You’ve got an idea
Every course begins with an idea.
Let’s say you’d like to make a crash course on feeding birds in winter. Or how to deal with diapers for toddlers when you are in the wilderness. Or perhaps you need a web-based lecture series on mothership mechanics. Or you want to create a consumer guide on the wonderful world of light bulbs. In a word, you have the desire to educate, and good knowledge in the given field. We have the desire to create and years of experience in turning a range of subjects into online learning experiences. We need to find each other and join forces.
Let’s meet!
First our specialists will sit down with you to get the project started and lay down the grand scheme. Together we take the time to clarify what your expectations and preferences are and, above all, what you want to achieve with this course. Once the main goal is set, we weigh the various options for realizing it. Should it be a video lecture or an action cartoon? A colourful game or a collection of puzzles?
During the first meeting we also set how we will work together. Who will manage the communication lines and how often will there be meetings; will the feedback arrive with a turtle dove or in a hot air balloon; will the schedules be set according to the stars or the winds; shall we deliver the work piece by piece or mixed in a bowl – and many other similarly important questions. Finally, we will also settle on a deadline.
Once we reach a common understanding, we can start.
Who is who
Next we assemble the production team – let’s see who the key players are.
The Project Manager. She orchestrates the team’s moves and keeps a steady info-channel between all parties.
The Art Director or AD. He arranges all things visual and creative about the course.
The Copywriters or Manuscript Writers. They will be gnawing through your data to the point where they comprehend the material and can verbalize it and explain it to others. They keep the course’s verbal aspects in line. They also plan and describe the course activities along with its contents.
The Designer. She gives the course its vision and shape: a virtual landscape where the user can find his or her way around, understand what to do and how to do it.
The illustrators and photographers. They capture the images to display the course content.
The animators. Their task is to put the images in motion.
Programmers. They assemble the course contents and code and components into a fully functional digital whole.
Brainstorming
Now we need to outline the paths that will lead the learner to the desired destination. The team gathers to figure out a unique formula that will make this course function. Each specialist offers their expertise, their personal viewpoints and their educated guesses to boil and bubble along with the bat’s ear and eye of newt. Finally, the concoction clears and well-considered decisions emerge.
The meeting results in blueprints and functional models for the future course. These reveal if the newborn shall be striped or spotted, bearing wings or hooves. Then we send the blueprints and models for you to approve. Once we receive your clear confirmation that this is indeed the way you would like the new course to look and behave, the team will take their positions and the work may begin.
Work in progress
The writing and instructional design specialists are the first to process the raw material. They build a verbal and conceptual foundation for the course. They also describe in detail how the whole course itself should flow and function – what the learners see, hear and experience as they operate inside the course. Once again, we send these descriptions for you to approve before moving on.
Once the manuscript is confirmed, a whole array of solutions are launched. Drawings, photos and videos are made. Actors record spoken words. Animators and editors turn the recorded elements into living, speaking units of content. The programmers assemble the polished components into the user interface. The primary information passes from master to master and becomes further refined in their hands The combined skill and effort renders each nugget of knowledge and shard of visual information into a real e-course.
The finishing touch
Before delivering, our crew thoroughly tests the course. Then the course goes through a testing round in the hands of your experts and representatives. We round up the feedback and add the last corrections and touch-ups. And finally it is all done and the course is ready for the learner!
It’s complete!
