Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed

Instructional Designer & Consultant

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Surviving the Revision Apocalypse

A fellow community member (Hey, Adam!) posted an interesting infographic for Surviving the E-Learning Revision Apocalypse over at e-learning heroes, and it made my day and struck a chord, so I thought it might be a good time to discuss what you can do to make your revisions go as smoothly (and cost-effectively) as possible! There were so many great points that they honestly bear repeating.

Everyone (regardless of your profession) has likely encountered the dreaded revision cycle or has come to a point of project rework. This can be a painful experience, but you need to set yourself up for success. As the infographic indicates, the number one way to ensure you don’t get caught up in endless revisions is to dictate and define your revision scope. Some individuals dictate which types of revisions are included and which are out of scope; however, I find it easiest to dictate a revision limit and outline the associated daily rate for each additional set of revisions. For me, this has worked well – clients generally get the brunt of their revisions worked out in the first iteration of their review, and while they may not balk at the daily rate for additional revisions, it usually keeps them within scope and reality. Let’s face it – without defining the terms of your revisions, you may get locked into an entire project re-development – who knows! It sounds scary and I don’t like it, so I cover my butt and you should too!

Another essential element within your contract should be to outline the revision deadlines and how they are to be communicated to you. Time and again I have had multiple reviewers look at a project and send 487932423 different documents outlining their revisions. The last thing you want to do is be faced with consolidating those revisions. This will yield a lot of work and likely a lot of redundancy between reviewers. What I like to do is provide my clients with a change log; here they are able to track all of the necessary revisions in one place – all neat and tidy. Then come revision time, I don’t feel compelled to bang my head repeatedly off my keyboard (or maybe I just do this less, depending on the revisions required).

Thoroughly review all deliverables. I cannot stress this enough – it’s going to save you a lot of time and headache AND it makes you look more professional. Sometimes it can be really hard to review our own work, especially when you’ve been looking at one document or project for so long – you may need a fresh set of eyes. In this case, I recommend having someone you trust give it the once over for basics like spelling and grammar…or if you don’t have that luxury, close the project, refresh your mind, and review a few hours later.

If there are multiple members on a project, ensure there is a clearly defined team lead; after reviewing your work, it should be submitted to the team lead for their input. All team members will submit their work to the team lead, and this will ensure consistency in look and feel. Once revisions come rolling in, it is important for the team to have a meeting to discuss all comments. It has been my experience working on teams that a reviewer may comment on one element in one place and expect a global change. Without meeting to discuss these ‘global changes’, there will inevitably be more revisions down the line. And you might cry. And your project manager might whine about deadlines and resources. No one wants either of those things, so please…go forth and meet with the minds. Share now or cry later.

Last but not least (and to reiterate my first point), be aware of project scope. Be very aware. If it is the one thing you do 150%, be cognizant of your project scope. Clients like to ask for things, and I want a pony, but I’m not getting one. I’ll liken scope creep to the difference between feeding a 38lb border collie and feeding a 150lb Bernese mountain dog. Today I went to pick up pet food; there was a Bernese mountain dog (and its owner) in the store. On the counter, there was the Bernese mountain dog’s food – 6 raw ‘medallions’ 1lb each with a price tag of 56 bucks on it, and when I asked how many feedings that was, the response was “well, we only give her one a day”…okay so 6 days at 56 bucks…We pay 27 bucks for 2.5 weeks of food for our 38lb border collie. MUCH more cost effective. Ashley – Where the hell are you going with this? Well – your client may be paying to feed the border collie (e.g. what they agreed to pay you), but come revision time, they ask you to feed the Bernese mountain dog (e.g. scope creep). DO NOT FEED THE BERNESE MOUNTAIN DOG! If you do, you will lose a lot of your profits.

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Terminology Tuesday: Chunking

This week, I’m going to discuss the term chunking, and how it plays into the world of what I would consider good Instructional Design.

Chunking is the process wherein complex information is broken down into smaller, more palatable pieces of information. I understand this verb could be used for something that occurs after a long night of drinking and I’d like to think that the outcome is similar. It’s a concept that came to existence in and around the 1950s when its inventor (George A. Miller) argued that our working memory can only do so much, and how true that is!

Like Miller, cognitive load theory dictates that the volume of information and interactions, of which the learner is presented, is directly correlated to feelings over being underloaded or overloaded. For example, compare a first year university intro class versus a fourth year university class – here you can easily see that the former is likely less of a workload versus the latter. Another great example is to think back to the days of Geocities and Angelfire (bonus points if you’re a kid of the 80s, whose formative years were in the 90s boy-band era) and ALL of the images that took forever to load on your 14.4k modem, the auto play midi background music and the marquee banners. Were you able to focus on the content? Probably not. Believe it or not, there are still a lot of educational sites that resemble this format…in 2014, but I digress.

Why Should I Care About Chunking?

As an Instructional Designer, educator, or even writer, it is CRITICAL to chunk material, especially if the goal is to have the end user retain information. Or maybe you’re a business owner or training and development coordinator transforming source materials (e.g. new hire training) into a larger presentation – while perhaps not your usual task, you must understand the importance.

Chunking information allows for enhanced retention, which will likely yield a more productive and efficient operation – your team will run like a (more) well-oiled machine if they can process the information presented in a meaningful way. If you just toss all of the information in one pot without creating smaller segments (or chunks), you’ll likely notice that your learners have become withdrawn from their tasks or seem to have forgotten all of the information you worked hard to present. Why? Well, cognitive load theory would indicate that your learners are overwhelmed and overloaded with information, and they just can’t process it effectively. This is bad when you need your target audience to recall the information for use at a later time.

Connie Malamed provides a great explanation of why content should be chunked. She explains the history behind the concept and identifies methods for chunking content, so please check it out if you need more information!

Basically, you can choose not to care about chunking your material, but don’t say you haven’t been warned. The goal to creating a successful learning experience should always be focused on the student and their ability to achieve your learning objectives, so please take the time to consider the concept of chunking further if you want to achieve optimal student achievement and satisfaction!

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Time-Lapse Demo: Very Basic Storyboard Template

I thought it time for a new feature; from here on out, I will try to reserve my Friday blog posts for time-lapse demos or tutorials. For the inaugural demo, I thought it best to keep things very simple – I was just getting the hang of stringing this stuff together and adding some fun audio (thank you, Pharrell!), so I am showing everyone how to create an incredibly basic storyboard template.

Most Instructional Designers create storyboards for a variety of reasons; maybe it’s one of your deliverables or maybe it just helps you organize your content before you begin rapid development. For me, I always storyboard – even if it isn’t required. It helps me with the layout of course content and I find it easier to pull the relevant information (e.g. audio narration) from a storyboard than having to develop it when I get to the audio recording (trust me – this makes a huge difference when you’re looking at recording 34832932 audio files for one course).

This time-lapse demo will be the first in a two part series – this is the type of storyboard template I would use in a non-deliverable, for my own personal content organization; next week I’ll go into a bit more detail, including cover-pages, multiple sections, page numbering, headers, and footers – hooray! The more detailed storyboard template is one that I would use for a client deliverable, and would encompass some more superfluous elements that are most often required in a formal deliverable.

I’m very excited about this feature because I would also like to show everyone how to create a detailed media task analysis, Articulate templates, and more! So, I hope you enjoy this new addition to the blog, and definitely stay tuned for more chances to watch me fumble my way through these videos (and hopefully provide some useful information along the way)!

Basic Storyboard Template from Ashley Chiasson on Vimeo.

You can download the document created within the video by clicking here.

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E-Learning Challenge #30: What Do E-Learning Designers Really Do?

This week’s challenge was a fun one! My submission didn’t really require a lot of design know how because I used the template provided; however, it was all about what people really think you do, in my case, as an Instructional Designer. I enjoyed this challenge as I am often met with curious looks when I try to explain exactly what it is that I do for a living.

The Concept

Attempt to create a graphical storyboard (of sorts), using the template provided, to explain what my husband, friends, mother, and colleagues think I do, and then compare that with what I think I do and what I actually do.

The Method

First, I downloaded the template and then I sought about consulting The Google to source some appropriate images.

I knew I would need some images to depict: boring presentation, confusion, rocket science, juggling, sleeping on the job, and coffee. Those were my jumping off points.

My husband always explains my job to his coworkers as “you know those boring presentations HR makes us watch? Ashley makes those.” Not accurate, but relatable.

My friends seem to have no idea what it is that I do, and I would liken their glazed looks (when trying to explain it to them) to Charlie Brown listening to his teacher ‘wah wah wah’ at her students.

My mother more or less thinks I’m a rocket scientist, and I have to admit that I sometimes feel like one!

My colleagues probably think I’m taking cat naps (or sourcing cat images) on the job – I must admit, sometimes the content is D-R-Y.

I think I spend most of my time juggling all of the different tasks required of me. Even e-learning companies can’t seem to really nail down what Instructional Designers do – I’ve worked for companies who have micro-tasked everything (one person for each task), and those that have combined everything into one role with impossible deadlines. I’m more accustomed to the latter.

What I actually do can be summed up in one sentence: I drink A LOT of coffee. Really – it’s bordering on addiction. But whatever gets you through the day, right?

The Result

What_I_Do

Terminology Tuesday: Asynchronous versus Synchronous Learning

We’re back with another terminology Tuesday, and today we’re going to discuss the differences between the terms asynchronous and synchronous learning – hold on to your hats!

Within the e-learning industry you may hear the terms ‘asynchronous’ and ‘synchronous’ tossed around willy nilly; however, these terms can be easily confused. I don’t want you to use these terms interchangeably or sound unprofessional mixing them up, so I thought I would provide a little bit of clarity. Here we go!

Asynchronous Learning

When we refer to asynchronous learning, we’re referring to a student-centred learning model based on constructivist principles. Here, content is presented, and students learn the material in a self-paced manner; learning is often facilitated by an instructor, but the network of learners will engage within asynchronous interactions, such as discussion boards, to share information on the subject matter and build on one another’s knowledge – therefore constructing more knowledge or greater understanding of the subject matter.

Basically, asynchronous learning can occur at any time – students can pop in and out of the learning environment whenever they choose, interacting with other students as they see fit. The obvious benefit to asynchronous learning is that the learning does not need to occur in real-time; another benefit is that the pedagogy behind asynchronous learning recognizes an individual’s prior learning and seeks to build upon it through interactions with other students, the course facilitator or instructor, and the materials.

Synchronous Learning

Synchronous learning occurs in real-time and involves all students learning and the same time. This is how we experience traditional classroom education.

In recent years, technology has allowed for collaboration between synchronous and asynchronous learning, creating blended learning environments. For example, an instructor may offer a standing face-to-face lecture, but may choose to leverage technology (e.g. Blackboard Collaborate or Adobe Connect) to allow students to attend the course without having to be at the physical location where the face-to-face course is being offered. Essentially, the instructor would stream their lecture, in real-time, allowing students to participate at a distance or within the face-to-face environment.

But How Do I Remember These Differences?!

Because asynchronous learning is of the constructivist kind, the mnemonic I use to remember the difference is to remember that I am constructing upon a previously developed term – ‘synchronous’ by adding the prefix of ‘a’.

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How to Design an Innovative Course

Last week I stumbled upon an interesting article, on Contact North’s website, titled How to Design an Innovative Course. I have to admit that initially my interest was piqued because the term “innovative” has been a buzz word in the e-learning industry for many moons, so I wasn’t sure if I would buy into the “innovation” the article was proposing or whether it would be just another article peddling non-innovative innovation. However, the article was posted by Contact North, and I respect Contact North, so I gave it a read, applying it to online courses in particular.

I quickly found myself nodding at my computer monitor – doing something differently ISN’T innovative (most times). Working within higher education, I find that faculty members often have a hard time wrapping their head around how they could possibly deliver their courses online, and a lot of these faculty members end up recording video lectures or podcasts of their lectures, uploading them to the Learning Management System (LMS), and call it a day. While these resources are certainly valuable, especially when you consider different learning styles and the fact that many distance students would prefer a face-to-face format, but are unable to physically attend classes, these resources are definitely not innovative. In these cases, I like to push faculty members (some are more receptive than others) to challenge their teaching preference and to step outside of the box to consider alternative approaches to presenting their subject matter.

Reading further, I continued nodding. “In particular innovative teaching should result in solving some challenge or problem you are facing.” (2014) – YES! It’s not particularly innovative to just throw a course on the internet and call it done! If the issue is that you are unable to interact with students regularly – maybe you need to research the technology further to see how you might be able to leverage forum posting or Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) communication sessions. Maybe you need to adjust your course outline; for example, if you grade for participation – maybe indicate within your course outline that students must post one original thought of X number of words and respond to at least X number of their peers in X number of words. Dictating this will ensure that your students don’t just do the minimum of “great post!” and consider that their participation. This could also save you a lot of headache at the end of the semester if students decide to challenge their participation grade.

Often times, faculty members may be intimidated by technology or feel as though they are limited in their abilities because  of the technology they’re required to use. However, this is where individuals must be open to changing their way of thinking. Instead of thinking that technology is a hinderance (because it doesn’t always work or because of X, Y, Z reasons), individuals must instead think of ways in which they can make the technology work for them. If you don’t know, ask! If you’re too afraid to ask, research! There’s a whole technology (the world wide web) out there to answer any question you might have. Just don’t be part of the resistance or your students are the ones who stand to lose.

In my opinion, if you want to design an innovative course, you need to understand the problems that exist within your other courses (or someone else’s) and then challenge these problems by thinking outside of the box. Maybe you want to include relevant videos… or do dramatic readings or course material… or create interactive pieces (e.g. flash files)… or leverage aspects of your LMS that are seldom used (e.g. databases for students to upload information to and comment on other student uploads). Perhaps you want to create a more collaborative approach to learning the material (popular in graduate studies)…whatever you want to do, you need to first understand the problem, and then go out of your way to address the problem in a creative way.

Once you’ve developed and delivered your course. You can conduct student surveys and collect valuable information that may tell you what did and didn’t work, and then you can adjust your course accordingly. And most importantly, if the innovations you’ve made are deemed successful, SHOW IT OFF! Faculty members like to see what other faculty members are doing; there’s no point in being shy or modest about it. If you’ve done something cool that your students are loving, present it to your colleagues, and maybe your course will become a jumping off point for other faculty members! Pave the way.

Now go forth and innovate!

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