Trainers Talk Tech

I spoke to a group recently about multimedia development for eLearning, and the importance of story-boarding your eLearning project came up. We moved from storyboarding multimedia and animation elements to the entire project. Do I think it is important to storyboard your eLearning? Yes. Do I think you have to grind out every detail in a storyboard? I think it depends on two things:

1. The relationship between the storyboarder/designer, the deveopler and the sponsor
2. The experience level of the developer

Follow up:

Why does the relationship between the storyboarder, the programmer and the sponsor come into effect? In my professional client work, I am usually the storyboarder and the programmer, so I can cheat a little because I know in my mind what I can do with code, graphics and Flash. I don't need to storyboard it out because I can envision what I want and can dive right in a make it happen. However, it gets complicated when working with the sponsor/client because sometimes they want to see a very detailed document that they can review and comment and approve. I sometimes walk a very fine line because I want to jump in and get started, while my client wants to move slower and have a larger number of approval phases. I can only push so much! A good storyboard will help a non-tech savvy sponsor see and understand the project before a line of code hits the screen. Also, it forces people like me to slow down and make sure everyone has a clear idea of the plan.

Another factor sometimes impacting my work is the level of detail my clients provide to me. I have been doing this stuff for over 10 years...I don't need everything spelled out for me. Sometimes clients send me very detailed descriptions when a few lines would work just as well. If you are client/sponsor, ask your developer how much detail they need to get the job done. Odds are, its much less than you thought.

However, I do follow the "enough is just enough" rule: Allow the developer, designer and sponsor to create enough content to make them feel comfortable - so that everyone has the same expectations. If the designer wants to create highly detailed pages, even though you the developer don't need it, that's fine. If the sponsor wants a detailed description of every interaction, give it to them. Every project, sponsor, developer and designer is different. How much detail is enough to get going? Just enough...

So what about templates and files? The format doesn't matter as long as it works for everyone involved. You can create your storyboards in:

• MS Word
• Storyboarder Pro - for a fee, but free to try
• eLearning Storyboard from Dr. Thomas Welsh
• Free Storyboarding Template by Mark
• MS PowerPoint
• Free PowerPoint Storyboard Template from toolbookdeveloper.com
• The Future Story(board) of PowerPoint - PPT link by Cliff Atkinson

And, for additional thought, I found this article on Implementing eLearning Templates on the Discovery Through ELearning blog of Tracy Hamilton.

Good luck. Have fun. Remember that the storyboard is there to help, not hinder, guide, not dictate. Whatever way you decide to get your content down on paper is going to work best, as long as it contains enough information for all parties involved.