This document provides guidance for developing an educational module. It discusses establishing goals and assessments, storyboarding the module, communicating with writing partners, addressing copyright issues, testing and revising, writing an instructor story, and tracking assessment data. Key recommendations include writing goals and assessments well the first time, recording all storyboarding ideas, finding images and data sets before testing, and deciding in advance what assessment data to collect.

1. FIRST STEPS
Module goals, unit objectives, and assessments
 Frustrating and slow-going, but writing them well the first time really
pays off
 Good rule of thumb: never use the word “understand”
 Ensure that your assessments measure what they’re supposed to
measure
Storyboarding your module
 Doesn’t work for everyone but has been great for me all 3 times
 This is not the time to discard ideas that may not work—record
everything (in the CMS) and discard later

2. WHILST CREATING YOUR MODULE
Frequent communication with your writing partner
 2 minutes is better than nothing
 Before you leave this meeting, compare your schedules for the
next 6 months
 Regular meeting days/times are probably ideal but not always
realistic
Copyright issues
 Time consuming and often unnecessary
 Find or create the necessary images/data sets prior to testing
 Get others to do the work for you

3. TESTING, REVISION, AND FINAL PUBLICATION
Writing your instructor story
 Arguably the most beneficial element for prospective adopters
 Record your classroom observations in real time (if possible)
 Include what went well, surprises, what didn’t go well, and
specific notes on what you would change the next time
Keeping track of assessment data
 Decide with your partner well in advance which data to collect
 Have students record their ID numbers at the top of the page
 Send complete data set to SERC immediately