Beginners’ Guide: 7 steps to follow when creating an eLearning course

This short guide is not meant to be an all-encompassing step by step process, but it will help you get started in the brainstorming process required at the beginning of the creation of each eLearning course.

Since the first time the term eLearning was coined in 1999 by Elliot Masie, its use as a standard for training has grown exponentially. In times of a pandemic, it is the only solution to provide skills safely to employees.

You have decided to move from traditional instructor led training to eLearning. Now, these are some of the questions you have to answer before starting the development or transformation of your course into eLearning.

1. What problem or challenge is this course going to overcome? In other words, what do you want your students to come out with, after taking the course?
If you think eLearning is just taking your PPT and put some interactions in the middle, you should think again. Self-paced learning requires careful planning, and the first step is to define what the students MUST have learned after taking the course.

2. Do you know your audience? Are your students used to eLearning and computer savvy enough to be able to handle the technical challenges? In other words, is your audience suitable to learning in a self-pace interactive course or should you think about alternatives like an online webinar, for example?

What’s next?

3. Create a storyboard of your content. Having a visual outline helps organize all elements into the final design.

4. Where are you going to store this eLearning course? Do you want to test students at the end and make training decisions based on the outcome? It is a good idea to learn what LMS (Learning Management System) is best for you. There are simple solutions available that are free for beginners but you want to make sure it serves your needs. There is not one tool that works for everybody.

5. Build a prototype. This will provide you the functionality of the entire course; it may take you multiple versions to find out what finally works right.

6. Create the course. Now that your prototype has been approved, it is time to start designing the actual course. ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND THE ORIGINAL LEARNING OBJECTIVES.

7. Publish. Promote. Evaluate.

Keep in mind all of these steps and there will be less frustrations and costs in designing your eLearning course.