In addition to the impact that content and desired delivery method have on design decisions, the instructional designer must also consider the:
Level of learning desired
Costs related to design, development, and deployment
Time-to-market requirement
Technological capabilities available to support the delivery
The level of learning desired drives many of the design decisions. The Online Learning Continuum in Figure 4-6 indicates some possible applications of e-learning methods that best support achieving different levels of learning.
Figure 4-6: Online Learning Continuum
As the instructional designer makes decisions about instructional methods and delivery mechanisms, it is also necessary to consider the amount of effort involved in developing the learning solution. As you move along the continuum from e-reading to e-learning, it is important to note that the degree of investment in instructional design may increase the further up you move. An online business simulation is a powerful learning tool. However, it is one of the most expensive to develop in terms of design capability, time, and resources.
The time, cost, and resources involved in defining, designing, developing, and deploying learning programs, particularly blended solutions, is an important consideration. In most of the literature development ratios can range from 80 to 200 hours of development for one hour of low level interactivity e-learning to 300 to 500 hours of development for one hour of high level interactivity e-learning. But do these estimates really include all of the instructional design and development activities?
Figure 4-7 is a typical instructional design model with sample tasks, resources, and an estimate of the percentages of time required to complete the tasks in each phase.
Figure 4-7: Instructional Design Model for e-Learning Development and Deployment
The maintenance cycle is not included in this model, as the level of effort varies depending on the evaluation feedback that is gathered. It may be necessary to go through the entire instructional design process again to make the requested updates.
Many of the organizations interviewed for this book do not track actual design and development times, and many claimed to have seriously underestimated the effort. To get a true estimate, make sure you consider the cost of time involved in the following:
Project management
Instructional design (including needs assessment, analysis, storyboarding)
Subject matter expert input and reviews
Development and authoring
Quality review and user testing
Revision time
Deployment time (for example, entry into the learning management system and testing time)
Other questions that impact design include:
What is the shelf life of the content?
Do I want to invest significant time, money, and resources in developing a sophisticated e-learning simulation for something that will expire as soon as, or shortly after, it is developed?
How stable is the content?
If developing an interactive e-learning module for a particular subject area, where the content continually changes, how will it be brought to completion?
How will the learning program be maintained?
Careful consideration and decision-making on design questions can often be restricted by a requirement for rapid deployment of the learning solution. Thus, an equally important issue is the 80/20 rule of balancing the need for quality, feature-rich content with time-to-market speed. Many times 80 percent of the learning is achieved and sufficient for the purpose, whereas achieving 100 percent of the learning objectives will require delays and extraordinary, and perhaps unnecessary, expense. Sometimes the art of instructional design plays a more important role in this type of decision-making.
Building content into quality, interactive, online e-learning takes a lot of time and is expensive, thus custom e-learning solutions require innovative blended models leveraging existing e-learning content.
*See Chapter 15: INSEAD
Another important issue that impacts the instructional design of a learning solution is how the learning will be deployed. Blended learning solutions may have special technical requirements in how the components are organized and sequenced in the learning management system (LMS).
Consider the following questions as early as possible in the design and development process:
Is the learning solution one course or a program containing several courses? What is the best design for the overall navigation in a blended solution?
How will the user access the learning program? If a learning management system is in place, how does the learner launch the course or program from the LMS? How will the learner track their progress through the learning program?
What management tracking and reporting is required? Will the user be tracked as they order the course? Complete an assessment? Spend time in the course? This may require additional programming and testing to be completed during the development phase so that the courseware is AICC or SCORM compliant and interoperates with the learning management system.
Will the content be available only online? What are the connection speeds for the intended audience? Will there be a requirement for CD-ROM distribution? Does the content need to be downloadable?