Tools for Structuring and Building Content
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Storyboarding involves creating a visual plan for your course.
In a storyboard, you lay out each screen and interaction to ensure a smooth and engaging learning experience.
Microsoft Word and Google Docs are great for creating simple, text-based storyboards. They allow you to outline each screen's content, interactions, and media elements in a linear format, making it easy to share and collaborate with your team.
Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides are excellent for more visual storyboards. You can create slides that represent each screen of your eLearning course, including text, images, and placeholders for interactions.
All four of these online tools are free to use. However, the Microsoft desktop suite requires a subscription.
In lieu of storyboarding, you can create wireframes directly in Articulate Storyline to see a rough layout of your course before finalizing your project.
While many instructional design models use storyboarding, you may choose to skip it in lieu of detailed outlines or rapid prototyping. Nonetheless, it is important to understand how to craft and decipher a storyboard so that you can use these skills if the situations calls for it. The nice thing is, many tools can be used for storyboarding, and you probably already have access to at least one of them.
EXAMINE SCENARIOS FOR USE
When would these tools be used in learning and development?
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Use Microsoft Word to draft a storyboard for an interactive eLearning module on environmental science. The storyboard will outline the flow and structure of the module content as well as provide notes on slide visuals and interactions.
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Use Microsoft PowerPoint to develop a visual storyboard for an online course on art history. The slides will include mockups of each slide and notes on the narration, transitions, and slide interactions.
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Use Articulate Storyline 360 to create a wireframe for a crisis management training course, featuring branching scenarios. The wireframe will outline various decision points and outcomes, allowing the instructional designer to map out the branches of the scenario before building the eLearning module.
REFLECT ON WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED
Reflect
How can storyboarding assist the design process?
How might storyboarding impede the instructional design process?