How it works
Each element on our storyboard toolbar is a separate custom AutoText entry (see Figure 3). By adding, removing, or modifying AutoText entries on the toolbar, we can easily customize a new template for a new client. Our instructional designers then use this template as the basis for creating storyboard documents for that client. The final product is a professional, well-formatted document easily understood by the client and the team.
Figure 3 Each element on this toolbar is an AutoText entry.
When an instructional designer launches our template, a new .doc file based on that template is automatically opened and the storyboard toolbar is available. With one click of a button on this toolbar, a designer can paste any element into a storyboard document. Standard text, instructions, and writing suggestions are included with many elements as performance support for the instructional designers. This helps our newer designers to learn from the template as they work, and reinforces our internal standards. For example, clicking “Lesson introduction” on our toolbar created everything shown in Figure 4. It includes, from top to bottom: placeholders for the storyboard number; the screen title; suggested text; a placeholder for a graphic; directions; a graphic representation of a hotspot; and the notes and pop-up text required to support the screen. They are all properly formatted and placed on the page. Once this element is pasted into the storyboard, the designer can quickly tailor the page to support the course content.
Managing on-screen text
Using the Word Count tool in Microsoft Word 2000 and the text length guidelines dictated by the user interface, we can ensure that we do not include too much text on a screen.
Managing comments and changes
The review cycle can easily become a bottleneck in the workflow if it is not well managed. We follow a rigorous internal document revision cycle (our own RWD InfoVision®) to maintain control of all document versions. In addition we can manage changes and comments within each version:
- Using the Track Changes tool in Microsoft Word, team members and clients can easily make changes to the storyboard. Instructional designers can use this feature to review and collate the additions, deletions, and changes made by others.
- Using the Comments feature in Microsoft® Word, specific storyboard discussion can take place with questions asked and answered in context and all discussion archived with each version of the storyboard.
Figure 4 This storyboard was created with a single mouse click.
The fruits of our labor
We found that including standard text and formats in the toolbar helps to speed up both the writing and the review processes. This proved critical when RWD began a large client engagement in early 2004. This project presented very challenging deadlines, a great deal of content to tackle, and some pretty stringent client requirements. As the project progressed, we knew we would have multiple project teams working in tandem with external contractors to develop multiple courses. All the courses would be part of one curriculum and had to be consistent in style and presentation.
By setting up the storyboard tool with the standard screens and on-screen elements that would be used across courses before writing commenced, we were able to better control the quality and consistency of the end product. We did have to add new elements to the toolbar as new design requirements came to light over the course of the project, but the main elements stayed the same. These additions were easy to make to the template. Once they were made (and reviewed by an editor), we simply redistributed the updated storyboard tool to the team.
When time is short: The Rapid Development Template
At RWD we also have a separate tool we call the “Rapid Development Template,” or RDT. Our RDT is a combination of a standard set of e-Learning presentation templates that are approved in advance by the client, and a storyboard format that mirrors those templates. We use the RDT in tandem with an already-developed user interface for client engagements where a challenging schedule and strict limits on content are of utmost importance.
The storyboard tool used with the RDT follows a more rigid format that intentionally corresponds to the standard presentation templates. In this tool an image of the user interface and Microsoft Word 2000 text boxes (shown as selected in Figure 5) are used to help ensure that the content and text written for a screen will match the space available in the standard presentation templates.
Figure 5 The Rapid Development Template interface ensures compatibility between content, text, and space available.
We also make the RDT available to clients who want to do their own instructional design work but turn to us for creating their user interface as well as developing and testing their e-Learning product. In this case, clients use our RDT storyboard tool. This provides them with an organized structure to follow, and in return provides us with a coherent and standardized storyboard to use for development.
Creating a template for your team
The process for creating a storyboard template with a custom toolbar is fairly simple. The main steps are to:
- Gather best-practice course elements and unify their style/format
- Create a template document
- Create a custom toolbar and associate it to the template
- Create an AutoText entry for each element and attach it to the template
- Populate the custom toolbar with the AutoText entries
- Save the template
Download a detailed step-by-step guide for using Microsoft Word 2000 or Microsoft Word 2007 to create a template and custom toolbar by clicking the link in this sentence. To avoid possible performance problems, we recommend developing the template and storyboards using the same version of Microsoft Word.
Creating the template and toolbar is a relatively straightforward process. The real work comes in defining the standards and perfecting the formats for the state-of-the-art storyboard. The best elements to put on the toolbar will be applicable across courses rather than content specific. To allow for easy tailoring to specific content, they should be as flexible and generic as possible, especially if serving a wide variety of clients and industries, like RWD does. As new courses are created, new elements will naturally be developed and the toolbar can be modified to include them. However, this means that someone on the e-Learning staff should be designated to update the standard storyboard template, maintain version control, and be responsible for ensuring that new versions are made available to all members of the design team.
What’s next for us?
Our next initiative is an obvious step forward. The wish list from our team includes automating the transition from our finished and client-approved storyboard to a first draft of the actual online product. To that end, each of the types of information included in our storyboard template has an individually named Microsoft Word custom style. We intend to use these styles to automatically transform the finished storyboards to XML to free the integration team from “cut-and-paste” activities. When completed, this will mean our very talented designers and developers can spend their energy on more rewarding endeavors such as imagining and creating the next generation of engaging e-Learning experiences.
