How to Storyboard an eLearning Tutorial

There are many programs for creating eLearning tutorials–from Camtasia to Captivate to Flash. However, no matter what method you use, every quality eLearning tutorial begins with a thorough storyboard. Storyboarding allows the author of the eLearning tutorial to plan, screen-by-screen, the text, images and interactive media that will constitute the entire learning experience for the tutorial student.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer program for storyboarding
• Images, video and sounds for eLearning tutorial

1. Decide on the program you'd like to use for storyboarding. There are many programs to choose from, such as Freehand, Fireworks, InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop. However, storyboards can also be created in basic programs that most computers already have installed, like PowerPoint and Word. Some even prefer the basic pencil and paper method, although this way would definitely be more time-consuming.

2. Outline the main lessons of the tutorial first, then add the steps necessary to accomplish each lesson.

3. Visualize how each lesson and its connected steps will be communicated, screen-by-screen, in the tutorial.

4. Write the storyboard in a screen-by-screen format, including notes on required images, sound, or video per screen. Label each screen prominently for easy access and editing. For example, "Section 1, Screen 4."

5. Demarcate the type of text you'll be using per screen, such as text that appears on its own, text in a call-out box that refers to something on a screen capture, or text that commands the user to interact with the tutorial by typing into a field or clicking on a button. Using different font labels ("VO" for "Voice Over"), styles or colors is an easy way to distinguish different types of text.

6. Describe the video or images to be used per screen, such as "mountain range that fades to white," or "encyclopedias on library shelf."

7. Gather all required images, sounds, and video before creating the eLearning tutorial in the chosen program.

Tips & Warnings

• Watching other eLearning tutorials will give you many ideas about how to create your own.
• Storyboarder Pro is eLearning software used for enhancing the storyboarding experience in Microsoft Word.

[Beveronius]

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