In my last post, I talked about potential roadblocks when building software training. In this post, I examine some key things to include when building software training. For the purpose of this post “training” refers to “e-learning.”
Here, the main goal of an e-learning course is teaching the learner how to use the software – getting them up-to-speed quickly so they can use it in their daily workflow. To that end, the course should be heavy on demos and hands-on practice. However, there are some other items you’ll want to include to structure and guide the learner through the course.
Structure
Let’s say the course has five lessons plus an intro lesson. A helpful thing to include in an intro lesson is a graphic organizer. This is a graphical representation of a high-level overview of the course. To reinforce the course content, you can include this at the beginning of each lesson and update the image to indicate what aspect the lesson covers (either by removing content from the image or greying out areas you aren’t discussing in that lesson). Check out Miro for some great examples and explanations of different graphic organizers.
Another helpful item to add at the beginning of a course or lesson is a list of key terms. Software often has a lot of terms that new users aren’t familiar with so including a short section at the beginning of your course, or better yet each lesson, helps cement those concepts in your learner’s mind. If you’re wondering how to include these in your authoring tool, here are some ideas:
- a glossary of all terms
- a tabbed interaction in each lesson
- a bulleted list in each lesson
- an accordion (if the key terms have long definitions or include examples)
- a labeled graphic (to show key terms in the interface)
It’s also a good idea to think about the big picture of the course. What topic or area is the best place to start with when teaching the software? How do the lessons tie together? The graphic organizer helps with this. Are the lengths of the lessons similar or is one lesson overloaded with content? Are you showing or explaining multiple ways to do different tasks in the software? Do you have software demos and practices in each lesson?
While you are thinking about course structure, be thinking about accessibility too. Will you have images or screenshots? If so, they should have alt text. Will you have audio narration? You’ll at least need closed captions. A transcript is also helpful. This also applies to video content. There are other accessibility requirements but these are some of the baseline items you need to include.
Tell
It’s also a good idea to include some contextual reference in a software training course. How can the learner implement this in their job? What are the benefits of using it? Are there multiple ways to do use it? Why is this the best or most efficient way to use it?
Along with answering some or all of these questions, a great tactic is to create a real-world scenario that directly explains how the software helps users do their jobs. If your lessons build on each other, it helps to keep the same scenario throughout the course. If it’s too complex to keep the same scenario, it’s okay to create smaller scenarios for each lesson or topic.
How do you want to introduce the course or a lesson? A talking-head video brings an instructor into the course and adds more personalization. If it’s not in your budget to record an instructor, there are plenty of AI tools where you can create talking avatars. Or maybe you want to introduce the course by immediately describing a real-world scenario that sets up the learning experience.
Show
Once you set up the context you can then show how the software works with a demo. Demos provide a good baseline understanding for the software. And they can generally be broken into smaller chunks to target specific tasks in the software. Depending on the complexity of the software and your knowledge of it, the demos might need to be recorded by an instructor or subject matter expert.
The great thing about demos in e-learning is that they can be viewed as many times as you like. This is particularly handy if the instructor talks too fast or if it is a complex topic.
Do
As I stated earlier, hands-on learning is the best way to learn and apply the software in the real world. Many training teams have access to a test or training staging area of the software. This allows for direct access to try out the software. Each lesson of the course should have practice instructions that the learner can use directly in the software. These are typically stepped out lists showing a particular function within the software. As learners progress through the course, you can provide less scaffolding or directions on how to do the basic tasks.
Sometimes you don’t have access to a live version of the software. In this case, you can build a software simulation with your favorite e-learning authoring tool and add the “clicks” or text entry the learner needs to perform to walk through the task. It’s not as good as the real thing, but it at least mimics what the software looks like and what actions the learner would take to complete a task.
The above items aren’t an exhaustive list of what to include in software training. And you don’t have to include all of them to create a successful learning experience. But they are items that I’ve learned to include over the years in order to help the learner improve their skillset.