Preparing your eLearning team for development success

For a project to be a success it’s vital that everyone involved is working in the same way. The organisation in the background ultimately decides how well a project will run. Here’s 3 Top Tips for prepping your co-workers prior to beginning a project:

1. Agree on a naming convention for files and assets

Being able to quickly identify files is a necessity during the build of a course. It’s a good idea to make sure that the title of your courses use the same naming convention (e.g. title, version number etc.).

If you haven’t given version numbers to files before, feel free to use the example below as a guide:

• V0.1 for your alpha build or (V0.01 if you’re not at alpha stage yet). Keep in mind that if any major changes happen before your first build (V0.1) then increase your numbering to V0.02 and so on.
• Once the build comes back from the client, and edits are implemented, your version number becomes V0.1.0 and any changes to the build will increase the latest number.

Adding the initials of the last person handling the file, or the date, is also an option. Be aware of the length of the name of your course, though – a long file path name can sometimes cause errors when publishing!

And it’s not just the naming of your overall file that’s important: using clear identifiers for items or objects within your build (and even assets made outside of Articulate Storyline) will have similar benefits. Keep the below suggestions in mind:

• ‘BT’ for button
• ‘Drag_Name’ for Drag and drop objects

And even

• ‘3_2_BT_Close’ for a close button on slide 3.2 (for an asset)

TIP: Having a list of naming conventions for objects within Articulate Storyline is a really good idea. Hand the list out to developers before a course build starts to ensure that it’s followed.

2. Decide where files are to be stored

Agree on a location for saving files, both locally and if/when they’re transferred to a server. This doesn’t just include the main build but any assets that have been created.

TIP: To prevent getting lost in your files, try mirroring the folder structure on your PC to that on the server.

3. Choose the method of building

During the creation of a course it’s important that every slide and interaction is built in the same way. Adopting a template will ensure that this is the case: follow one if it’s available or create one yourself if not.

TIP: If your team agree together how to create a new interaction you can repeat these steps when similar interactions are needed. This means there is more chance that bugs will be picked up during one QA rather than many = time saved!

Now that you and your team are prepared for development success – happy building!