Embedded Files
The following guidelines are for instructional scripting of storyboards:
The text of the script shall conform to English Language Standards.
The latest script template shall be used.
Storyboards shall be created for individual learning units.
While chunking page content, the following word-limits shall be considered: ILT page ≈ 300 words; CBT on-screen text ≈ 100 words; click pop-up text ≈ 15 – 50 words; rollover pop-up text ≈ 5 – 15 words.
The course login page shall have at least two fields: (a) user name (b) password, followed by a Submit button. If required, there shall also be a facility to request a user name and password from the course administrator. If Pre-Assessment is required, options to “Launch Pre-Assessment” and “Launch Course” shall be provided. This page shall not be loaded within the course GUI.
The course welcome page shall introduce the course avatar and then present the course title, module titles, lesson titles, and topic titles as a typographical animation, ending with an auto-transition to the next screen. This page shall always have a “Skip Intro” facility. This page shall be loaded within the course GUI, but all the interface buttons shall be disabled.
The starting instructions page shall typically present the following: welcome message to the course, course goal, learner prerequisites, brief description of the course structure, and recommendations for navigation. The supporting visual shall be a standard starting instructions graphic that is derived from the course avatar.
The module overview page shall present the module title, and feature a list of lessons within the module. The supporting graphic shall be a collage of lesson-representative images.
The lesson introduction page shall feature a list of learning objectives—mapping to each learning object (topic)—written at the correct Bloom’s level. The supporting visual shall be a standard lesson introduction graphic.
The lesson summary page shall mirror the lesson introduction page, and shall present the module title followed by the same list of learning objectives identified in the lesson introduction page. The supporting visual shall be a standard lesson summary graphic.
The module review page shall mirror the module overview page, and shall present the module title followed by the same list of lessons within the module. The supporting graphic shall be thumbnails of lesson-representative images, each of which are clickable. On clicking these thumbnails, the corresponding lesson summary, which summarizes each topic, shall be displayed.
The finishing instructions page shall mirror the starting instructions page, and shall present the following: congratulatory closing message, re-statement of the course goal, request for feedback on the learning experience, button that launches the “Course Feedback” form designed at Kirkpatrick level 1 (Learner Satisfaction), and lead-out to Exit or Post-Assessment. The supporting visual shall be a standard finishing instructions graphic that is derived from the course avatar.
The course conclusion page shall mirror the course welcome page, and shall present the course credits, copyright information, and de-construction of the course avatar as a typographical animation, ending with an auto-close of the program. This page shall always have a “Back” facility. This page shall be loaded within the course GUI, but all the interface buttons shall be disabled.
Learning objectives shall have end punctuations.
Textual content shall be presented as paragraphs, lists, and tables.
Imperative statements—statements starting with a verb—shall not be allowed, except for learning objectives, user instructions, and step lists.
Content paragraphs shall have at least two sentences, with about 15 – 20 words per sentence.
Single quotation marks shall not be used in online reading materials. Key words, if any, shall be placed within double-quotation marks.
While creating examples and scenarios, names of celebrities, authors, and characters from famous books or movies shall be avoided.
Bulleted lists shall be used only for an unordered series of items, concepts, or options; numbered lists are for procedures or other sequential events.
Vertical lists shall be written with the following considerations:
Stem to be constructed such that it reduces repetition of text in list items
Each list item to start with a capital letter and end without punctuation, unless they are complete sentences
Parallel construction for all items in the list
There shall be no orphaned lists—list items without a lead-in stem. Typically, each list item, read along with the stem, forms a complete sentence.
There shall not be two vertical lists on a page; list items shall not have sub-lists under them.
Abbreviations/ acronyms shall be spelt out for the first time when used in a learning unit, with the abbreviation/ acronym in parentheses. In subsequent references, only the abbreviation/ acronym shall suffice.
Tables shall have lead-ins, and row/ column headers.
There shall never be two separate user interactions on a single screen.
GUI-level interactivities shall not be specified as user instruction text. For example, “Click Next to continue” is not acceptable.
Content layering shall be limited to two levels—OST and first-level pop-ups. Second-level pop-ups shall be considered only when the layer opens on rollover or the layer content is just extra information. As a rule of thumb, second-level pop-ups are discouraged.
Sub-pages are disallowed.
Interactivity tactics shall be selected as per the following considerations:
Link interactivity, if all list items have pop-up content
Button interactivity, if all list items do not have pop-up content
Tab interactivity, if all list items have pop-up content and if there are large text passages and supporting graphics for each pop-up
Hotspot interactivity, if pop-up content is available for different components of a graphic
The following standardized instructions for user interactivity shall be preferred on content pages:
Click each link/ button/ tab to learn more.
Click each label/ highlighted area on the image to learn more.
Point to each label/ highlighted area on the image to learn more.
The link/ button/ tab/ label text shall be the title of the corresponding pop-up.
Pop-up text shall always start with the pop-up title weaved into the first sentence.
Demonstrations shall be written as follows:
Starting with blank slide having a central message: “In this demonstration, you will view how to <learning objective at Bloom level 3+>.”
Steps written as descriptive statements, not as instructions to the user for inputs. For example, “To display the Start menu, you click Start.”
Target hotspots in steps highlighted after presenting the descriptions
Ending with a blank slide having a central message: “In this demonstration, you viewed how to <learning objective at Bloom level 3+>.”
In step-lists, each instruction step shall be constructed as exemplified below:
Key words—button names, typed text, toolbar names, and dialog box names—to be bolded
Steps with only one interactivity to be written as, “To display the Start menu, you click Start.”
Steps with two interactivities to be written as, “To select Programs, you click Programs and then click Microsoft Word.”
Steps with a specific target for interactivity to be written as, “On the menu bar, you click File.”
Steps with a specific objective to be written as, “To open a new document, on the Standard toolbar, you click the New Blank Document icon.”
Step with an interactivity followed by a description of a result of the interactivity to be written as instruction and message separately, as “To open a new document, on the Standard toolbar, you click the New Blank Document icon.” followed by, “A new Microsoft Word document is opened.”—the description of the result to be presented after the result is displayed
Anthropomorphism—imparting human behaviors to applications—shall be avoided. For non-example, “A new Microsoft Word document displays.”
Graphics shall not be inserted into storyboards, but only detailed description of the graphics. Such descriptions shall be hand-drawn by the graphic artist per screen onto the visual storyboard during joint visualization with the storyboard writer.
Text in graphics shall be provided with the following considerations:
No titles for graphics, as they conflict with the screen title
Labels to be phrases of about 1 – 3 words, not sentences or clauses
Captions to be clauses of about 10 – 15 words (without an end punctuation)
While writing test items—both practices and assessments—each test item shall map to one or more learning objectives. As a rule of thumb, the number of questions in courseware shall be minimized.
Only the mainline content (OST, pop-ups, and visuals) on topic pages shall be tested, not the extra information (i.e., “Note”).
Each question and simulation shall directly relate to the learning objectives; no testing of trivial information.
Questions shall have user interactivity instructions standardized during design; no need to write them in the storyboard.
Conceptual practice questions shall have the following components:
Question Stem, which is an interrogative statement
Options List, which follows the rules of parallel construction and list items
Correct Answers, which are letters (for multiple choice) or combinations of letters and numerals (for matching list)
Feedback for correct response, which always starts with “Yes, that’s correct. …”
Feedback for incorrect response, which always starts with “No, that’s incorrect. …”
Procedural practice activities (guided simulations) shall be written as follows:
Starting with a blank slide having a central message: “In this guided simulation, you will practice how to <learning objective at Bloom level 3+>.”
Steps written as imperative statements, as instructions to the user for inputs and interactivities. For example, “To display the Start menu, click Start.”
Target hotspots in steps highlighted after presenting the instructions
No feedback for correct user inputs; auto-transition to the next step
Standard feedback for incorrect user inputs: “No, that’s incorrect. The correct action is performed for you.” Then, auto-transition to the next step (i.e., after 1st attempt)
Ending with a blank slide having a central message: “In this guided simulation, you practiced how to <learning objective at Bloom level 3+>.”
Conceptual assessment questions shall have the same components as that of conceptual practice questions, except for feedbacks.
Procedural assessment activities (unguided simulations) shall be written as follows:
Starting with a blank slide having a central message: “In this unguided simulation, you will be tested on how to <learning objective at Bloom level 3+>.”
Steps written as imperative statements, as instructions to the user for inputs and interactivities. For example, “To display the Start menu, click Start.”
Target hotspots not highlighted after presenting the instructions
No feedback for both correct and incorrect user inputs; no transition to the next step until the user inputs correctly (i.e., infinite attempts).
Ending with a blank slide having a central message: “Congratulations, you successfully completed this unguided simulation on how to <learning objective at Bloom level 3+>.”
Generally, for writing style, the Microsoft Style manual for Technical Publications (MSTP) shall be followed.
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