training

The Pros and Cons of Writing eLearning Narration Scripts

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the last few months editing training audio and narration. While it is a necessary step in producing high-quality eLearning, it can be a frustrating part of the process when you have an audio file that needs a lot of “clean up”. I’m talking about the narration and audio files that include countless “umms”, fillers, unnecessary dead space, or mumbles.

To ensure the audio recording and editing process is as efficient as possible, I encourage the subject matter expert responsible for contributing content to also prepare a script for narration recording. I thought I would present my case with a list of PROs and a few CONs. Of course, I will also provide ideas on how to work through the (CONs) downside of scripting.

PRO: Using a script to record training audio, can help prevent mumbles, filler language, umms, or gaps in audio. While a singular poorly narrated slide can be easily addressed, what type of time drain does it become to clean-up a lengthy training project? Also, those fillers can add unnecessary length to the lesson. This is time your learner may not have to spare.

PRO: You can make writing the narration a part of your storyboarding process. In a previous role, our storyboards were built in a table format with a space for the slide title, a brief description of what would be included visually, and a third space for narration that would accompany the slide.

CON: Regardless of where you add the process of writing narration, it will require a bit more time of you, subject matter experts, or other stakeholders. But wouldn’t a well-crafted script that results in a solid narration recording save time during your review and editing process?

PRO: You can solicit feedback from subject matter experts and other persons involved earlier in the project. If you can reach a consensus or agreement on the script, you may prevent having the re-record narration when concerns arise regarding what is said versus what should have been said. This can be an especially important step when you are preparing training for compliance and safety topics, and I’m certain your legal team and other experts will appreciate being involved with the script preparation.

CON: It can be challenging to read and record a script you didn’t write. You might say and word things differently than I would. During the script review process, involve your voiceover talent (if possible). If he/she/they suggest changes that won’t negatively impact the content or ideas, have your team discuss implementing those changes to make his/her/their recording work easier.

CON: Reading from a script can almost feel forced, memorized, or less extemporaneous than recording audio narration “off the cuff”. Don’t over rehearse! Instead, simply read through the script briefly. Highlight any passages or areas that may need special attention (like hard to pronounce words). When it is time to record, your voiceover will hopefully feel familiar without being over-done.

PRO: If you need to provide documentation regarding the topics, the script can be an invaluable resource. Whether you need to provide detail of what was said for employee status discussions, revisions based on policy or procedure changes, or legal action (employment status / performance cases, harassment cases, discrimination cases), a prepared and approved script will allow you to quickly provide the necessary information.

The fillers and mumbles I mentioned earlier are unavoidable. There may always be a need to clean-up narrations, but I hope the list above helps you see the value in preparing training scripts. You can easily add this step to your storyboarding process to create an engaging, quality narration that holds the learner’s attention. Do you have a PRO, CON, or best practice regarding your eLearning script process? Please share your ideas in this post’s comment section.

Stay tuned for future posts with more ideas on how to craft an ideal script!

Building a Human Library Collection – Part 2

In my last post, I introduced the idea of using a Human Library as a training event – to either share institutional knowledge or to simply build relationships, communication skills, and understanding between your employees. (Use the link I enclosed if you need a review on the concept and basics of a Human Library.)

With the second (of two total) posts, I’ll resume my idea for the Human Library. Here’s we’ll review scheduling, logistics, communication, administering the event, and post event follow-up.

1) Schedule your event, considering participants (books and readers), promoting your event, and other logistics.

Of course, you’ll want to pick a date that is suitable and relatively convenient – don’t forget to reserve an event space. (We’ll discuss the space for hosting the Human Library in more detail later.)

If your event focuses on building organizational knowledge, you may work with your organization’s supervisory staff to determine where participants may need to grow. For example, if the participant isn’t working with the MIS staff, there may be minimal need for the participant to “read” book 1. If a participant works in an area that struggles with customer relationships, it may be vitally important for him / her / them to read book 3.
After your supervisor’s have selected where participants should converse with a human library book, consider how you will notify the “reader” of the event and his / her / their assignment.
If you event goal is to build relationships, you may want to allow readers to sign up to the topics (books) he / she / they are interested in learning more about. You can use any application or site to allow participants to sign up, or even a simple sign up by posting a piece of paper in a convenient location. Don’t forget to assign a deadline for registration.
If the event is open for any person in the organization to attend, you might have a variety of options to communicate regarding the learning opportunity. How would you usually announce instructor-led training? That may be an option for your Human Library

One more comment on scheduling – if there are topics that may be sensitive for your “books”, be sure he / she / they will have a chance to step away on occasion, to decompress or collect himself / herself / themselves between guests or readers.

2) There are other logistics you’ll want to consider, too.

Be sure there is adequate space for your event. You will need chairs for your “books” and other participants. Also, be sure there is enough space to separate your books, so other conversations do not spill over or becoming distracting.

Regarding your room setup, you may want to label each “book”, maybe with a sign above his / her / their seat or space. You could also create a map of the room’s layout for participants to reference upon arrival.

You may want to establish ground rules to ensure participants stay on topic. If you’re worried about conversations failing to kick-off your “human books” could prepare a brief statement or introduction, or you could share a few suggested questions with your readers.

Set a time limit – not too long or not too short. Be sure to sound a warning and call for wrap-up a few minutes before the conversation time expires.

Also, be sure you (or other training staff or trusted organizational staff) are available to circulate in the room. You will want to be available to address any participant questions or step-in should there be any question or concern with a book / read conversation.

3) As with any training event, your last step is to take participants’ pulse and collect feedback.

This may be especially important if the event is focused on organizational knowledge. Remember, you should keep the survey simple and maybe focus on a simple rating and a few open-ended questions. Keep the learning goals you established with the “readers” supervisor in mind when you are creating your survey questions.

“During the human library, I learned __________”
“When I return to my work-space and tasks, I can apply the following information that I learned from __________ (insert book’s name here): __________”
“I would like more information regarding the __________ procedure / process __________ (insert book’s name) mentioned during the human library.”

Lastly, check-in with your “book” participants, too. He / she / they may have heard something from a reader, an interesting idea or questions, that you can use to grow your human library and training plans. Of course, you will want to offer your thanks, that he / she / they were willing to share their knowledge and experience to benefit others.

I miss instructor led events and being in the classroom with others and learners. Until then, you could even conduct a smaller library (one book, multiple readers) in one Zoom, Teams, or other virtual meeting format. When the pandemic passes, when social distancing ends, or when you need a relatively simple event to kick-off training, share knowledge, and grow your organization’s training agenda, consider hosting a human library.

Building a Human Library Collection

My husband is an academic librarian, and in the last few years, I’ve learned a lot about that vocation and the services libraries provide. Interestingly, there are many similarities between librarianship and training/instructional design, especially for librarians who work closely with teachers and instructors.

Before social distancing began we visited a local, public library where several people in my husband’s professional network are employed to attend a Human Library event. The Human Library is an initiative that started in Denmark over twenty years ago with the intent to create safe spaces for open dialogue between the listener and the “open book” humans in order to create more understanding, reduce stigmas and stereotypes, and build community. You can learn more about the Human Library program or find an event near you by following this link.

When you participate in a Human Library, you are allocated a brief amount of time with an “open book” human to converse regarding his/her/their unique experiences or knowledge. Immediately following our participation I realized this would be a great learning activity for a corporate or teambuilding event. In the next several posts I will detail how you could prepare a Human Library in your organization. First, we’ll talk about building your collection, but in subsequent posts I will offer ideas on how you may schedule the event, manage logistics, and follow-up after the event. These planning activities are interdependent and may run simultaneously, but for the sake of writing a blog post (or drafting a training proposal!) this seems like a logical order in which to describe a Human Library.

First, draft your “open books”:
Librarians would refer to this as building a collection.

If your event will focus on building organizational knowledge, you will want to consider who can best articulate both tactical and strategic functions. This is an excellent opportunity to engage mid-level employees with expertise in day-to-day tasks and who also have understanding on how processes and procedures contribute to helping your organization meet big picture goals.

“I have worked with the sales and marketing department for over two decades and focus on growing relationships with and retaining our established customers.”

“I am Associate Counsel and understand the contracts, insurance and liability concerns, safety, personnel, and other legal concerns of the organization.”

“I am a supervisor in our Management Information Systems group, and my team works to ensure our internal technologies and customers’ technology integrates smoothly.”

If your event is more team-building in nature, you may simply want to spark conversations that allow employees to get to know each other better. Who are the people in your organization with unique backgrounds? How have they applied this experience to achieve professional success?

“I played professional baseball for seven years before injury forced me to retire.”

“I served for two decades in the U. S. Navy, spending significant time underwater, months at a time as a staff member on a nuclear submarine.”

“I took a hiatus from our industry to pursue my childhood dream – working as a television meteorologist.”

Now that you have a grasp on the type of books you would like to be available in your Human Library, you will want to think start thinking about event logistics. Tune in for the next post, where I’ll discuss schedules, event set-up, and more!

Revisiting and revising previously published content

There were constant reminders throughout 2020, especially in the last quarter of the year. As of this past December, Adobe ceased supporting Flash, which means any content you may have developed using this software may need to be published to another format. But how do you go about revisiting previous content?

Here are a few questions that may help when you need to revisit previous projects:

Is there any compliance requirement?
This content may be required by a state agency or insurance carrier, or it may impact employee licensures and certifications. With a previous employer, a great deal of our training focused on topics related to Department of Transportation and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation. This type of lesson needs to be up to date to ensure your staff remain qualified to do their jobs, or these lessons may may be mandated by local, state, or federal legislation.

Regardless of the reason, you are accountable for making sure the organization remains accountable to this training demand.
What may have the biggest operational impact?
Maybe it is a commonly used software or a standard operating procedure, but whatever influences this topic also influences productivity and organizational success. It may be a wise idea to keep these courses, tutorials, and training products high on your list for revision or update during system updates like Flash’s retirement.

If staff members are not abreast of the latest processes, this lack of understanding can negatively impact the organization in many ways.
How many, what percentage of employees will be impacted?
Is there a location or region specific need?
Don’t forget to consider the number of persons or locations impacted when setting your redevelopment priorities. I’ve worked in organizations with nationwide locations, but training topics that were required based on locality or region. These topics often related to a specific customer requirements, regional issues, or local mandates. (Anyone who has managed the anti-harassment content required in California, New York, Illinois, or other states understands this demand.)

As mentioned above, you want to ensure training initiatives meet regulatory requirements, but it can be difficult to get buy in for a training requirement that only impacts a small fraction of the workforce. That doesn’t make these topics any less important in your redevelop, republish, or update plans.
Do we still need training on this topic?
How do we store content that has been retired?
Keeping your comprehensive catalog updated is just as important as updating the individual pieces of content. When processes or workplace expectations change and the established training is no longer relevant, be sure the content is removed from your Learning Management System, calendar, intranet site, or other places where employees may have access.

Similarly, be sure you have a plan in place to store material that is no longer in use. You never know when you may need to reference previous training for employee development and performance plans or when preparing new training content. I prefer to store retired content in a well organized network drive, but you can brainstorm a plan based on what is most efficient for your staff, training department, and organization.
Lastly, formulate a process for revisiting and revising previously published content.
As with any project, it seems like half the battle is having a plan of action. Revisiting, updating, and retiring training content may be influenced by the size of your organization, the demands on your training function, and many other factors.

With my current employers, most requests to revisit or revise training come from the Marketing Department, since they will quarterback product releases and updates.

At my previous employer, the training function was smaller. Once each year, I would contact project managers and subject matter experts, name the lesson(s) we had produced during the previous year, and ask if there had been any in the material. If I learned of changes within a function or department at other times, I would also reach out. (“I heard your department developed a new protocol for “Department Process”. I’ve scheduled a meeting for DATE so we can discuss how this will impact “Training Course Title”.)

Even with carefully designed and curated content, you will still need to revisit past projects on occasion. Whether this is influenced by organizational changes, technology changes, your annual catalog maintenance and housekeeping processes, or some other factor, you are one of the staff members whose voice and expertise can influence training content and their updates. Good luck with applying a plan that works best for your revisit, update, and republish strategies!

Happy New Year!

With a new year’s arrival it is common to think of hope, possibilities, aspirations, and good things. In this year, I hope one of those good and positive things will be blog posts and design ideas that help us all learn and grow.

Unfortunately, I fell behind with my posting and writing during the last quarter of 2020. The good news is a lot of the ideas I wanted to share remain relevant in the new year.

You may have noticed plenty of alerts regarding Flash’s retirement. Since Adobe will no longer support this product, you may need to decide (or likely have already decided) how to address training productions that launch and run via Flash. Come back next week, and I’ll present a few ideas on how you may want to approach re-design and re-prioritizing training with this type of change.

Welcome back to my blog, and may your 2021 be filled with only good things!

Publish an entire production, a single scene, or a single slide

It is a necessary step in your course review process- reviewing slides’ functionality and appearance in a published state. This is your opportunity to ensure triggers and variables are working correctly. You can see how objects, texts, and images look on the screen. Even though it can sometimes seem like a tedious time-drain, I think it is much easier to review a lesson that is drafted than correct an lesson that has already forwarded to your LMS or launched!

But what if you only want to look at one scene or one slide instead of the entire lesson? If you publish the full project you’ll either have to review EVERY slide, including the one’s you’re not interested in reviewing yet. If your next buttons or progress process is “locked”, you will need to develop some sort of way to fast-forward through the lesson

Thankfully, the publish options at Storyline give you a choice on how much you’ll publish. Once you’ve clicked the PUBLISH ribbon and the pop-up appears, look for the publish line in the PROPERTIES section.

You can adjust the PUBLISH PROPERTIES after clicking the Publish button from the Articulate Storyline Home ribbon. (It is located on the far right side of the ribbon/screen.)

After you have open the PUBLISH PROPERTIES, you’ll see another pop-up appear. Here, you will select the portion of the Storyline file you would like to publish: the entire project, a designated scene, or a single slide.

Not only can this publish option save time during your review processes, it can also come in handy when you only want to publish a small section of a larger Storyline file. As example, each demonstration I feature at my blog is a scene from a larger Storyline file. (Since most of these examples are relatively short, I’ve learned it is easier to develop it in one file versus keep up with multiple files.)

It is a simple function but one I did not know about until recently. This reminds me that Storyline is rather robust, and there is always more to learn, especially regarding the features I do not use often enough. If there’s a Storyline trick or e-learning shortcut you’ve recently discovered, be sure to share it in the comments section!

Instructional Designer for hire!

I received some unfortunate news yesterday. After a mid-day call with my employer I learned several positions, including my own, would be eliminated based on the economic downturn and uncertainty relating to Coronavirus.

My time with Traliant was amazing and had such potential, and I’m ready to find a similar role! If you’re looking for help with your training initiatives, reach out. We can arrange a time to discuss how my talents and skills may align with your needs. Of course, you can see samples of my work here at my blog, and I’ve also uploaded an fresh résumé.

In addition to Instructional Design and Articulate Storyline work, I’m open to other projects. With a background in recruiting and hiring, I’d be glad to apply my Human Resources AND design skills to help you re-format and re-design your own résumé to something more attention getting! Also, I miss designing corporate communications similar to the newsletter example that is here. If something like that would help in your organization, let me know. I could also apply this background and skillset to helping you freshen up other HR and communication forms, too.

I hope things are back to normal soon. Above all, I hope we all stay healthy and safe. In the mean time, I’m pressing forward with an aggressive job search, enjoying extra time with my family, taking time to update my blog, and hoping for the best- for us all.

Instructional Designers (and the Department of Louise) are important

The article I’m sharing first appeared in my news feed a few weeks ago, and I’ve read through it several times since then. Having began my career in more of a Generalist role, I understand how difficult it can be to balance policy and training. This is especially true when the policy or training isn’t well written, which can even happen in highly functioning organizations.

As the writer states, maybe we’ve missed a vital point, having been unable to view the lesson that preceded the question. I’m hoping Best Buy will respond, and she’ll be able to amend this article or write a follow-up. From the outside looking in, I feel like input from an Instructional Designer would certainly help in this situation.

Sometimes our role goes beyond designing and developing training. Sometimes we need to play the role of Louise, not necessarily to be contrarian, but to ensure project success. (Check out the article and the author’s reference to humorist Dave Barry.) As I often tell Subject Matter Experts, sometimes we don’t see the hole or error with a process policy until we sit down to discuss it in depth, step by step to begin training design. In my opinion, it is part of the the designer’s job to fill in those holes to make sure a learner can easily grasp each step and each piece of new information.

The last thing you ever want as a designer or presenter is eye rolls from your audience. I’m worried the Best Buy employee who shared this via his/her Twitter feed is a little less engaged with the organization, his/her function, and especially with the training process. Again, here’s hoping the author will hear back from Best Buy, and we can find clarification on this policy, this lesson, and the differences between greeting and welcoming customers.

Viral Best Buy Training Questions Is A Perfect Example Of Clueless Corporate Policies

Do you have thoughts on the question example and semantics in the article or the balance between well-written policy and well-designed training? Share this in the comments area!

Simple “tools” to pack for your instructor led training sessions

I spent some time late last year traveling to a company orientation event, based at a hotel just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Let’s face it- hosting an event at a hotel conference center is convenient. Your learners “commute” down the elevator each morning to the event, where hot coffee and fresh pastries away. At lunch, the catering staff arrives with your lunch, and at the end of day the group “commutes” again back to the safety and comfort of their hotel rooms. (Or in our group’s case, we commuted to steakhouse across the street for dinner!)

During the training and on-boarding sessions I realized there are a lot of things readily available in the office that can also come in handy when you’re training off-site. Unfortunately, you can’t take the entire office with you when you’re on the road. You can drop a few essentials into a reusable grocery bag or other tote to make your event easier to administer (or to be better prepared for the unexpected).

Power strip– Whether it is the presenters’ laptops, projectors, or tablets, there never seem to be enough outlets. Drop a power strip into your bag to ensure everyone can charge the plethora of electronic devices we all carry.

A few sheets of color paper or color sticky notes– These can comes in handy in so many ways- taking notes; collecting and sorting ideas based on different themes, options, or answers in an interaction; grouping and labeling different ideas or participants for an interaction. The possibilities are near endless.

BONUS- I like to print handouts on colored paper to make it easier to reference what learners should be looking at. (Example: “The interview questions to avoid or re-phrase are printed on the orange handout.”)

Fun size candy– Fun size, individually wrapped candies are easy to pack, and who doesn’t need a treat or sugar kick at the end of a busy training day?

Egg timer– Even though most smart phones have a timer, remember the above comment about having enough outlets to keep devices charged? An egg timer is small, expensive, and can come in handy when other devices have low batteries.

Smart home device or speaker– And even though it is another device to connect plug in, I’ve realized in the past few weeks (since I started working remotely) how helpful an smart home device could be in the office or classroom. At our home, we currently use the Amazon Echo Dot.

“Alexa, set a timer for ten minutes.”
“Alexa, play background music.”
“Alexa,…”

The possibilities are near endless.

Fresh batteries– Since we’re using a tote bag, why not toss in some spare batteries for your computer’s wireless mouse or remote? It would be inconvenient to have to “pause” your presentation because the remote control dies, and you can’t move your presentation forward. This simple addition to your packing helps you be prepared.

Bluetooth or External Speaker– If you don’t have a smart speaker (as mentioned above), you may have a Bluetooth or other external speaker lying around. During last quarter’s training event, we played a video from the training leader’s laptop. Unfortunately, his laptop speakers were not strong enough to project the audio to the entire room. Thankfully, he carries external speakers to plug into the computer to address the issue.

Scissors- Why not? Compact, easily tossed into your tote bag, and you never know when you may need them!

Painter tape– As mentioned, a hotel conference center makes an excellent location to host your event! Hang any posters and tears offs from your flip chart using painter tape to prevent damaging the walls.

Safety pins– It is easy to hang material to the wall using the painter tape until the room has “walls” made of drapes. Yes, I encountered this once, and have traveled with safety pins packed even since!

Paper clip- Similar to scissors, tape, and the other items listed, a small pack of paper clips won’t take much space in your tote bag. You never know how they may come in handy during a training session.

Hole punch– Buy one of the small hole punches designed to fit into a binder to save on space.

Stapler– Be sure to grab a compact stapler from a vendor’s table at the next professional conference you attend!

Small printer/scanner– I had never considered this until the fall event. One of the field managers in attendance carries this device any time he travels to our varying offices, customers, and events. Easily attached to a laptop, we were able to print certificates and other handouts and scan the new hires’ required paperwork and information back to the Human Resources office easily.

Is there some other small items to you like to pack to be best prepared for a training event that takes place away from your home base?

Get To Know You Bingo

As I’ve mentioned on several occasions, I’m charged with planning and hosting instructor led training, which includes organizing team building activities. With each training event, we’ll visit an off-site facility such as an escape room or adventure course, but we’ll also use free time between presenters to further build the team’s camaraderie.

Occasionally a subject matter expert will finish his/her presentations early, or sometimes, the group won’t use all the time allocated to their breaks (included in the schedule to allow participants a chance to check work emails, return phone calls, or network with their corporate office contacts). To be prepared for any free time with our April event, I developed a simple “get to know you” bingo game. Feel free to use and edit this file, maybe adding industry or company specific traits. You can tie those organizational bingo blocks back to you larger learning goals, or you can simply use this to game encourage conversation and get the group up and moving around- almost always a positive experience in your classroom environment.

Get To Know You Bingo