Dave's “Rule of 10” for changing ILT into elearning

Experienced elearning instructional designers often get naïve directions to “take the course that Joe has been teaching in the classroom for years, digitize it and get it out on the internet.” That’s often times followed by “It shouldn’t take more than a couple weeks to do that, right?” And most of the time both of those statements have been preceeded with assumptions and proclamations about how cheaply it can be done.

Transitioning existing Instructor-led Training (ILT) into elearning could be the subject of a dozen blog entries. But, this particular entry will discuss what I call the “Rule of 10.”

Firstly, ILT and elearning have about as much in common as a cruise ship does with a submarine. They both transport people and they both do so in or on the ocean. After that…. Well, that’s about it.

Yes, an ILT course and an elearning course both have similar content and a similar audience. After that…. Well, that’s about it.

For example, the instructor is the primary deliverer of the content in an ILT course. But, in the elearning world, the computer monitor and speakers are what delivers the content. Hence, while an ILT audience watches and listens to the instructor, the elearning audience watches the monitor and listens to the audio.

Additionally, while the instructor may in fact leave the same graphic (“slide”) up on the screen for lengthy presentation about it, the audience doesn’t necessarily become bored with it because the instructor and what is being said – in other words not just the slide image - is the main focus of the learners’ attention. Learner engagement is done through voice inflections, hand gestures, visual aids beyond or outside the slide on the screen and so on.

Quite the opposite is going on in the elearning world.

During the elearning presentation, the learner has nothing else to look at than what’s on the computer monitor. Hence, learner engagement is established and maintained through audio talent voice inflections and what’s happening on that monitor.

I’d like you to try something. Do a Google search for “Abraham Lincoln” and select an image of Abe. Put it on your monitor full screen. Then have someone read something to you for 90 seconds. (The actual text of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address works well for this exercise.)

How did you do? Were you able to concentrate on what was being read to you? All the way for 90 seconds? If you’re like most people, your mind would start to become bored with the visual of Lincoln pretty early on and your mind likely started to wander and your listening to and retention of what was being read suffered.

Enter, Dave’s “Rule of 10.” Staring at the same static image for even 30 seconds while the audio “speaks” can dull the senses to the point of losing engagement. Engagement lost is content comprehension and retention lost.

Back to the task of converting Joe’s ILT course into elearning. In his instructor notes he has multiple 

bullet points noted to present on only one slide (graphic) on the screen. By now you’re probably asking, why doesn’t Joe suffer that same problem of losing learner engagement in the classroom presentation of that same material then? Why does the Elearning version need a whole bunch of graphics to present that content?

Great questions. The answer is because Joe can move about, look learners in the eye, gesture, point to or hold up other objects supporting his points and a host of other things. In other words, because the instructor is the focus not the graphic on the screen.

So, what is Dave’s “Rule of 10?” Simply this; if you’re challenged to transition an existing ILT course into an elearning course – or you’re supposed to take some other kind of live presentation and turn it into something web-deployable – you need 10 times the graphics that you would need to make that same presentation in front of a live audience. Because when the audience has nothing to do but stare at a monitor, you need several different graphics changing periodically to match their visual engagement to the audio points being presented.

If you don’t you have risk of 1) learners just staring at a black screen while the audio talks (i.e., no graphic to support audio) or 2) the…same…old…graphic..staying…on…the…screen…while…they… struggle…to…concentrate…on…what…the…audio…is…saying…and…OMG…is…that…ever…boring!