graphics. Create boxes and arrows. Apply a slight bevel and drop shadow and it really adds some pop to your screen. PowerPoint 2007 has made a lot of that easy for you.

Having the right images is important. It’s also a time consuming process. Start early and build your collection. When you need the image or ideas, you’ll have a great resource at your disposal.

5. Create a list of questions to ask?

The better you are at asking questions and listening, the better you can design your e-learning course. When you’re in a rush, it’s easy to ask the wrong questions, or even to forget the right questions. Having a pre-determined list of questions you want to ask is important to getting the right e-learning course built.
Determine what you need to know about projects and create some questions. It’s also a good idea to condense the list to five key questions and forward that to the client before the meeting. This gives them a heads up on what you need to cover and might save some time.

Final Thoughts

You’re under a lot of pressure to meet deadlines and deliver results. Using rapid e-learning tools plays a large role in getting your work done. The five tips above are some ways to help you speed up your project development.

This list isn’t exhaustive. What would you do?

In our next post, we’ll review what you should know about designing elearning courses.