The project has been signed off and requirements gathered – now for the planning! To plan a project’s resources, you’ll need to have a really clear idea of the number and types of resources needed to spring the project into action. Without efficient resource planning things can start to fail rather quickly. Here are our top five tips to avoid that happening.

1. Define resources – who and what
So you’ve been informed of the project’s requirements and potentially even been given a delivery date. The question now is ‘who’ and ‘what’ are required to implement the project? It is important that the right people and equipment are identified otherwise you could be in a position where you don’t have the right tools for the job.

2. Schedule resources – when
Once you have clearly identified what resources are needed, it all comes down to time and availability. Determining how long a resource is required for is dependant upon two things: receiving accurate work effort estimates and taking into account the availability of that resource (consider planned absences, commitment to other projects and so on).

3. Be realistic
There’s little point in trying to fit a square plug into a round hole; it simply won’t fit. No matter how demanding the resource request is, you need to be realistic about what can be achieved in a given amount of time. It’s always best to plan resources with some contingency to allow for those unexpected problems that seem to arise from nowhere.

4. Prioritise
Changes to your resource plan are inevitable so be prepared to prioritise and make quick decisions. This needn’t have an impact on deliverables; if you take a step back and look at the bigger picture you might find that by moving something out elsewhere, things can stay on plan – it’s a bit like a jigsaw puzzle; you just need to find the best fit.

5. Plan ahead
If you often find yourself in a position where you are struggling to fit everything into your resource plan then you need to start planning ahead. Advance notice of projects in the pipeline allows you to think ahead and direct resources to fit your needs. It’s better to have things on the radar well in advance and move it out rather than not be able to fit it in at all.

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Top five tips for managing resources for a project

All too often, a systems training course becomes a glorified user manual because it tries to train learners on everything that there is to know about the system! Read on for Saffron’s top five tips for creating great systems training that focuses on what learners need to know.

1. Define the objectives and learning outcomes
Like with all online training, the first step to creating effective systems training is to define the objectives and learning outcomes. Ask yourself – what does the learner need to know? Are there any behaviours that need changing? Remember, while user manuals provide end-to-end information, the e-learning should focus on specific areas.

2. Get familiar with the system
Ask the subject matter expert to take you through the system in the same way that they would train someone. This will help you to identify where a learner might struggle. If possible, install the software on your computer or get remote access to a testing environment so that you don’t have to worry about breaking anything and, at the same time, have unlimited access to the system.

3. Keep it real with scenarios
Just because it’s systems training, it doesn’t mean that the course shouldn’t involve scenarios. Once you’ve decided what areas of the system the training should focus on, think of some plausible scenarios. Then, set up the system with the realistic sample data – there’s nothing more frustrating than files or text fields containing words like ‘testdata1’! Remember to keep scenarios short or learners will lose interest.

4. Put yourself in the learners’ shoes
The training should simulate the real environment, allowing the learner to interact with it as they would in real life. For example, if the learner needs to type something in a text field, let them do that! But don’t make them type more than a few words – remember it’s systems training not a typing tutorial!

5. Go full-screen
Ideally, the screen shots used in the course should be full-screen and taken on one computer to ensure consistency. It’s also best to use the Print Screen function rather than any third party image capturing software to ensure that all the screen shots are the same size.

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Top five tips for creating great e-learning systems training

An inaccessible e-learning course risks non compliance, frustration, anxiety and lost productivity. Our top ten tips will help you avoid all that and build something accessible, usable and ultimately more effective.

1. Revise your definition of ‘accessibility’
Yes, accessibility is about catering for users with disabilities. But it pays to take a broader view: accessibility is about usability. Everyone benefits from easy to use interactions, intuitive navigation, clear language and a considered design.

2. Build accessibility into your plans
A lot of people believe an accessible course is an expensive course, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Consider accessibility from the outset, plan how you’ll build it into your design, and you’ll find that the investment pays off.

3. Aim for accessibility, not perfection
It’s worth finding some guidelines, like the W3C standards. They apply to websites rather than e-learning, so create your own test plans that tick as many of the boxes as possible and find alternatives if you can’t meet a particular requirement.

4. Don’t be tempted to build two versions
Creating a separate version of an e-learning course isn’t inclusive, so it opens you up to equivalence issues. It also adds to your workload, which impacts on the timescales and bottom line, and it can compromise testing procedures.

5. Be aware of the common mistakes
Don’t create interactions that require intricate mouse control. Don’t design a course that relies on an awareness of the visual layout. Don’t use descriptions that will be lost on visually impaired users (‘click on the green box on the right…’).

6. Offer alternatives to multimedia elements
Audio and video are commonplace in e-learning these days, but not everyone can benefit from them (and not everybody wants to). Give your users options, such as audio they can turn on or off, or captions and transcripts of videos.

7. Create a user friendly design
When designing your course, think about font size, scroll bars (and how to avoid them) and colour blind users. Summarise graphs, charts and tables so nobody loses out, and make sure your design is consistent and intuitive.

8. Speak in plain English
Accessibility isn’t all about technical features; the language used is equally important. Content that is complex, full of jargon or out of context can put off any user, regardless of disability – including those whose first language isn’t English.

9. Don’t assume ‘accessible’ means ‘limited’
As designers, we’re creative within the parameters of brand guidelines, corporate voice and technical constraints every day. Accessibility’s no different – a good designer can create something attractive, exciting and accessible.

10. Test, test and test some more
By all means make use of the accessibility testing tools available, but don’t exclude human intervention. Ask a diverse pilot group to test thoroughly for accessibility and usability and, if possible, build more than one test into development.

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Top ten tips for e-learning accessibility

There’s a huge array of authoring tools out there and, when it comes to finding the right one for you, it can be hard to know where to start. If you choose the wrong one, it won’t live up to the promise of delivering rapid e-learning – so here are our five top tips for sourcing the right tool for your needs.

1. Consider the output first
Ask yourself what type of online training components you need to deliver: for instance, will it predominately consist of text or will it be complex, adaptive e-learning; does it require captures, simulations or assessments? Note down the ideal features you need from your authoring tool as this will come in handy when you start your research.

2. Decide between ease of use and creative flexibility
You’ve got two broad options: a highly formatted tool that offers limited flexibility but requires little or no training time at all for the author, or a tool that offers more creative latitude but requires more time investment for learning how to use the various features and functionalities.

3. Do your research
Before making any decisions, research the vast range of authoring tools on the market. Consider the key features and limitations against your requirements and constraints. Viewing any online demonstrations that are available is a great way to get a feel for what can be achieved with the various tools.

4. Select complementary combinations
One tool won’t necessarily provide a best fit solution for the needs of all your training components. So once you’ve done your research on the features and limitations of the various tools, think about selecting a combination of tools that perform complementary functions. This way you’ll equip yourself with a suite of tools tailored to your requirements.

5. Don’t forget about accessibility
Most of the tools available on the market use Flash, and often don’t conform to W3C accessibility standards. Make sure that you know right from the outset whether accessibility is one of your requirements. If it is, you need to consider how far the various tools meet this requirement and how you might overcome their limitations in this area.

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Top five tips for choosing the right e-learning authoring tools

Whether they’re for an assessment or part of the training course itself, writing questions can be a tricky business. Read on for Saffron’s top ten tips for creating effective questions that test learners in the right way, on the right thing.

1. Draft the assessment before the content
If step one is defining the objectives and learning outcomes, step two is drafting the assessment. Make sure each question maps back to the outcomes and then focus the training content on the assessment.

2. Randomise the assessment
Ideally an end of course assessment will have a pool of questions, with a random selection drawn on each attempt. This means, if learners fail once, they can’t simply memorise where they went wrong but are actually tested again.

3. Remember: quality not quantity
When it comes to assessments, it’s better to have 10 excellent questions than 40 substandard ones. Likewise, multiple choice questions generally work best with four options – don’t go below three or above five without a very good reason.

4. Use questions to drive the learning
We’re big believers in the value of the test and tell approach. Don’t just give learners information and then test them on it. Instead, ask them to think for themselves with a question before correcting or confirming their answers.

5. Focus on behaviours
We’re in the business of changing behaviours. This means we need to enable learners to do the right thing, not just to remember facts and figures. Make sure every question relates to a choice or decision learners will face in real life.

6. Make it challenging…
If the right answer is three times as long as the rest, or the wrong answers are likely to make learners laugh not think, there’s no point even asking the question. Yes, coming up with plausible wrong answers is hard, but it’s worth the effort.

7. …but keep it fair
Don’t try to trick learners or give them an impossible choice. Negative questions, options that are identical except for one word, and questions on topics that weren’t actually covered in the course are neither fair nor effective.

8. Avoid yes/no questions
Giving learners a 50% chance of guessing correctly is not the most effective test. If you must use them, include a couple more options and make sure that ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘maybe’ are qualified, so learners have to justify their choice.

9. Help people learn from their mistakes
Don’t just use ticks and crosses to show how learners have done. Provide constructive feedback to reinforce the message if they answer correctly, and explain where they went wrong if they answer incorrectly.

10. Keep the learners’ experience in mind
Focusing on behaviours is one way to answer the ‘what’s in it for me?’ question. But there are other ways – for instance, pre-tests assess existing knowledge and point towards the most relevant training units. Time efficient and effective!

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Top ten tips for writing effective e-learning questions

We all want our e-learning to be a positive experience for the learner and deliver results for the business. Here are Saffron’s top ten tips for delivering engaging, effective, excellent instructional design every time.

1. Set testable, behavioural learning outcomes
Before you start designing the course, make sure you understand what you want the learners to be able to do by the end of the course. Do you really want them just to understand something, or do you want them to take action?

2. Put yourself in the learners’ shoes
At the start of the project, ask yourself what the learners already know about the subject and what questions they are likely to have. Then make sure you answer those questions in the training.

3. Emulate the best in classroom training
Great classroom training is often down to two key things – shared experiences and human interaction. Apply these lessons to your e-learning: use case studies or testimonials from real life, and build up a dialogue with your learner.

4. Remember: content is king
All good training is interactive – most people will switch off if they’re just reading, or listening, not actually doing anything. But make sure the interactions are driven by the content, not the other way around.

5. Use technology to enhance (not define) your solution
Likewise, there are near endless possibilities offered by technology these days and they really can turn something good into something great, but don’t let them define your solution – the strategy, not the technology, should drive the design.

6. Include scenarios to demonstrate relevance
The best way to change behaviours is to use scenarios that put the learners in a realistic situation. Ask them to make a decision, identify a problem or suggest a solution – this way, you’re equipping them to do the right thing in real life.

7. Test and tell, don’t tell and test
The model of telling someone something and testing them on it shortly afterwards tests memory, not understanding. It’s more effective to ask learners to think for themselves and draw on their own experiences to reach the right answer.

8. Make it easy for learners
No matter how engaging the content or innovative the design, if the course can’t be navigated easily or if it’s not accessible, you’ll give your learners a negative experience.

9. Speak the learners’ language
You’re designing a training course, not an instructional manual. Strike a conversational tone and speak in plain English – you’re much more likely to engage your learners than if you take a formal tone or use lots of legal or business jargon.

10. Get a second opinion
It’s hard to be objective when you’re the one who’s written the content. Before declaring your storyboards finished, ask a colleague or friend to take a look. Their first impression will give you a good idea of how learners will react later.

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Top ten tips for excellent instructional design