developing a style guide as a means of defining a method of practice

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Developing a Style Guide as a Means of Defining a Method of Practice

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Developing a Style Guide as a Means of Defining a Method of PracticeINTE 6930: Field Experience Report

Kay MillerINTE 6930

6/4/2011




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The style guide

The office of Employee Learning and Development (ELD) at the University of Colorado uses a

style guide to lend a measure of consistency to all online courses ELD offers. The original style guide

was written in 2010 with subject matter experts (SME) in mind, as they frequently write the courses.

The style guide for SMEs described the script format and tools and gave basic grammar and language

usage suggestions.

Currently, ELD is undergoing a shift in its role in the University of Colorado System. Until

recently, ELD served two main functions: legal oversight and technical development of online courses.

Development is now performed by CITT, which codes courses and loads them into the SkillSoft shell.

The legal aspect is handled in part by the SMEs and regulatory experts who notify us when courses

need to be updated and inform us of what content needs to be included.

However, ELD, under the direction of Janet Lowe, is now strengthening its role as an

instructional design firm providing a range of formal and informal learning opportunities for CU staff,

faculty and affiliates. ELD is planning to use its expertise to reach out to departments within the

University of Colorado and learning professionals in other companies and institutions. Part of that

effort involves creating a collection of online resources known as the ELD Toolkit that will contain a

style guide, course development templates and related documents.

The need for change

The old 2010 style guide was established by Employee Learning and Development (ELD) to

guide subject matter experts (SMEs) as they write the text of online courses. At the time, ELD did very

little instructional design, a task that was left to the SMEs. As the role of ELD began to change, the




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need for a review of the style guide became clear, as the guide no longer reflected ELD standards or

practices.

My supervisor, Janet Lowe, asked me to conduct the review because of my familiarity with bestpractices in instructional design. I felt that the document could provide ELD with a foundation for

consistency in developing our online courses. As I reviewed the style guide, I envisioned a new

approach in which the style guide could be a focal point for defining what ELD is, how ELD works,

and what our development standards are. The new ELD style guide would not be a traditional style

guide; it would not necessarily have to cover all aspects of grammar, usage or mechanics, as there are

already many well known style guides that could be used as reference. Instead, the focus of the style

guide would be design standards that ELD follows to enhance collaboration with clients and SMEs.

The development process

To revise the style guide, I used three primary guiding questions:

1. How should ELD work with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)? In other words, what

should SMEs expect from us, and what should we expect from SMEs?

2. What conventions will ELD adhere to in the future?

3. What current practices in ELD are counter to current research in learning?

Guiding Question 1: How should ELD work with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)?

To answer this question, I focused on defining ELD's instructional design model. After

researching different models, it was found that, although ELD is comfortable and familiar with ADDIE,

the D5 model (Discover, Define, Design, Develop, Deliver) is closer to the actual process we go

through to develop an instructional product. The D5 model is based on ADDIE, and it exists in different

formats used by different designers. The version of the D5 model used by ELD is based on the model

suggested by the Virginia Department of Health (2006).




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The phases of the D5 instructional design model include:

Discover: the initial planning phase of the course, which involves meetings between

SMEs and course designers, compilation of content and resources and establishment of

the project timeline

Define: sorting and refining information collected

during the Discover phase, which involves

establishing a project plan, identifying objectives

and preliminary sequencing of the content

Design: develop plans for the course, including

storyboards, sketches, templates and assessment

prototypes

Develop: refine the design plans from the previous

stage and begin to create the beta-testing version of the course and all its components

Deliver: revise the beta version based on feedback from stakeholders and launch the

finished course

Evaluation (review and revision) occurs through out the process, between and within each of the phases

(Miller, 2011).

The phases of the D5 model are cultivated further into a schedule of deliverables, which lists the

tasks and outcomes of each phase and identifies the deliverables in need of stakeholder approval before

designers can continue with the project.

Illustration 1: The D5 model (Miller,2011).




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The purpose of including the schedule of deliverables is to establish the expectations and

responsibilities for both the designers and the stakeholders throughout the project. The tasks and

deliverables listed in the schedule are the basis of three additional documents, created by ELD Director

Janet Lowe: a pricing guide, a service level agreement form and a statement of work form.

The D5 instructional design process was included as a way to standardize production, and

ensure that ELD would be able to identify and meet client expectations. Design processes are not

always described in style guides, but I felt it was important to include a description of D5 because the

guide is intended largely for clients who may not be familiar with instructional design processes.

Defining the D5 model and describing its relationship to ELD's process serves several purposes. First,

it identifies the steps that ELD follows so that we can ensure that we have met clients' needs. Second,

the D5 definition helps ELD standardize costs by serving as a precursor to the pricing guide, statement

of work and service level agreement forms created by Janet Lowe. Third, because many of ELD's

Illustration 2: Schedule of deliverables (Miller, 2011).




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clients are not trained as instructional designers, the style guide (especially components such as the D5

model description) serve as a quick introduction to instructional design, and helps them to understand

what is involved in creating a new online course from beginning to end.Guiding Question 2: What conventions will ELD adhere to in the future?

ELD adheres to many conventions, many of which come from external sources and are not

included in the current style guide, such as Web design standards and University of Colorado branding

standards. Conventions that are described in the style guide include the script template, assessment

map, and creating effective objectives.

Script template and assessment map.

Among the documents that ELD sends to clients at the beginning of a project are a script

template and assessment map (called the OCQ map) created by ELD Learning Analyst David Sprouse.

The template and map were created to standardize and streamline the writing of text, objectives and

quiz questions for each online course. The template contains preset (but adaptable) parts, such as a

module title, formatted page or ordered list that can be inserted into the script. The OCQ map helps

SMEs and designers create objectives according to a formula, connect objectives to assessment

questions and track the module and page number on which the answer appears in the course.

The script template and OCQ map are briefly described in the appendix of the style guide, and

supplementary documents are in development that will offer instructions on their use. Both the

template and the map will be included along with the style guide in the online ELD Toolkit.

Objectives.

The 2010 recommendations for objectives were adequate as written, so the new

recommendations reinforce the importance of developing good objectives for planning the course.

Otherwise, the recommendations for using or formulating objectives have not changed much from the




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2010 style guide; ELD is still in the process of defining how objectives will be integrated into planning

and into the text of a course itself.

Guiding Question 3: What current practices in ELD are counter to current research in learning? The 2010 style guide recommended the addition of side notes, tips or interesting facts to page of

an online course. In the 2010 style guide, these additions were referred to collectively as the Toolbox .

To avoid confusion with the online ELD Toolkit that will contain the style guide, the additions will be

referred to in this report as accessories . When accessories are included in an online course, they often

contain tangential or unimportant information related to the main content of the page. The 2010 style

guide claimed that the accessories “reinforce learning,” and did not offer any recommendati ons for how

to use the accessories effectively.

Current research shows that such

accessories are not only ineffective, but

actually counteractive, as they draw

attention away from essential content and

increase cognitive load (Clark, 2008).

Some accessories described in the 2010

style guide may be useful, however, such

as Try It , a type of practice exercise,

which usually consists of a drag-and-drop,

identification or matching exercise. The current (2011) style guide recommends the use of certain

accessories, such as Try It, when such exercises are pertinent to the content. Future style guide

iterations will offer more detailed recommendations for these accessories to stem misuse. As a rule, the

Illustration 3: Example of a "Tip" accessory (highlighed inellow) and a decorative illustration (CU:FERPA, 2009)




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style guide recommends that if information is important, put it in the main text of the course; if not,

information should be left out.

Images.The 2010 style guide recommended adding images to online courses, but, as with the

accessories, made the assumption that any image related to the text would be helpful, and made no

further recommendations for the effective use of images. Ruth Clark (2010) calls non-explanatory

images “decorative,” and explains that, like tangential information, decorative images hinder learning

more than they help.

The current style guide also recommends the use of images, but stipulates that they should

directly illustrate and explain text on the page, in such a way that would be instructive even without the

presence of related text.

Feedback from users

At the time of writing, feedback regarding the style guide from ELD team members has been

sparse. The strongest feedback has been from Janet Lowe, who has given continuous feedback

throughout development, especially for the schedule of deliverables and the D5 process. More

involvement from other ELD team members is expected as the full ELD Toolkit takes shape and topics

of interest to those other team members, such as SME engagement and accessibility standards, are

developed further.

The style guide has been distributed to current and potential clients, both inside and outside the

University of Colorado, as new projects are initiated. Lowe, who is responsible for distributing the style

guide, reports that most recipients of the guide are eager to use it as they write the content of their

courses. Among the groups that have provided feedback on the style guide are: Wardenberg Health

Center, Office of the University Controller and UC Denver Environmental Health and Safety. A survey




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was sent to ten style guide users, but only one sent back a response. However, user responses to the

style guide have been conveyed to me by Lowe. Responses are reprinted below from a May 20 email:

Wardenberg Health Center: Enthusiastic response to the style guide;(one individual) used the style guide when writing an online course . . .

we saved a lot of time with our instruction design of the course after

she used the style guide to provide the initial content; (two others) are

writing a course script for us and are also using the style guide as their

“bible” to make sure they use the correct online writing conventions.

Office of the University Controller: Used the style guide in the

development of their update travel course, the first SkillSoft online

training that was developed in our template. Feedback from OUC was

very positive.

Environmental Health and Safety, Denver – Positive feedback from the

SMEs in this dept (sic), especially (one individual) who felt the guide

provided her with the necessary background to review our content and

provide effective feedback.

(Janet Lowe, personal communication, May 20, 2011)

The style guide has also been shared with SkillSoft administrators at the University of Alaska,

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Colorado Higher Education SkillSoft User Group

and the University of North Carolina.

Many clients are unfamiliar with instructional design, and rely on ELD for design expertise.




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One group is reported to have taken the style guide quite seriously, writing notes all over it, and trying

to follow the guidance as strictly as possible. In doing so, they seem to have missed the essence of the

document and have given little attention to effective design. For example, they limit themselves toexactly two hundred words per page, whether or not two hundred words results in a logical page break.

These are signals that the current style guide does not fully take into consideration the needs of

the novice instructor. For future iterations, consideration should be taken for how the guide is written

and what elements are emphasized in the document so that the relationship of technique to design is

more thoroughly explained. As the sole respondent to the user survey said, “ Who is the audience of the

style guide? If it is someone without instructional design background, then more terms need to be

defined.”

Future iterations

Because many clients who use the style guide are inexperienced in instructional design and rely

heavily on the advice given in the guide, future iterations will give more attention to what factors

influence good design and why. The guide will include basic recommendations for design, such as

CARP – Contrast, Alignment, Repetition and Proximity (Williams, 2008), as well as recommendations

for including images in one of four categories for instruction – Organizational, Relational,

Transformational and Interpretive (Clark, 2010).

ELD is also researching best practices in Web design and universal accessibility. Because of the

fluidity of Web design and accessibility standards, the style guide will make efforts to summarize the

most important practices that ELD uses.




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Conclusion

The style guide as it currently stands is primarily a summary of ELD's current practices,

whether or not they would be considered “best practices”. The style guide undergoes continuousreview, evaluation and revision. It is not expected to be a static document, nor should there ever be a

finished product. The style guide is intended to give a focal point to course development processes and

standards, and it is hoped that the document will become a topic of further discussion.

As Employee Learning and Development enters a new fiscal year and a new phase as a

department, the style guide and related documents and processes will be developed further. In the next

revision, the style guide will grow to include expanded passages on course development, accessibility

standards and engagement of subject matter experts. Some of these expanded passages may eventually

form peripheral documents to be included in a future online ELD Toolkit available to clients.




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References

Bonilla, D. & Stedham, A. (May 20, 2011). Learning Content Development: Engaging SMEs .

Retrieved May 28, 2011 fromhttp://www.trainingindustry.com/webinars/learning-content-development.aspx

Clark, R. C. (2008). Building expertise: cognitive methods for training and performanceimprovement , (3 rd ed.). San Fransisco, CA: Pfeiffer.

Clark, R. C. (2010). Evidence-based training methods: a guide for training professionals . East Peoria,IL: Versa Press.

CU: FERPA . [online course]. (2009). Retrieved from University of Colorado and coursewareproduct: my.cu.edu.

Johnson, R. (2006). e-Learning style guide for the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), version1.1. Richmond, VA: Virginia Department of Health. Retrieved fromhttp://www.vdh.state.va.us/DL/toolkit/eLearning%20Style%20Guide%20-%20VDH%20V1.1.pd f

Miller, K. (2011). Style Guide for Writing Online Custom Courses . Unpublished Manuscript.Employee Learning and Development, University of Colorado, Denver, CO.

Style guide for writing custom online courses: written for subject matter experts (SME) . (2010).Unpublished Manuscript. Employee Learning and Development, University of Colorado,Denver, CO.

Williams, R. (2008). The non-designer's design book: design and typographical principles for thevisual novice , (3 rd ed.). Berkely, CA: Peach Pit Press.




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Appendix

Survey Questions for Style Guide Users

Earlier this year, ELD sent you a copy of our style guide to help with development of one of yourcourses. I am writing a report for my graduate program at the University of Colorado Denver about theresults of using the style guide.

Would you mind taking some time to answer the questions below? Your responses will be used in myreport, and any feedback you give will also be used to guide improvements for future editions of thestyle guide.

1. What is your job title and department?

2. What is your background in training or course design? (Please include years of experience and educational background, if applicable)

3. How have you used the ELD Style Guide?

4. What courses have you used it with?

5. What aspects of the guide were most helpful to you?

6. Were any parts of the guide confusing, or missing information? Please describe.

7. What examples or illustrations would you suggest we add to clarify information?

Thank you for your help with this project.

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