I have been designing, developing and delivering training for 20 years now, most recently distance learning for the past 7 or 8 years. I would like to learn how to design/develop training on the web. How did you learn these tools? Any suggestions for someone who knows how to design but needs to learn and gain experience designing for WBT?

Thank you for any thoughts/advice!

You could start by choosing one or all of the following:

1. Read books...check out the ASTD bookstore or even your local Barnes and Noble. One book that I used is called "Designing WBT by Williams Horton".
2. Learn how to use Adobe Flash. This is the industry standard tool for creating highly engaging WBTs. The Flash Bible is one of the best books on the market for learning Flash.
3. Also learn how to use Photoshop and Dreamweaver. You can get the entire web design package from Adobe for around $1600
4. Network and talk with experts in this field of study. Learning best practices is key! Sounds like posting to this board is a step forward in this area.

Best of Luck!
Jason

Sounds like you have an instructional design background, so it probably wouldn't make sense for you to go back to school for an Instructional Tech degree, though you may find a few online classes that work for you (nothing like practicing what you preach) for theory on e-learning development, which is quite different.

I agree with stetsonbu on most of that, except that I wouldn't start with Flash. Flash has a steeper learning curve and has to be adapted for e-learning. Rather, I'd suggest learning Articulate, then Lectora, and then Flash. I learned Flash first, because I started out in marketing, but with the growth of e-learning, better tools and technologies have been developed to speed up the development cycle.

Hope that helps.

Sheldon Murphy
Solid State Learning
E-Learning Consulting

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sheldon,

The way I did it was to hire out my first web course to a local developer (this was many years ago). I found that in reviewing the storyboards, I got an excellent crash course in what it takes to WRITE WBT (and that is the first step). Then I would look at tools to help you develop the training, like Articulate, or continue to use a vendor to develop what you can now write.

I do not develop in my capacity, but I do write the storyboards in some cases and I find that with that work done and in the can, the actual web development is quite affordable.

Hope this helps.

TP, I would also vote against Flash since you are just starting out in this arena (no offense, Jason). Yes, you can produce spectacular courses with it, but the learning curve is steep and the programming time can be extensive.

As Sheldon said, Articulate and Lectora allow you to rapid develop good WBTs that will meet the learning objectives. I am particularly fond of Lectora; you can embed Flash, videos, audio, sims, whatever you need on top of all the interactivity and assessments you can create using Lectora functionality itself.

Definitely read and look around. Just like in ILT design, eLearning design can be copied. Have you seen a course you thought was done particularly well? Write down what they did and how they did it. You can find free WBTs on the web in many places. Take as many as you can and take notes on what you think is effective and what isn't.

Also, the Horton and Ruth Clark books are good. I also recommend Michael Allen's books. I'm sure there are other good ones as well.

Finally, I thought Doug had a good suggestion to partner with an experienced developer the first few times out (or ongoing). That would be an excellent way to acclimate yourself to the field.

Good luck,

Jay