Discussion on developing small modules or complete courses using Captivate
Should you develop small modules and include them into an LMS, or should you develop complete modules or courses?
When developing an online course using Captivate, you will have to answer to yourself how you want to structure your course. And the answer will generally be found in who your audience is. If you are a professor in a university that uses a common LMS, then you should be developing small modules that you incorporate into the larger LMS. The course structure should be in the course shell of your LMS. If your audience is a company or students from around the world who might be interested in taking your course, then you should think about building the entire course in Captivate.
However, in either case, you might want to start by creating lots of small modules that you can later incorporate into a larger project. Just make sure that you keep a uniform look and navigation in all our modules.
Most people do not like first to sit and plan a project. Not planning sufficiently is a big mistake. If you do not plan, you will be redoing and correcting work. And that will take more time, effort, and resources than if you had done appropriate planning. So, while it might seem superfluous, select a look or template for your entire course. Make sure that it has all the capabilities that you might want. Make sure that you like it. And then use that template in all the modules. You might wish even to purchase an already made template. There are a few good ones out there. But if you do that, make sure that you have the necessary copyrights to use it for courses that you will later sell. Not all licenses are equal. Please review them before making a purchase.
I do not really agree, think there are some missing considerations:
- On which device will the modules be watched? Mobile devices require almost by definition small modules.
- Which bandwidth will be used, very different for learners not only depending on the country but also on the situation.
- Is the module meant for a JIT refresher (like most passive videos) or for real learning.
- The LMS is IMO irrelevant for the choice. In my career I have been a university professor, where my students had access to a LMS. The advantage of a LMS is the collaboration with the eLearning courses for structure and sequence. Whether the modules are small or not, doesn’t matter. When training adults in the workplace, you need to provide that structure and preferred sequence within your course. That doesn’t mean that you need one very big course (not manageable) but you will have a main module linking to individual modules about topics.
Maybe you are not talking about Captivate, but a template is useless in Captivate, you need a Theme.
Thanks for your reply. I agree regarding all the additional considerations that should be looked upon.
I am trying to differentiate between full fledged courses and modules. I am also trying to point out that you can develop a full fledged course by first developing many modules. However, if you want to follow that route, you need make sure that you keep a consistent look and style. Just like when several people collaborate in writing a report or book. It is much easier if at the beginning they agree on the style of writing that they are going to use.
And I am mostly talking about Higher Education not so much Corporate education. HE tends to require full fledged courses while Corporate Education often uses modules for just in time learning.
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