Storyboards are visual or text outlines that can be used for planning your online training using Lectora® e-Learning software. Think of your e-Learning content in terms of screens. Each screen (page or slide) usually comprises elements such as a title, graphics, bullet points and narration that convey part of your training message. Storyboarding is the development of the full series of screens, or sometimes a script if your client prefers the text approach. Storyboards are a great way to save development time and plan how you will bring your course to life.
Who invented storyboarding?
Storyboarding was first used in the early 1930s, when a Walt Disney Studio animator drew scenes on separate sheets of paper and pinned them up on a bulletin board to tell a story in sequence. The first complete storyboards were created to plan the 1993 Disney short film, Three Little Pigs.
How do you storyboard? Check out these tips:
1. Create learning objectives.
Make sure your storyboard is addressing your learning objectives! Know why you are creating the course and what outcome you want. Decide the main points that your course should cover, and write those down as guidelines. For tips on writing learning objectives, check out this blog post: 4 Tips for Creating Effective e-Learning Objectives for Yourself.
2. Schedule development and gather content.
Be realistic about what you plan to include in your e-Learning course. Multimedia like video or interactive scenarios can demand a lot more time and cost than you anticipate. Gather all your resources, included content provided by your subject matter expert (SME). Storyboarding can help you decide what you have time for and what you don’t, so you can focus on the priorities.
3. Get your SME’s approval.
Storyboarding is a great way to get your SME involved in the development process. It also saves revision time when you ask for his or her feedback on a storyboard before creating the whole course. Here’s a great blog to help with SME communication: Working with Subject Matter Experts.
It’s easy to storyboard and create your e-Learning course in an authoring tool like Lectora Inspire. Get a free 30-day trial, and start storyboarding today.
