Skillcast course development process – what to expect

When it comes to course development, we use a tried and tested approach based on product development best practice principles. Our review rounds each serve a specific function to allow us to refine and perfect your course. Our detailed project plan covers the full production process, and this one-pager provides some background on what to expect at each stage.

Storyboard review

First you’ll receive a Word document ‘storyboard’ in which we’ve detailed how your course will look. Based on the content you provided, this will contain all the wording, images and interactions we suggest will make up the built course.

It can be tricky to imagine what the course will look like from a Word document – but don’t let this worry you. You’ll have plenty of time to review the built version later in the process. At this stage. We would like you to sign off:

• The structure. Is the information in the right order? Does the flow from one topic to the next feel logical?
• The wording. Is the language correct? Is the terminology accurate? Is all the information you expected there?
• The image suggestions. Is the style appropriate to your branding? Are you happy with the use of people/landscapes? We use the Adobe stock image library so feel free to have a look reference any alternative images you like, along with the image ID.

To help us get to the final version of the storyboard efficiently, make any text changes directly to the document using Tracked Changes. Now is the time to finalise the content.

For image changes, provide specifics about what you would like to see so that we can pick the perfect image, or even drop in an example so we know what you’re looking for.

For any structure changes or other feedback, please add a comment so our storyboarders can deal with the issue and send an updated version to you for sign-off.

If more than one of you is reviewing the course, assign someone to collate all feedback and avoid contradictions.

Course review

Our bespoke e-learning development plans offer three rounds of review, known as Alpha, Beta and Gold, as is the industry standard.

• The Alpha release is your first chance to see the built course, transformed from the storyboard. Now is the time to feed back on the overall look and feel, on functionality and flow. You might want to tweak some language now you can see it on-screen, consider a layout change or ask for a further interaction or question. We expect plenty of change requests at this point.
• The Beta release will reflect all your Alpha change requests. Check that these have been made as you hoped and let us know if any of those changes don’t meet your expectations. We expect only a handful of follow-up change requests at this point.
• The Gold release is the final version. By now your change requests should all be to your liking. This is your chance to complete a final review in order to sign off your course for testing, release and roll-out.