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14

APR
2012

Milestones of a Typical ELearning Project

The E-coach Blog

Posted By : Alison Bickford

to insights in organisational e-

Comments : 4

Last week I blogged about what to include in an elearningrequest for quotation (RFQ).A RFQ helps make clear
the requirements of an e-learning course for development.
Meeting requirements and expectationsduring an e-learning
courseware development project is a 2-way street. The role of
the client is to keep objectives clear, manage the internal
stakeholders and project processes. The role of the e-learning

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provider is to listen to the client, meet their needs, and add

value to the project experience and outcomes along the way.
Creating an e-learning courseis a
multidisciplinary,multimedia production. Like any
production,it is dependent upon the quality of the outcome
that came before it. From start to finish, there are clear
milestones where the e-learning provider must seek sign-off
from the client to help ensure all is correct before the next
part of the process proceeds. The client has responsibility to
complete a through check before signing-off the milestone.

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Lets take up the project assuming a RFQ proponent has been

chosen. There are typically six milestones that require the

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client to review carefully and sign off.

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A. Design brief: This high level brief should reflect both the
RFQ inclusions and details discussed at the kick-off meeting.
It should outline the design approach for what s being taught,

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the assessment approach, graphic style, interactivityand

animation to be used, videoand/or narration, navigation
inclusions, authoring tool and understanding of the clients

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technology environment (standard operating environment

SOE). It should also include a few template mock-ups called
GUI (graphic user interface). These are visual treatments that
should reflect a little of your corporate look/feel, but should
also be mindful of the learner experience. Get GUI sign-off
from Corporate Comms before signing off the Design brief. B.
Test course: From the design brief the e-learning provider
should create a small test course reflecting all of the agreed
navigation, interactivity and assessment type. Test the course
in your LMS and check all the functionality works. Test the
assessment tracks correctly and the course completes. Then
sign-off. C: Storyboard: This is perhaps the most complex
milestones, as it requires the client and e-learning provider to
come to consensus about how the course content will be
conveyed to the learner. Clients new to developing e-learning
will often concentrate on the source content, whereas a good
e-learning provider will be designing for learning experience
and engagement. It requires give and take. Where possible, go
through the first draft in person so that each party can better

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convey their perspective. Several iterations of the storyboard

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may be required before the document is ready for sign-off.

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Remember, this storyboard is in document form, the next step

is production using multimedia. so, any alteration to the
storyboard once production is underway is usually considered
a project variation. It may cost you. D. Narration script: If the
narration is not verbatim to the text on screen, or it may be a
video script, then these also need to be sgned off prior to

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studio or video production. You are looking for a script that is

concise, compelling and reflects your culture. E. Alpha course:
This is the first draft of the produced e-learn. You will need to
run a user acceptance test (UAT) internally to check both the
technical aspects of the course, and the course content.
Expect to find some minor issues, which will need to be
documented as a change request. if you receive an alpha
course with lots of issues, send it back to the e-learning
provider for another quality assurance review it will take
too much of our UAT team time to notate the issues. Where
possible, run your alpha test in your LMS so that tracking is
also being tested. Sign off the change request before
returning it to the e-learning provider. F. Beta course: This
course should be almost perfect. Use your change request
data to check that all items have been actioned. Check your

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LMS tracking once more. You may find one or 2 issues. If they
are minor (e.g. punctuation issue), you may decide it is not
worth asking the provider to publish yet again (which means
more testing for you). It is very difficult o get everything
100%. perfect. If it does need updates, document them in
achange request and repeat the beta testing process. Your
course should now be live on the systemdont forget your
comms plan These milestone sign-offs are just one
component of successful e-learning project management. For
informationand support, including a courseand tools,
whynot join the E-Learning Academy. I alsorun E-Learning
Project Management workshops.

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steven

April 21, 2012 at 12:47 am Reply

Thanks for the list of milestonesIm glad to

see that you had several focused around testing
as this is often something that gets overlooked.
I wrote a post on specific testing activities for
Elearning awhile back. Feel free to give it a
look: http://rockidscience.com/?p=289

Alison Bickford

April 21, 2012 at 3:57

pm Reply

Thanks for sharing your blog post Steven.

Philip Wood

April 16, 2012 at 7:39 pm Reply

Alisons summary process and milestones is

very good. I can say this with some confidence
as weve been designing and delivering e
learning for 10 years.
Id like to suggest one additional point:
Timeline
Even large corporates, with extensive
experience of online training can have have a
sketchy view of the typical timescales needed
for each stage.
Perhaps the project manager hasnt had the
courage to tell the most senior stakeholder(s)
that it will take a bit longer than theyre being
pushed for.
And most times they significantly
underestimate how long it will take them to
poll their SMEs, assemble source information,
manage their interview storyboard review
process and feedback to the vendor in a
consolidated format.
Net result is that the final delivery dates tend
not to move out, but the final third of the
project gets squeezed.From the point where the

storyboard is signed off, the actual

development time in our experience is often
no more than 35-40% of the total elapsed time.
Bottom Line
Create and share a simple Gantt chart (Toms
Planner is a good place to start). It focuses
everyone on the timeline.

Alison Bickford

April 17, 2012 at 5:19

am Reply

Thanks so much for your contribution to

this topic, Philip. I couldnt agree more.
Next week I am going to blog a list of
things that cause e-learning projects to
miss time, budget or quality expectations.
The issues you raise will certainly be
included. Best wishes & thanks again.

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