All About E-Learning Storyboards

Whether you an e-Learning Developer, Instructional Designer or a Customer seeking to hire a training professional or buy a custom e-learning program from a 3rd party vendor, there are a few things you should know about storyboards. As an e-Learning Developer working with either a "green" Instructional designer, a non-instructional design team or a client, I find myself explaining processes, especially a storyboard.

What the heck is a storyboard?!?!

A storyboard, in layman terms, is a blueprint of an e-Learning course (self-paced, computer-based training, web-based training, asynchronous learning, whatever is the latest term today). It outlines the content visually for both the developer and the customer. The most important components of the storyboard are:

1. The graphical user interface or GUI (look and feel)
2. The content (the information presented on the screen from source files)
3. The interactions (any movable, clickable, user and non user interactions)
4. Multimedia (audio and video)
5. Timing

 

THE GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE

This means how the screen actually looks. For example, there may be 3-4 different layouts such as the welcome page, content page, quiz page, activity page, etc. However, there is consistency with the design throughout all of the layouts. Content must fit within the layouts in order to not confuse the learner and ensure a clean and professional design . When the graphical user interface is created, it is pertinent to provide the client with 1-3 options to select from.

Why? This gives the client a sense of being actively involved in the creative process. It is not always necessary to provide several options if at some point the client expressed specific directives. Secondly, involving the client gives the e-Learning developer and/or the entire non-Instructional Design team the approval of a design, so that changes will not be made half way or at the end of the project if the client is dissatisfied with the end product.


In terms of blended learning solutions, it is not always necessary for the graphical user interface to be an exact replica of other training materials. There could be an essence of the design in the e-Learning templates, such as using a theme or colors or even similar images.

 
Do not pigeon hole the design of your e-Learning course by basing it on something else. On the same token, if your client expresses a desire that the graphical user interface matches their company website or the company PowerPoint presentations that they have already created or even to adhere to the company style guide, you can still remain creative in your design within those parameters.

Often times an instructional designer or the client may provide tons of information derived from subject matter experts. It is your job to sift through the content and communicate the information clearly and concisely if a technical writer/editor is not available. Excessive verbiage will confuse the learner.

E-Learning courses should not be overburdened with on-screen text to read as if they are reading an encyclopedia. Often, I find that we overload a learner with too much unnecessary information or become repetitive. Get to the point. If you must expand or explain a term, process or concept in detail, use roll overs, pop-up boxes, imagery, diagrams, and charts. Nonetheless, get to the point! AND remember that all information must be tied back to the learning objectives. Anyway, all content should be placed in the storyboard so that the client may review, comment for edits and approve it.

When an e-Learning developer receives a storyboard or creates a storyboard, they need direction of any user and non-user activity or they need to communicate the direction to the client through the storyboard. For example, if an image is supposed to fade in or slide in or spin 50 times, this must be communicated in the storyboard. If the e-Learning course is being developed in an authoring tool such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate or iSpring Presenter and there will be custom navigation buttons built on screen instead of using a player skin, this must be communicated in the storyboard. If the user is supposed to roll over an image or click a button, this also will need to be communicated in the storyboard. Anything requiring movement must be documented.

In terms of e-Learning, multimedia is any combination of text, audio, still images, animation, video, or interactivity content forms. For instructional designers, I highly recommend using a balance of multimedia.

Limit the use of audio, i.e., narration. DO NOT turn your e-Learning course into a podcast. Learners should be able to understand the on-screen content without having to turn on their speakers and still learn. In many cases, a professional voice-over artist charge by time or per word. Too much narration could cost your client a pretty penny. In addition, if there are changes to the course in the future and the voice-over artist is no longer available, your client will need to re-invest in recording the entire narration with a new voice-over artist. Keep narration to a minimum. A good example, "Read the following paragraph" instead of having the voice-over artist reading the entire paragraph. This is something the learner could read for themselves. Use narration sparingly like salt and pepper such as giving direction NOT reading the entire on-screen text as if your learner is illiterate. 

Videos are great when available. I love videos. However, if you or your client do not have the resources to shoot videos or incorporate the appropriate videos, opt for animation or still images. Be sure to include any existing and available video files in the storyboard. Don't have your client or e-Learning developer guessing. If the appropriate video does not exist, just don't include it in the storyboard. If it does, be sure you show the videos to the client for approval. Lastly, be sure to receive permission prior to utilizing any video if obtaining it from a 3rd party. This rule also pertains to any 3rd party graphics, animations, sounds, and pictures unless purchased from a royalty-free vendor. My last note on videos, too many videos make published file size large and slow when running it in a browser. Limit the usage of videos to the necessities.

Though timing may seem like the least important component of a storyboard, it is very important in terms of contractual agreements, project deadlines and budgets. The client could only be paying for 20, 30, 45, 60 or even 90 minutes of e-Learning instruction. The average time a learner could complete a course depends on how long it takes for actual development. For example, to complete 60 minutes of e-Learning instruction equates to an average of 30-60 days of actual development time. Another reason why timing is important is so the learner can gauge if he or she will have enough time available to complete the training and to also know where they are in the training as they are taking it. Documenting the timing on the storyboard for each slide or screen, will notify both the client and developer that the project is within any contractual agreement and project deadline.

Who Storyboards and Why?

Who creates the storyboard?

It depends. Sometimes clients may hire an Instructional Designer to create a storyboard as part of a contractual agreement, then hire a developer to execute the design. However, in most cases, the e-Learning developer creates the storyboard from source files (content) gathered by the Instructional Designer or given by the client. Why? e-Learning developers have varying skill sets. These training professionals have the expertise to arrange, structure and communicate the content for the most optimal learning experience for the learner. Input from the client and/or a team should be considered; however, the e-Learning developer will be able to communicate their best recommendations based on resources available, software and technical capabilities and their current skill level. Not all e-Learning developers are created equal.

Should you develop without a storyboard?

To make clear, a storyboard has 2 main purposes:

1. Client approval. It gives the client an idea of how, what, when and why of an e-Learning course. Have the client sign-off on the storyboard. If any changes from the client arise, you may kindly ask the client if they are willing to amend the contract to compensate you for the additional time and/or extend the project deadline to accommodate the changes.
2. e-Learning direction. It gives the developer specific instructions for the development of the course with minimum guess work. If changes arise for you, recommend the changes to the client and determine if those changes can stay within the budget and the project timeline. If not, ask the client to approve or deny the changes you recommend along with providing them an estimation of additional compensation and/or extension of the deadline.Sign and date EVERYTHING!!!

Not Actual Courses

There are several formats for storyboards. The two listed here are available to save and download. Just click on the hyperlinks.

Microsoft Word format: The storyboard created in Word has 3-4 columns and the reader can see the timing for each screen, a thumbnail of the screen, interactivity directions, on-screen text, narration script or other audio and timing. The reviewer is able to see each screen with the corresponding content, narration, audio, etc. The disadvantages are the screen size is small and there may be a lot of content, so you may only fit one or two screens on one page.

Microsoft PowerPoint format: The first screen has a page strictly for instructions for the developer such as content, narrations, interactivity, multimedia, etc. Every thing about the screen except for an image for the actual screen. The next slide will contain the screen only. The advantage of this format is the ability for the size of the screen. It is easy to clearly view versus a thumbnail. The disadvantage is the inability to compare and contrast both direction and screen synonymously.

If you have any additional input about storyboards or questions, please contact me at learn@dreamqwest.com