Developing an elearning Plan - Part I

Do I really need a plan to develop elearning? Yes! You need a plan.
Once the decision has been made to develop elearning the next question becomes, now what?
If your organization is ready to develop elearning either internally or with an outsourced vendor, this decision can seem daunting. However, if you understand the foundation from which elearning is designed, you’ll be on your way to planning a successful project.
There are several components that should be in place before starting elearning development. Also, you want to ensure the organization and learners are ready for elearning. Additionally, you need to identify what success looks like for elearning at your organization. This means recognizing the challenges elearning responds to and determining the goals of the program.
The following categories outline what needs to be lined up to support a successful project.
Organizational
Determine project size and scope
Determine budget needs and availability
Create project schedule based on delivery date
Align organizational needs with elearning outcomes
Resources
Ensure available IT support
LMS requirement
Help Desk
Identify other resources and availability
Leadership
Identify project stakeholders
Confirm senior leadership commitment
Identify additional review team (communications, legal)
Determine final decision maker
Content
Outline expected learning objectives and outcomes
Align to learner needs and business goals
Create evaluation process for post program delivery
Phases of eLearning Development
After the preplanning phase is completed, with all organizational and logistical requirements in place, and success criteria clearly documented, you are ready to begin development.
The ADDIE Model serves as a good starting point to understand how to evaluate business and learning needs for elearning programs. However, there is room for flexibility and variation within it. Listed here are five phases of elearning development with a follow-up evaluation phase. This provides some additional detail to ADDIE.
Analysis and Planning
Project schedule and milestones
Identify all players on the team
Identify and document project requirements - including project goals
Determine look and feel and type of graphics
High-level content design
Develop hierarchy of content with learning objectives
Identify target audience
Subject matter review and stakeholder approval
Script development
Create full text of course content
Subject matter review and stakeholder approval
Assessment of technical infrastructure and program needs
Design
Storyboard development
Graphic and animation design
Subject matter review and stakeholder approval
Development
Course development in authoring environment
Subject matter review and stakeholder approval
Quality Assurance and testing (may be considered part of development as it works closely and concurrently to it.)
Delivery and deployment (implementation)
Evaluation
Developing a Project Schedule
In order to create a realistic development schedule for an elearning project, you should work backwards from the desired completion date. A determination of when the training program must be “live” establishes the length of the development process, ensuring all of the above steps are addressed.
Project Kick-off
A project kick-off meeting is the official start of a project. Included in this meeting is the development team and identified stakeholders. At this meeting the following is completed:
The project schedule is shared.
The project size and scope is addressed.
Clear expectations of the final deliverable are established.
Stakeholders are brought onboard and up-to-speed on the project.
Identified risk factors are addressed and unknown potential risks discussed.
Following the kick-off meeting, the high-level design phase begins, followed by the QA, review and approval processes.
Part II of this post will address common risks and challenges, the role of the project manager and the value of developing an elearning plan.
If you need support in creating an elearning plan or understanding the elearning development process, please email rkustoff@knowledgeadvantage.biz