DITeLearning/Storyboard

Home | Learning Theories | Instructional Design | ePortfolio | Storyboard | Wiki Analysis | Communication Tools | Resources Analysis | Group Work | Teaching Philosophy | Accessibility | Evaluation | Glossary

Introduction
The first procedure, before you start your learning object is to elaborate a storyboard. Through this useful tool you are organizing your ideas in relation to the project and at the same time filling the first ADDIE Model's phase called Analyse.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this chapter the learner will be able to:
 * 1) Understand the relevance to build a storyboard.
 * 2) Understand how to construct a storyboard.
 * 3) Understand which the main characteristics in a storyboard.



We would appreciate if you give us your contribution in this project. If you have any query, suggestion or feedback, don't hesitate to contact us sending a message to our email: wikiresourcesgroup@gmail.com

Instructional Design Storyboards
Storyboarding is a method which was developed for use in film and animation and it is now also used for designing educational packages. In film, storyboards are developed before the movie starts filming and are used to help plan how each scene will look and what the key elements of the scene will be. The principal behind storyboards is the same for developing learning packages, except in most cases the storyboard looks less like a comic strip and contains more text. The storyboard defines structure of the package, page by page (or in the case of face- to-face teaching each panel could represent an activity). For each page, you need a fairly detailed description of what will go on that page. Practice varies from place to place, but some people will put the final text of the page into their storyboard while others will write a summary of what will go on the page; the choice is yours. The storyboard should include details of any images, interactions or other media that will be used in each page. This will either refer to an existing resource or describe what the resource will be. If someone else is going to be developing the resources, make sure you give them a good enough description to allow them to do this. Try not to have too many pages of just text; this would be quite boring for your learners. When developing your storyboard think about:
 * What do you want your learners to learn?
 * What skills do you want them to develop?
 * How can this package meet these needs?
 * What kind of activities would help?

The creation of a new learning package in a more formal manner allow educators more reflection about their current methods of teaching. In practice, storyboards are dynamic documents, and you will probably need to review them during the actual development of your package. This is quite normal; in fact, it is very rare for storyboards to remain static throughout the development of learning packages.

Watch here a short explanation by film-makers about storyboards.

Create a Content Outline
The high level objectives are the backbone of a storyboard creation. The high level objectives allow you to decide the number of lessons, topics and sub–topics the course can be broken down into. These objectives also allow you to decide what the approach within the topics would be. After defining the high level learning objectives, it is important to break the objectives into definite content outlines. Once the high-level learning objectives are in place, the outline of the course can be defined.

Read here an interesting article about the use of storyboard in education environment.

Visualize the course
Once the content outline is in place, it is time to visualize how the course should be. Content plays an important role in a course and it needs to be supported appropriately by use of relevant graphics. Graphics consist of static images, illustrations or animations that support the content. Never use a graphic element just to use up space. The graphic should be a visual representative of the content that you are explaining. While visualizing the placement of graphics in a course, it is by default that the graphics are placed on the left side of the screen and the corresponding content is displayed on the right side of the screen. This is for the easy readability factor.
 * Tip: For complex courses, it always advisable for the Instructional Designer to visualize the screens with the graphic designer, in order to achieve the desired result.

Use Interactive Elements
You are bound to lose the interest of a learner, if your course is devoid of any interactivity. Active involvement of the learner by the use of interactive elements and in-line assessments will hold the learners interest in the course. Roll-overs, click-and-reveal, multiple tabs can be different ways of representing content and graphics in the same space. Create scenarios if you would want to explain a situation to the learner. Similarly, if you are demonstrating a product that requires multiple steps to operate, create a simulation that will allow the learner to explore how that product works. These interactivities can be used depending on the complexity of a course that is being created.

Audio usage
When you use audio for a course, keep in mind that not all users may have an access to headphones or sound cards in their machine. Therefore, it is important that you do not cover any aspect in the audio that is not present on the screen. Keep in mind to retain important instructions and directions on-screen even if they are being narrated. For example: Click on the right posture a presenter needs to have while making a presentation. Avoid using a narration in in-line texts or assessments. They do not add any value in such screens. When describing simulations, it is always better to list the steps also apart from the narrations being used. In case there more than 15-20 steps involved to complete a simulation, it is better to have the steps listed down for an easy reference, rather than forcing the learner to click on the replay button.

Use assessments
Use assessments at regular intervals to test the learners instead of having a cluster of questions towards the end of the course. This helps to reinforce the information/ knowledge you are trying to impart to the learner, how well it is being processed & understood by the learner and most importantly it is also an indicator of how successful the course is. Ensure that the assessments are in tandem with your learning objectives you have defined at the start of the course.

Summarizing
Listed below are some additional tips to keep in mind while creating a storyboard in e-learning: (Pratibha G, 2009)
 * 1) Consider and advocate for the learner's point of view
 * 2) Be a learning expert, not a subject matter expert
 * 3) Create learning objectives that will allow the learner to take away an understanding from the course
 * 4) Ensure that the content maps to the learning objectives
 * 5) Ensure that the flow of learning objectives and content is logical
 * 6) Apply an instructional strategy
 * 7) Design the course appropriately
 * 8) Do not clutter the screen with an excessive use of graphics and content. The neater the screen, the better is design of the course and easier for the learner to understand the course.

See here a presentation about storyboards.

The WikiResources Group Storyboard
Our group decided, after many discussions and analysis about pros and cons, to present two kinds of storyboards. Firstly a common form built in Microsoft Power Point containing a series of steps until the last design about the project. Click here to access the Storyboard in Power Point presentation. An alternative way to create a storyboard was tried, called storybird, a experiment which we can create the storyboard as a story.

You can visualize the result of our experiment here.