Mary Ly-Nguyen - Design Documents: The Essential Pre-Work

Mapping it out with design documents

Have you ever planned a road trip without a map? You may risk getting loss, waste time finding a good restaurant or have trouble finding a good place to sleep. It doesn’t sound like a good idea, right? Well, it is similar to designing a course without a design document. Although I have little experience with creating design document templates or writing instructional design documentation; however, I understand that they are essential for successfully putting your eLearning project together.

Infographic highlighting five key components of a design document template.

What is a design document?

A design document is a preparation tool for creating and delivering an effective eLearning development course. It supports your design process with organization and clarity. It can be elaborate and detailed or simple and minimal. There is no existing rule on how to format or write them, but there are some basic rules you can adhere to [3]. Applying the following five elements in your design document will help you develop and deliver effective eLearning courses.

Five components:

Topics
- Generate a list of all the topics you plan to cover within the course.
Audience
- Define your audience.
- Do background research on the characteristics of your learners including education and work experience, prior knowledge and motivation level.
Learning Objectives
- Craft clear and relevant learning objectives that are applicable to the learners’ backgrounds.
Modality
- Select a suitable modality to deliver your eLearning project.
Measurement
- Determine the mode of assessment for your learner.

Strategizing with the team

An eLearning project commonly involves working with a team. The tasks and processes that we adopt within our personal styles may conflict, so it is essential that all members work together to agree on an approach that is consistent with the needs and wants of the team. This can be accomplished by writing an instructional design documentation. Using a comprehensive design documentation as a guiding framework for your eLearning project can help you avert project issues while supporting your team by [2]:

Uniting the team’s vision and aligning the team’s goals
Employing approaches that are based on grounded research and evidence
Clarifying the key details with the interface, navigation, interactions, and assessments.
Maintaining consistency for the duration of the project
Preventing deviations, disruptions, and disagreements
Eliminating confusion and anxieties
Reducing time, cost, and stress

Digging into the process

Let’s take a closer look of the different components of design document templates and documentation using the Beta Blue Facilities’ orientation module as an example [1].

Beta Blue Facilities

The course topic

- This is a general orientation for newly hired employees. They will be learning about the organization’s facilities and resources available to them.
- The course is divided into different sections:
  - - Facilities team
    - Office floor plan
    - Receiving mail
    - Building security
    - Bicycle storage
    - Parking
    - Kitchen use
    - Pet policy
    - Knowledge check

The relevant characteristics of the target learner audience

- - The target audience are new employees hired by the organization with the following characteristics:
    - Have at minimum a basic level of computer skills
    - Proficient in English language
    - Lack experience in the workplace
    - Motivated to learn more about their new place of employment and to apply the new knowledge to their role or work
    - Fulfilling a requirement within the first few days or weeks of employment

The knowledge and/or skill type(s)

- New hires will have little to zero prior knowledge of the organization.
- Prior knowledge and skill are not a requirement for completing the course.

The learning domain(s)

- This is a compliance learning domain (policies and procedures).

The assessment method(s)

- A brief knowledge check is given at the end of the course. The quiz is set up in the style of multiple-choice questions.
- Feedback is provided immediately upon selecting a correct or incorrect answer.
- The quiz is primarily a tool to assess learners’ understanding of the material and content of the course.
- Learners have the option to take the quiz multiple times if needed.

The trigger event(s)

- This is a generic start course. There is not a scenario-based event that involves the learner to make decisions actively. Instead, the participant is receiving and learning new information and assumes a more passive role.

The guidance technique(s)

- A learner can easily navigate the module with the user-friendly interface and navigation design. After each section, the learner can click on the “next lesson” link. This allows learners to follow an order throughout the module; however, the navigation menu also allows for the learner to go back and review any topic at any time.
- Interface
  - Simple and intuitive
- Navigation
  - A hamburger menu that provides flexibility for the learner to click through topics at any time
  - Labeled buttons/links
  - Click to reveal interaction
- On-screen response
  - Closed response options via the knowledge check
- Feedback
  - Whether the learner selects a correct or incorrect answer, they will be given feedback with an explanation of their selected answer

The advisor type(s)

- While the feedback provides some guidance to the learner, there s no virtual coach that provides on-screen guidance.

References

[1] Goldthorpe, A. (n.d.). Beta blue facilities. Goldthorpe Learning Solutions. https://allisongoldthorpe.com/wp-content/uploads/articulate_uploads/153-_Blue_Beta_Facilities_Orientation.

[2] Omer, A.H. (2016, November 12). An outline for creating an instructional design document. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/outline-creating-instructional-design-document.

[3] Slade, Tim. (2021, August 12). How to create an instructional design document. eLearning Academy. https://elearningacademy.io/blog/how-to-create-an-instructional-design-document/

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse