Instructional Design – Multimedia Training (John Stormes)

Subscriber price: $160.00, Non-subscriber price: $200.00
Estimated total study time: 7 hours 9 minutes [Enroll now]

The development of multimedia presentations calls for the efforts of people with many different talents. When such presentations are produced for training purposes, these creative efforts are most successfully engaged when controlled by the disciplined application of instructional design principles. This course helps you, as one of these talented contributors, the instructional designer, build the confidence needed to take on this leadership role.

The course explains the multimedia production process for both video and on-line instruction and shows you how to prepare a proposal for multimedia training.

You will study four major areas involved in developing multimedia for training:

  1. How to assess training requirements for possible multimedia applications
  2. How to write proposals for a multimedia training solution based on needs assessments
  3. What you need to know to develop scripts for multimedia training
  4. What production of multimedia material involves

The following text provides recommended reading for this course: Ruth Colvin Clark and Richard E. Mayer, e-Learning and the Science of Instruction. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 2003.

The technical side of multimedia production is covered only briefly in this course. A good resource for production in a commercial or educational environment is the following:

Ray DiZazzo, Corporate Media Production. Woburn, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann (Focal Press), 2000.

1. The Promise of Multimedia & the Reality of Training

This orientation lesson provides background on the development of the multimedia concept. It introduces a high-level framework for understanding the field as it applies to training.

(Estimated study time: 37 minutes)

2. Multimedia Basics

Multimedia broaden the range of possibilities for presenting instruction. From handouts to videos, they can help learners see better, hear better, and respond better. The only limits are appropriateness for the instructional methods and the cost to produce. The professionalism multimedia contribute to instruction is obtained by selecting formats of presentation and production styles appropriate to the message. This lesson prepares you for writing a Program Needs Analysis, which is introduced in Lesson 4.

(Estimated study time: 53 minutes)

3. Principles of Multimedia Instruction

This lesson explains the six principles of multimedia described by Clark and Mayer. It discusses how the principles apply to e-learning and other media applications as well.

(Estimated study time: 1 hour 7 minutes)

4. Developing the Multimedia Proposal

This lesson introduces the main parts of the multimedia proposal and the program needs assessment (PNA) the proposal is developed from. It describes the purpose of the PNA and the information that is developed for it.

(Estimated study time: 26 minutes)

5. Visualizing the Presentation: The Program Concept

Developing a program concept that most effectively introduces and supports a block of training content using multimedia material is a major challenge for an instructional designer. It should be a collaborative effort involving guidance from the client and the multimedia producer. The following are the major concerns:

(Estimated study time: 31 minutes)

6. Script Writing for Multimedia Production

Script writing divides data collection and analysis from multimedia production activities. Great skill and care goes into selection, organization, visualization, and unambiguous writing so that the script becomes a clear plan to produce a successful communication or training program. This lesson explains the three principal steps: outline, treatment, and script, and has the primary objective to help you prepare a satisfactory script.

(Estimated study time: 1 hour 2 minutes)

7. The Multimedia Production Process

A summary of the multimedia production process as it applies primarily to videos and slide-tape programs.

(Estimated study time: 1 hour 25 minutes)

8. Production of Online Multimedia Training

This lesson covers the production process of creating an on-line course. It summarizes the tasks that are performed and the skills the participants in a project need to develop.

(Estimated study time: 47 minutes)

9. Course Summary

Every program involving multimedia is likely to have unique requirements. Therefore, program development steps summarized in this lesson should be interpreted more as reminders than as instructions of what must be done to develop a program. They are intended to remind you of major ideas presented in the course you have completed, but the goals and content of a particular program should drive the choices you make.

(Estimated study time: 23 minutes)