Re: Reality check

["Brad Jensen" <brad -at- elstore -dot- com>]

I went back to the archives and copied a little bit of the
original message, to establish context, so this document will have
three voices.

I am an elearning vendor, and I am going to talk abit about my
product in the context of this reply, so if that sort of thing
bothers you, please go on to the next message.

> The original poster, <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com> said:
>I am talking to a potential client. In 4 weeks, they want a
complete user
>manual, including examples and scenarios and a CBT that "supports
the user
>guide" (must reflect the complete user guide).

>Then  <Tkritr -at- aol -dot- com> replied:

> Hi Sharon ---
>
> If this were only a document set, I'd agree with Andrew and
encourage you to
> take the business.  However, having designed, developed, and
produced a CBT
> (albeit larger than the one you described), I'm thinking that it
would be
> very difficult to complete a useful CBT in 4 weeks.  Please note
that I used
> the word "useful" in my previous sentence.  :)   This post
focuses on the CBT
> portion of your Reality Check.

< I snipped a lot of ggod stuff, sorry>

> As I remember, the industry standard for CBT creation is:
> 75 development hours = 1 hour of basic CBT (that is, no audio,
no video, no
> animation).  That's almost two weeks to create the CBT if it is
only an hour;
> however, I believe that number assumes that the content already
exists, and
> that you have an experienced CBT team of about 10 people working
on it.  I
> don't have the resource for that calculation right offhand, but
I'll try to
> find it if someone wants to debate it with me.  :)

I don't want to debate it with you, I do believe it. It would be
very helpful for me if you could find the reference.

I have seen numbers of $10,000 to $60,000 per course -hour- for
elearning development.

<snipped some more - sorry- moderators have yelled at me all week
for including entire messages, in my opinion it is better to do
that and have a clear conversation, people who think the result is
too long aren't as interested as I am, but anyways...>

> Kirsten Petersen

If by CBT we mean WBT, I think there is a way to produce results
in a much shorter time than 75 hours hand work per training hour
of WBT, starting with existing written content.

Use an existing LMS (Learning Management System) with an
integrated content development program. A little Rodney
Dangerfield elearning development (we don't get no respect - we
make page turners) and you can build userful, presentable,
effective elearning in a fraction of the time that it takes to
design and hand code elearning.

If you are creating training for Windows - hosted software or
procedures (meaning Windows programs, mainframe programs that will
run on a Windows terminal emulator, or Widnows-hosted workflows)
you might be better off to start with our content creator program,
write the elearning course, then export the text and screen shots
as a document to develop the user manual(s) from.

Here's how you would do this with our product:

1, Decide the overall course structure. How many courses? What
modules are in each course?

2. Start the module maker. Name the first module. Set the module
maker in autocapture mode.

3. Start the software you are documenting. Go through the function
that you are documenting in this module. Each time there is a
significant change in the window, press Alt-PrtScr to capture the
current window to the clipboard. The module maker watches the
clipboard, copies the image to a full sized jpg, creates a 400 by
300 (or pick a size) thumbnail, creates a blank elearning page
containing the image, and goes to the next page.

4. Some people like to stop and write the text that goes with the
window capture at this point. I prefer to capture all the screens
as elearning pages, and then go back and write text.  Repeat step
3 for all screens that you want to cover in this module.

5. If you didn't already write the text for each elearning page,
go back and do it. The text area looks like a word processing
program, with bold, underline, and other rich text features. You
can also create html links, and insert any html you want, but the
best thing is to stick to the standard format, with html links as
needed.

6. Start with elearning page one, and create one or more questions
with multiple choice or binary choice questions. Link the question
to the page by setting the page reference. For each question,
write two or more answers, one of which is correct. For each
answer, include the reason it is correct or incorrect (this is
optional but strongly suggested.)

(The hardest part for me in all of this is thinking up plausible
wrong answers.)

7. If you have the budget or just really want to, record voice
audio on each page. Normally you would recite the text. Most
people who go to this trouble have a professional announcer create
and edit the audio, and just attach a clip to each page.

8. All of your course module is held in one database file on your
local PC. Now you sign on to your elearning web site, with author
status, using a web browser. You enter the course name and
description. (You can add resource files, images, and any extra
html at this point for the course introduction.) You define the
module name, and upload it from your pc hard drive using the web
browser. Set a price for the course if it is a money generator for
your client. If you want to have a message board forum for this
class, set that option.

4.5 Oh yeah run spell check on each page, please.

9. Check the course out by taking the course yourself, take the
test, let it score it. Have several other people review it (do
your normal publication review.) When it's ready for prime time,
set the 'Live' attribute to Yes, so it appears.

Our module maker program is an activex program. That means you can
write Visual Basic or other programs to load and unload that
database, create pages, etc. I wrote a little VB prgram to create
slides for the pages, you just copy and paste the parts of the
text you want to use as bullet points. I wrote some macros for
PowerPoint and Word to export images as elearning pages, or copy
text into the elearning pages a paragraph at a time.

My next little program will parse through a module, concatenating
all the text and images into an RTF to import into your favorite
word processing program.

Of course, you can go back and insert and delete elearning pages,
reorder them, add and change questions and answers. You can put in
essay questions if you want (but of course an instructor will have
to score them). You can add a certificate of completion, and set
the elearning system to print it for the student when they pass or
complete the course.

I know this sounds horrible and boring to some people, but it's
been in use for a year and a half, and the learners (practicing
legal assistants around the US) love it. They are paying for the
courses.

It's so cheap and easy to develop this way, that nobody believes
me so I've stopped making estimates of how long it takes.

Test-picture-audio works great. You can use other pictures besides
screen shots or slides, or have no images. All the html links are
computer-generated, so the courses work and don't break on the
learners.

And it is very easy to write your documentation or training in
drafts. You make a first pass, and show it to the client, and test
it on an audience. Based on their response, you go back and beef
up some parts, and rework others. Insert new material.

And of course, different people can be writing different modules
at the same time.

I wrote the course on how to use the course module maker in an
evening (expecting to hear'-and it looks like it- by return email)
. I never got around to the questions and answers, but I haven't
had any complaints about it yet. Go see it at
www.eufrates.com/setup.exe , under Course Library, Efurates.

Go see the www.nalacampus.com site and try their sample course.

I've got some other ideas that go along with this, but I'll start
another message and a new thread - How to make your clients happy
with elearning

Brad Jensen
www.eufrates.com









^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Attention ForeHelp and Doc-to-Help Users! Upgrade your existing product to
RoboHelp for only $299, through January 31st. RoboHelp can import your
existing Help projects! Learn how else RoboHelp can benefit you. www.ehelp.com/techwr

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.