5 Essentials to Storyboarding

A storyboarding is an outline of the visuals, text, audio, interactions, navigation and anything else that will be used in the eLearning course. It is essential to storyboard as part of the design phase in creating eLearning because it will ensure everyone is on the same page before development actually occurs. All members of the eLearning development team will reference the storyboard for guidance and direction. Designers, narrators, developers and anyone else involved in the eLearning project will use this to understand what they need to design or what they need to contribute. And, most importantly, it will ensure you; as the client, is in full agreement before moving forward into development.

Storyboarding is to eLearning as blueprints are to architects. As basic as the storyboard may be, it is a very necessary process that will save considerable time and money. Imagine you wanted your dream-home built from ground up. You know exactly the type of home you want in your imagination. You know the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the garage, color of paint, carpet etc. You meet with your architect upon several occasions and relay all this information to him. He agrees to begin the project, but after the long process of building, he built a house that he “thought” you want – it looks totally different than what you wanted.

This is the purpose of storyboarding; to lay out on paper and blueprint what each frame/slide should look like, so before building the eLearning course, the process is in place on paper as to what needs to build and is agreed upon.

The storyboard is usually designed by an instructional or eLearning designer (such as ones we have here at Global eLearning Corporation). It is commonly written in Microsoft Word, but if more visual based, PowerPoint is typically used.

Storyboards should include the following:

1. Overall project Data. This should include the name of your course. Each slide or frame within your storyboard should also include a slide label and title. These titles should represent the primary idea of each slide and will also help maintain the order of the presentation.

2. Graphic instructions. Verbally describe what images to use and how you would like specific images to appear within your course. Images are used to help relay the information in a visual form. If using video make sure you include the file name of the video you want to use, so it’s easy to find.

3. Audio and/or video instructions. In the absence of on-screen text, voice-over or narration describes the ideas and concept in detail. The voice-over is successful in ‘humanizing’ the e-content. The audio section should also include what music or sound effects to use, if any.

4. Text. Provide the exact on-screen content you will be using in your eLearning course. If not using an eLearning template, make sure you also include what font, size and color you would like for each text element.

5. Interactivity and navigation. Describe the actions that will be used in your course, i.e. the next button should be clicked, the user mouses over a screen image. Anyone who reviews your storyboard should be able to easily understand what the learner can do on each slide and what will happen next.