1. The document summarizes a workshop on planning e-learning resources that was run by Carolyn Royston of the National Museums Online Learning Project and Rosie Cardiff of Tate. 2. The workshop aimed to help participants gain an understanding of how to plan an e-learning resource and create an action plan to take back to their institutions. 3. The workshop covered planning e-learning projects, developing frameworks, approaches to online content, and next steps. Participants engaged in activities to apply the concepts to their own e-learning resource ideas.

1. E-Learning workshop Carolyn Royston, National Museums Online Learning Project Rose Cardiff, Tate 9 April 2008 Museums and the Web, Montreal

2. Aims of the Workshop Gain an understanding of how to plan an e-Learning resource Create an action plan to take back to your institution Explore and share different ideas for your own e-Learning resources

3. Who we are Carolyn Royston Project Manager for the National Museums Online Learning Project (NMOLP) A partnership project involving 9 UK national museums Previously Head of e-Learning at a top 25 UK new media agency Developed several large cultural and educational online learning projects Primary school teacher

4. Who we are Rosie Cardiff E-Learning Editor, Tate Tate’s representative for the National Museums Online Learning Project Previously worked for 3 years for a commercial e-learning production company

5. Workshop approach Workshop draws on our experience of creating both formal and informal resources for the National Museums Online Learning Project (NMOLP) Throughout we will show examples of different planning stages of the resources Approach adaptable and scaleable to fit any e-Learning project – regardless of size and budget Opportunities throughout for you to share and plan for your own resources

6. NMOLP – what is it? Exciting and large-scale UK digital learning project Audiences are students, teachers & lifelong learners 9 national museums working in partnership First time UK national museums have worked together collaboratively 3 year project due to launch March ‘09 Funded by the UK Government British Museum Imperial War Museum National Portrait Gallery Natural History Museum Royal Armouries Sir John Soane’s Museum Tate The Wallace Collection Victoria and Albert Museum (lead partner)

7. What are we delivering for our audiences? Resources for schools (WebQuests) Resources for lifelong learners (Creative Journeys) Linking together 9 national collections via a federated search Resources that can be used & shared across all 9 national museums Popular and exciting ways of engaging new and existing audiences

8. Workshop programme Planning your e-Learning resource Developing a framework for production of your resource Approaches to online content Next steps E-Learning surgery

9. 1. Planning your project

10. Why is it important? NMOLP had 9 partner museums each with staff with different expertise ranging from no experience of e-Learning to a lot of experience Needed a common understanding of the project’s aims and deliverables Time constraints imposed by funders meant that we needed to have a clear plan and way forward

11. Planning your resource – key questions Who is your target audience? Informal or formal Is there an audience you are not addressing? What do you want to achieve with this resource? Internal objectives e.g. repurpose existing content Support a new education programme Web perspective What are the learning objectives?

12. Planning your resource – key questions Who is leading this project? Establish who is leading on this resource Allocate roles and responsibilities from the start Set up lines of communication Who else do you need to involve? How is the project funded? Are there implications when the funding ends?

13. Activity 1 – Planning your resource Work in groups of 3 Choose an e-learning resource from your group that you want to develop Each group fill in the template 15 mins activity 10 mins feedback

14. 2. Developing a framework for your resource

15. NMOLP framework Plan gave project a common understanding of deliverables Needed to expand this to map out broad functionality, design considerations, content requirements This step enabled us to visualise what we were producing, highlight challenges to overcome, and resources required for delivery

16. Step 1 - Develop a framework What is a framework? An approach for developing your resource Content and information design Paper-based Why is it important? Try different ideas and approaches Visual approach easy for everyone to understand Helps you to identify next steps

17. Step 2 – Test your ideas Test out your ideas on your target audience – use paper concepts Focus group with pupils and teachers Focus group with adults Invite stakeholders to attend sessions Be iterative Don’t be afraid to try different approaches and ideas Keep it simple to keep costs down Set time aside in your project plan for this very important stage

18. Step 3 - Wireframes Keep it very simple – work with what you’re comfortable with Wireframes can range from: Storyboard Post-its on big pieces of paper Simple designs on screen Basic Prototype to explore functionality Most important aspect is to see how web design and interface and content will work together

27. Step 4 – Draft content Who is writing your content? Remember you need to write for your audience? Children Older children Adults What are your learning objectives?

28. Step 5 – User testing Build into lifecycle of the project Doesn’t need a big budget Plan for more than one round of user testing Paper concepts Working model Decide how you will evaluate the different rounds of user testing and how it will inform future iterations

29. Activity 2 – Plan your framework What are the next steps for planning your resource? How will I go about making wireframes or storyboards? Who should be involved? Who will write draft content? How will I organise user testing? Work in groups of 3 Complete the template Activity 15 mins, discussion and feedback 10 mins

30. 3. Approaches to Online Content

31. What makes good online content? Limit your text Make good use of any multi-media Think about the best use of imagery Clear, simple and intuitive design Don’t forget your end users, keep testing ideas!

34. Key questions How will you produce content for your audience? Who will provide content? Do they have the right skills? What format will the content take? How will you make sure that your content maximises the potential of the web? How will you transform raw content into an online resource? Do you need content template? What will your Quality Control process be?

35. Activity 3 – Developing your online content Work in groups of 3 – change your group Complete the template Activity 10 mins, discussion and feedback 5 mins

36. 4. Summary

37. Summary and next steps You should now have: An outline project plan Plan for developing a framework A guide to developing your online content What are your next steps? Spend 5 mins writing down 3 key next steps

38. Contact details Carolyn Royston [email_address] Rose Cardiff [email_address]