Supplemental Resources for Designing E-Learning: E-Learning in Action for Chapter 8

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E-Learning in Action

In this Example
The Problem
Suggested Solution

A week after being assigned to develop an online course training new users of software for managing medical offices, Mindy woke up in a cold sweat. One of four course developers, she worried that her part of the course might be inconsistent with those of her co-workers Phillip, Beth, and Rick.

“What if I begin a course with the term, Objectives, and Rick uses the heading, What You Should Learn? Or suppose we both use the same terms, but my headings are in 12 point Arial Bold, and Mindy’s are in 14 point Garamond Bold-Italic?”

As soon as she went into work, Mindy shared her concerns with instructional designer Vanessa. “Relax” Vanessa advised Mindy. “That’s why we have publishing guidelines. Although they might seem tedious to some, they minimize the inconsistencies among developers, and other problems down the line.”

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Suggested Solution

After reassuring Mindy, Vanessa showed her the publishing guidelines for the project. Mindy was surprised to see that it included:

Editorial guidelines. The project should follow the Chicago Manual of Style and Webster’s Dictionary. Exceptions were documented in a project style guide.
Authoring specifications: the project is being developed on an IBM compatible PC with 128MB of main memory, 20 GB of hard drive, a DVD drive (any type), digital camera, and speakers. The software runs under Windows XP, and includes Dreamweaver Course Builder, PhotoShop, and Flash. Users are assumed to have Microsoft Office XP.
Viewing specifications: Learners should be able to use the course on any computer connected to the Internet and running under Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher or Netscape 4.6 or higher
Templates: Vanessa showed Mindy templates for the title screen, lesson menu, lesson overview screens, presentation screens, multiple-choice screens, true-false screens, and summary screens.

Mindy wondered why Vanessa did not have publishing specifications for related printed materials. Vanessa explained that, because this course is delivered on the web, it did not need any printed materials.

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