The Power of Functional Prototypes for E-Learning

The Power of Functional Prototypes for E-Learning

E-Learning Prototype: Build Something that Works

What is the aim of the class and what does the customer expect the student to do? Slapping together a bunch of information over a series of displays is probably not likely to meet with your objectives.  
How can you build your prototypes? Do you begin with a storyboard? Or do you jump directly into the software and begin building?
Needless to say, you do want it to be organized. Otherwise, the customer will revolve around the way it seems. But you don’t need to make it visually rich. A good cheat though, is to begin with the content library templates and then work from there.

Many e-learning developers spend too much time building courses which are almost complete before they solicit opinions about the course. This could be a waste of resources because by that time, they’ve invested plenty of resources and it is a real challenge to get things changed that late in the game, particularly if the changes are significant.

E-Learning Prototype: Don’t Worry About Looks

To sum it all up, building fast prototypes is a better option for path development than building courses that are complete and then soliciting opinions, particularly because you’ll probably have to make a bunch of changes anyway.

---

Upcoming E-Learning Events

• Austin: September 12 & 13.
• San Francisco: October 10 & 11. Articulate Community Roadshow. Seats limited for this event.
• Antwerp: Nov 7. Articulate User Day 2017. Register here. Articulate User Day 2017. Register here.
• London: November 13 & 14. Articulate Community Roadshow.  Register here.
• Manchester: November 16 & 17. Articulate Community Roadshow.  Seats are limited. SOLD OUT!
• Webinar (University of California Irvine): December 13.  How to Build a Professional E-Learning Portfolio.  Register here.

---

 

Free E-Learning Resources

While the potential client was speaking, the e-learning programmer opened Storyline and assembled a fast mock-up of how the course could work with some basic interactions and decision-making situations. The client meant to send her away to build something to pitch. Instead,  the e-learning programmer showed her the prototype there and got the job. All because she had been able to focus on the action that is desired and build a model.  
Here are a few tips about the best way best to approach the prototyping.
One of the many things I like about Storyline is how simple it is to prototype all kinds of interactions. In fact, someone told me what they expected to escape the course and that she had been at a meeting with a customer who shared their course requirements.

Published at Tue, 24 Oct 2017 09:30:57 +0000

What do they want to do and what interaction could you build that allows them to do that?
A much better solution is to quickly prototype the course, get some feedback and make adjustments. This is even more critical when you have a lot of content that is interactive. The fantastic thing is that this is really simple to do in Storyline (or occasion PowerPoint).

It doesn’t take much effort to prototype a bullet point screen. That’s not where you want to put your effort once you prototype. Concentrate on prototype and the activities the activities that let the practice and demonstrate understanding.

It’s an easy trap to fall into because we tend to lean on the visuals first. They help us think about the job. However, it.   Don’t be worried about the way the module appears, worry about the performance and the desired output.  

At our workshops, we like to present a couple of challenge activities. This build modules that are interactive and allows people workout ideas. But, are a few attendees that never wind up building a functioning interactive prototype and wind up spending all their time on the layout.

E-Learning Prototype: Start Backwards

Source: TPD Study Tips Feed