Turn Training Text Into Engaging Learning Modules

Matthew Zellner

Starting at

800

/wk

About this service

Summary

Every company has training needs. Why not turn that text into engaging learning modules? Incorporating a professional background in education and instructional design with an undergrad degree and lifelong interest in intercultural studies, I am ready to provide your company the ramp and build the steps from where a challenge appears now up to its training-based solution.

Process

Initial Meeting: Discuss the performance challenge and related training needs for your company along with contextual information, such as current knowledge base of the trainees, learning environment, and other helpful details.

Devising Objectives: One to five objectives, depending on the complexity of the task(s), are developed and sent for signoff approval.

Developing a Storyboard: Particulars of the training are discussed at depth, potentially including company SMEs, to ascertain the scope and sequence of a computer-based training solution. This information is then used to develop a storyboard that, after its signoff approval, will serve as the basis for designing training slides and activities.

Completed Training Module: A learning management system (LMS)-compatible training module, also called a reusable learning object (RLO), becomes the final product for the synchronous* or asynchronous computer-based training. *Synchronous CBT may include a facilitator guide designed for instructor-to-trainee interactions and leading sessions.

FAQs

How will it take to deliver the training product(s)?
This depends on the particulars of the training needed. Narrow goals may consist of only one objective and a few slides that can be produced in a week or two. Wider goals, with many components or consisting of complex subject matter, may take multiple months. This would be discussed during the initial meeting.
Can I port PowerPoint training into the slides?
tl;dr - Technically yes, but it's not ideal and can lead to suboptimal results. While older authoring tools, such as Adobe Captivate Classic or iSpring Suite, transitioned PowerPoint slides to their software fairly seamlessly, modern platforms may have difficulty converting fonts and image placement exactly. In order to build interactive elements and translate current training most effectively into an RLO, I would recommend your providing me assets (images, sounds, text, etc.) from the current training material to recreate or renovate the PowerPoint slides rather than copy them over one-to-one. This allows for a better overall product.
What sorts of interactive learning activities might training include?
Effective learning involves more than reading or rote memorization. Thus, learning modules can have gamified or animated elements within quizzes, buttons that open up various infographics, soundbytes and branching stories that reflect relatable trainee scenarios. The more interesting one finds the training to be, the better outcomes the training will produce.

What's included

Clearly Defined Objectives
After collecting and analyzing data about your company's trainees, their tasks, and possible challenges, I will discuss with your company's SMEs what key performance indicators can be improved. From there, a few precise objectives will be devised for use in training, aiming to optimize and evaluate outcomes.
Course Storyboard
With objectives in place, a PowerPoint-based storyboard will be designed to lay the groundwork for an interactive training module based upon your company's needs and desired styling. At this level, the color scheme, sorts of knowledge checks and learner activities, number of total slides, kinds of multimedia, and other considerations are established.
Facilitator Guide (for synchronous computer-based training)
As an option, if the planned computer-based training (CBT) will be delivered via an instructor, a facilitator guide can be drawn up to assist this person in leading the training sessions for individuals or groups of staff members. This would include introductory and background material intended to be conveyed to the trainees as well as directions for the instructor(s) to implement various module activities.
Learning Management System-Ready Training Module
Ready to be slotted into your company's LMS, a computer-based training module will be built and tested. This will serve as a means to address the original objectives by providing awareness, evaluation, and engagement regarding the performance or knowledge targets.

Example projects