Supplemental Resources for Designing E-Learning: E-Learning in Action for Chapter 10

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E-Learning in Action

In this Example
The Problem
Suggested Solution

Jordana is the project manager for a series of online courses that replace three days of a five-day classroom-based training program for new managers. The online units focus on basic supervision: writing job descriptions, interviewing and hiring, writing performance plans, providing informal feedback, writing appraisals, and preparing career development plans.

Jordana pulled together a top team to prepare the course. The lead instructional designer has 7 years’ experience in human resource management. Writers include three experienced managers (subject matter experts in their own right). So Jordana was taken aback when her manager asked, “Who’s going to review your course?”

“Why do we need reviewers? Experts are preparing the course,” Jordana replied.

“That might have flown when you were preparing courses for the classroom,” the manager tossed back. “But it makes no sense with an online course. Because the technical content goes to thousands of new managers, we have a huge liability if the content is wrong and managers unwittingly either break the law or our company policy. That’s why you need technical reviews.

“Similarly, because so many different people are writing the course, the likelihood of inconsistencies is high, even though your three developers follow a template prepared by the instructional designer. That’s why you need editing. Last, because the only way to verify that the course really works is by testing it, you need to conduct a variety of tests intended to ‘break’ the course before a learner does.”

Jordana’s jaw dropped just a little. Before she could say anything, her manager said: “Why don’t you go home and think about this and get back to me in a day or two with your plan.”

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Suggested Solution

Two days after the initial discussion, Jordana returned with her review and test plan. She decided to include these reviews:

At This Stage	Jordana Scheduled:
Design	Usability test, to make sure that learners could follow the design Technical review, to make sure that the content that would be covered is accurate and complete.
First draft	Technical review, to verify that the content presented is accurate and complete Edit, to verify that the presentation is understandable to the intended audience and to assure that the program matches the design plans and guidelines established earlier
Second draft	Technical review, to verify that originally comments were addressed and no errors were introduced during the revision Edit, to verify the clarity of the revised presentation and to make sure that the content is grammatically and stylistically correct, and consistent with design plans and material produced by other developers Usability test, to verify that learners can actually meet the intended objectives.
Third Draft	Edit, to verify that material is grammatically and stylistically correct, and consistent with design plans, and prepare the content for publication Functional test, to verify that the course actually works Integration test, to verify that the course works when integrated with other software Load test, to verify that the designated number of learners can simultaneously master the program.