Analysis

The Analysis phase is the most critical part of the process, and unfortunately, is often skipped. Conducting a thorough analysis up front will ultimately save time, money, and a lot of headaches. An Analysis answers questions such as:

• Who is the audience?
• What do they need to know?
• What are the gaps between what the learners need to know and the desired outcomes?
• What are the project constraints?
• What is the scope of the content?
• What is the availability of the subject matter expert?
• What’s possible from a technology standpoint? What’s not possible?

Design

In the Design phase, learning objectives are written and instructional strategies that will teach these objectives are designed. The interface and navigation is also designed. “Scripts” or “design documents” are written that describe each screen in detail, including the content, the interactivity, and all of the assets (graphics, video, audio, animations, etc.). Content reviews are conducted at this phase.

Development

In the Development phase, the course is programmed. Discussions with the programmer should have been completed during the Analysis phase to decide which technology will be used to build the course.

Implementation

In the Implementation phase, the course is distributed to the learners (for example, uploaded to a server and made “live”). It is very important to leave enough time for testing at this phase.

Evaluation

In the Evaluation phase, the effectiveness of the course is measured. There are two kinds of evaluation: formative and summative. Formative is conducted throughout the life of the project and often includes pilot tests and content reviews. Summative evaluation is conducted at the end of a project and often includes assessments such as online surveys.