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

Developing a Style Guide as a Means of Defining a Method of Practice INTE 6930: Field Experience Report Kay Miller INTE 6930 6/4/2011

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

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

Developing a Style Guide as a Means of Defining a Method of Practice 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 best practices 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). 3

Developing a Style Guide as a Means of Defining a Method of Practice 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 Illustration 1: The D5 model (Miller, 2011).

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.

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

Illustration 2: Schedule of deliverables (Miller, 2011). 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 5

Developing a Style Guide as a Means of Defining a Method of Practice 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 6

Developing a Style Guide as a Means of Defining a Method of Practice 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 recommendations 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, Illustration 3: Example of a "Tip" accessory (highlighed in which usually consists of a drag-and-drop, yellow) and a decorative illustration (CU:FERPA, 2009) 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

Developing a Style Guide as a Means of Defining a Method of Practice 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 8

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

Developing a Style Guide as a Means of Defining a Method of Practice 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 to exactly 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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Developing a Style Guide as a Means of Defining a Method of Practice 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 continuous review, 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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Developing a Style Guide as a Means of Defining a Method of Practice References

Bonilla, D. & Stedham, A. (May 20, 2011). Learning Content Development: Engaging SMEs. Retrieved May 28, 2011 from http://www.trainingindustry.com/webinars/learning-content-development.aspx Clark, R. C. (2008). Building expertise: cognitive methods for training and performance improvement, (3rd 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 courseware product: my.cu.edu. Johnson, R. (2006). e-Learning style guide for the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), version 1.1. Richmond, VA: Virginia Department of Health. Retrieved from http://www.vdh.state.va.us/DL/toolkit/eLearning%20Style%20Guide%20%20VDH%20V1.1.pdf 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 the visual novice, (3rd ed.). Berkely, CA: Peach Pit Press.

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

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 your courses. I am writing a report for my graduate program at the University of Colorado Denver about the results of using the style guide. Would you mind taking some time to answer the questions below? Your responses will be used in my report, and any feedback you give will also be used to guide improvements for future editions of the style 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. 4. 5. 6. 7. How have you used the ELD Style Guide? What courses have you used it with? What aspects of the guide were most helpful to you? Were any parts of the guide confusing, or missing information? Please describe. What examples or illustrations would you suggest we add to clarify information?

Thank you for your help with this project.

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