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E-Learning in Action

The Problem

With the support of the Vice-President for Marketing, manager Erik and three of the members of his product sales training team plan to develop a pilot e-learning course, to see how the sales force might accept it.

Each is enthusiastic about the project and has specific ideas for the course. During a brief meeting following Erik's announcement that the Vice-President had funded the project, each shared their thoughts. Concerned about creating a visually appealing experience, graphic designer Maya, who's a whiz with graphics software such as Photoshop and Flash, envisions a variety of animations and simulations. Concerned about providing practical information, technical writer Harry envisions a number of product information charts that sales representatives can re-use later as reference sheets. Concerned about creating an "involving" experience for the learner, instructional designer Terry wants to create simulations.

"Hold it!" Erik interrupted.

"You all have solutions before you even understand the problem. Although you have developed classroom courses for our sales reps, what do you know about the issues in their using the courses online? You've got lots of ideas about animations and simulations, but do you know whether we can even afford them, much less whether learners can play them back? You've got ideas about how to present the content before we've even identified the specific content we need to develop."

He added that decisions about the way they plan to be present the content should be made only after the team better understands the business need, the learners, the performance goal, the specific tasks, and the project constraints. The team also needs to establish observable measurable goals for the project before proceeding with the design of the program.

"The design itself involves more than a bunch of creative ideas. It involves choosing a format that best suits the entire situation, choosing an overall presentation strategy and figuring out how it will be implemented on each screen. And then we have to identify guidelines to ensure that work is consistent from screen to screen and from developer to developer."

Erik concluded, "Folks, we should only make each design decision at the right time, and that's after we have the information we need to make it."

The most challenging aspect of any online learning project, especially a first one, is where to begin. Like most enthusiastic teams, Erik's jumped to a solution before fully understanding and defining the learning problem before them.

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Suggested Solution

At first stunned by Erik's proclamation, Terry realized how correct Erik was. "Of course. I need to adapt the ISD process for e-learning."

The group then began planning the process, identifying how long each phase would take, assigning primary and secondary responsibilities for each, and contacting sponsors and others about their roles in this design and development effort.

The team began its effort with Phase One: Analyzing the Needs.

One last note. The chapters that follow explore each of these phases in more detail. Because many fine books on instructional systems design have already been published, this one primarily focuses on the unique issues faced by designers of e-learning, rather than all of the issues that arise in instructional design.

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