Developing a Course Design Stylebook
From ElateWiki
Project management practices offer some useful tools for e-learning course design work. Project management includes processes to select team members, bring them together, and help them co-design a project. Project management surfaces necessary information about workflows, work decisions, standards-setting, scheduling and budgeting. It involves documentation of processes--for team guidance and grant- and work- documentation through a "statement of work" or "proposal of work". (Different corporate work environments have differing project management approaches, often including the use of embedded technologies.)
In multimedia projects, stylebooks are used to define content and technological parameters. These tools are helpful for e-learning course design.
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The Contents of a Stylebook
Stylebooks must be as comprehensive as possible. They are anticipatory in terms of projecting what work will have to be done for the particular project. They must align with extant standards in the technological field; they must align with the policy and guidelines affecting the work. These set guidelines for the work--before, during, and after the work. (Those who would inherit an e-learning course should have a stylebook to tell them what standards to use when evolving the course.)
TEAM INFORMATION
- team member roles and decision-making
- team member contact information
WORK DEFINITION
- the team's project goals
- the phases of the project
- the workflows (expressed both textually and by diagrams)
- the definition of tangibles
- the standards (technologically, pedagogically, legally, and otherwise)
- soft and hard deadlines
- the necessary work documentation
CURRICULAR CONTENTS
- the curricular contents
- the contents of the modules (if it's a modular build)
- the learning outcomes
- the assessments
- the interactivity
- the e-learning path or trajectory
- standards rubrics applied / domain field standards applied / accreditation standards applied
TECHNOLOGY
- the types and versions of software used
- the digital file types as outputs
- applied standards for interoperability and portability
AESTHETICS
- branding strategies
- aesthetics
- color template schemes
LEGAL
- intellectual property rules (and documentation of copyright ownership)
- accessibility compliance guidelines
The Style of a Stylebook
Stylebooks are written in the third-person, objective point-of-view. These are written as work documentation.
Stylebooks may be continually evolving throughout a project because most teams will face new decisions as the work evolves. It is important to capture the learning and decision-making as the work progresses. A stylebook is owned by the team members, so all have a say in its contents. Oftentimes, a team will assign one member to evolve and modify the stylebook. Teams will have a process for updating contents and documenting decisions that have been made.
Variable Contents
Stylebooks will vary in terms of contents depending on the project leads, the scope of work, the curricular domain, the projected learners, the technologies employed, and the available resources. Some elements of a stylebook will likely remain stable--such as the federal laws on intellectual property protections and accessibility compliance. These stable elements may provide a basis for a "template" stylebook in a particular workplace or for a work team that moves from project-to-project.