Rapid Course Development

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Let’s say you are in a situation where you don’t have much time to develop an online course. Or perhaps there is basically no budget, but the course must be produced anyway. These are some of the realities of the course designer.

The following approach assumes you have one of the programs that convert PowerPoint to a Flash format, such as Articulate Presenter. With this type of software, you can quickly do all the work in PowerPoint and the program will compress and convert the slides so they can be viewed in a browser.

Seven Steps

1. Gather the Content. Got your content in scattered documents or in the head of a SME? Get that content into a usable and organized form as quickly as possible.
2. Identify Actions and Knowledge. Get familiar with the content and identify what your learners will need to do and/or know. The key actions and/or content areas will be your main topics or lessons.
3. Organize the Course. Using PowerPoint, make your template slides first. Then insert around ten slides. Create all the topics or lessons you will need by titling these slides appropriately. You’ve just finished your course outline. At the beginning, add the course title and a slide for a motivating opener.
4. Write. Write the text of the course directly into the PowerPoint slides, inserting more slides as needed. If you will not use audio, be sure to write in full sentences to provide context. Some bullets are fine, but learners can’t understand an isolated list of bullets. If you will be recording audio, write the script in the Notes section (this will be recorded later) and add bulleted text tied to the audio in the slide.
5. Add Graphics. Insert or create graphics that will promote learning and graphics that will enhance the aesthetics. The first facilitates comprehension; the second creates an emotional connection and motivates.
6. Record audio. Most rapid development tools allow you to record audio directly into the program. Find someone with a great voice to read the script in the Notes section. Sync the bullets and graphics to the audio if you have time.
7. Test, test, test. Publish your course, then test it and revise. Continue to test even when you can’t stand to go through it one more time.

What’s missing?

The rapid approach may not give you the needed time to think about how to motivate and connect with the audience. It doesn’t give you time to think about the type of learning that will occur and what types of interactions will facilitate learning. But it will get the job done.