September-October 2004 Issue of Educational Technology, Volume 44, Number 5, Pages 33-40.
the course storyboard, the design team communicates with the production and delivery teams for any technical and
production related issues.
Instructional designers are knowledgeable about how to use various attributes and resources of the Internet and digital
technologies to design e-learning activities. Based on the content types, they can incorporate instructional strategies and
techniques best suited for the selected audience. However, it is important to note that instructional design services may not
be adequately available in some institutions. With some knowledge of instructional design, many instructors can design
their own online courses.
In developing course contents, subject matter experts may decide to use copyrighted materials from outside sources.
Instructional designers work with copyright coordinators to negotiate permission to use these copyrighted materials.
Interface designers are responsible for the presentation of e-learning content. They make sure that the learners can use
e-learning materials in a user-friendly environment. They work with instructional designers to create a consistent look and
feel for all e-learning contents.
Following the overall goals and objectives of the course, evaluation specialists design various assessment strategies to
measure students’ performance in e-learning. Please note that an instructional designer with skills and knowledge in
interface design and assessment strategies may be able to play the role of interface designer and evaluation specialist in
small- to medium-sized e-learning projects. However, for large-sized e-learning projects, services of specific interface
designers and evaluation specialists are critical.
Many online universities use outside content experts for their courses. I provided the content for a course entitled
“Developing and Implementing e-Learning Systems” for the Masters in Education in e-Learning at the Jones International
University (JIU). As a content author, I worked directly with an instructional designer, who guided me in the preparation of
the course content. While writing content for the course, I had to provide a list of all additional readings (e.g., journal
articles and books chapters). The copyright acquisition coordinator at JIU negotiated with publishers about using their
materials in the course. However, one publisher’s price to do so was unacceptable to JIU. Therefore, I had to revise the
content to select another reading assignment. Information about the course is available at:
http://www.jonesinternational.edu/ourPrograms/course.php?crs=101&spc=65&prg=2
Production Stage
At the course production stage, the production team creates the online course from the course storyboard created during
the design stage. The production coordinator leads the e-learning production process. Team members include, but are not
limited to these people: course integrator, programmer, graphic artist, multimedia developer, photographer/videographer,
editor, learning objects specialist, and quality assurance person.
The production coordinator makes sure that the timeline is maintained for all deliverables. The e-learning production
process is time consuming. It is a collaborative process in which each member does his or her own specific tasks for a
course. For example, the course integrator cannot put all parts of a lesson together if each member does not provide his or
her part of the task, on time.
In e-learning, members of the development team can be remotely located. The production coordinator should make sure
that members are in good communication with each other and in compliance with due dates for their respective tasks. All
members must have patience, as continually emerging issues may demand new changes and modification in the e-learning,
which in turn can be added work for all members. Members should put their works in designated areas on a centralized
server (which we call a “development server”). The development server becomes a collaborative work space for the
e-learning members. Recently, I served as a consultant for an e-learning project at the World Bank, where I worked with the
project manager, instructional designers, graphic artists, and programmers who were remotely located.
Once the course is created, it is important to do pilot testing with a representative group of diverse learners. For the pilot
testing, learners can access the course at the development server with a password. These learners can be remotely located.
For an efficient evaluation of the pilot project, the course should be designed to receive learners’ comments on a specific
page. For example, if a learner finds a symbol is culturally offensive on a page, he or she can attach his or her comments
with that specific graphic or the page. The production coordinator can make these comments available to responsible team
members. Data from the pilot testing will provide valuable information about what works and what does not work.
Instructional designer and the interface designers can work with the production team and revise the course whenever
appropriate.
The product of the production process, then, is course materials ready for pilot testing (see Figure 1).