Rapid Authoring – it’s not the whole story…
Tim Neill argues that content authoring is only a minor part of the eLearning development process
The adverts for rapid authoring tools are appealing but creating an interactive learning program involves far more than assembling images, text, video and interactions.
Systems such as Captivate or Storyline enable non-programmers to create content and certainly do speed up the task of building interactive screens, but this is only one phase in a much larger process.
Here’s the real journey involved in bringing a new training module from idea to delivery …
1. Research
- Define the need – write achievable and measurable learning objectives
- Profile the learners – what’s their existing knowledge?
- How will they access the module – internet/intranet, PC/iPad, network speed?
- Where and how will their progress/achievements be recorded?
2. Specification
Write a technical specification and a detailed design document. Describe in depth the scope and content, down to individual topics. These are crucial documents for both client and developer since they define exactly what will be delivered, how it will work and the parameters controlling hosting, delivery and learner access. Miss this step and nasty surprises can emerge later.
3. Scripting
Instructional designers need to quiz the subject matter experts to obtain all existing materials. They’ll dream up the treatments needed to achieve the learning objectives before writing the storyboard scripts. These describe what will happen on each screen, as seen by the learner and as instructions for developers.
When the scripts are signed off, now can you start ‘rapid authoring’? Sorry, no. There’s more preparation work …
4. Content creation
Although these systems include tools for creating/editing content, you’ll get far better results using separate applications for:
- Audio – record the narration on a digital recorder (not using a computer microphone) and edit in Sound Forge
- Video – edit in a specialist program such as Adobe Premiere
- Animations – create these externally. Adobe Flash is the most popular tool
- Illustrations/discrete graphics – create these in Photoshop
If you limit yourself to the internal utilities provided by the rapid authoring system you’ll deny yourself richness, style and quality of content. And it will show.
5. Now you can start authoring
Building courses is far more efficient if you’ve done all your groundwork first, importing the various assets as needed. It’s a good idea to produce a prototype first, with a few sample screens to get client approval before producing a complete course. The results of the authoring will be a first draft – an Alpha version.
6. Client reviews
After client Alpha review, the scripts and narration will change.
When the Beta has been reviewed, changes made and the whole program signed off, those scripts will go to the studio for the professional actor to record them. These audio files then replace the temporary versions.
7. Testing
Without testing you’ll have a very unhappy client. However, these rapid authoring systems are very good at letting you make changes quickly.
8. Managing the project
Running alongside every task we’ve listed is project management, often overlooked but essential for:
- controlling script/program versions
- chasing missing material/script reviews
- reporting on progress, highlighting delays/actions needed
9. Delivery
The final stage is to publish the course and set up communication with an LMS for launching and progress tracking – all jobs that rapid authoring systems handle well.
In conclusion, whilst rapid authoring systems are highly productive tools, keep in mind that they will typically help with only a minor part – perhaps 30% – of the total time spent in producing an eLearning project.