The 5 Steps to My eLearning Development Process

When I first started creating eLearning courses, I had no idea what I was doing, and I certainly did not follow any type of development process. However, over the years, I’ve since created a standard eLearning development process that I follow each time I create a new course. And while there are a lot of different methods and processes to eLearning development, I’ve found my eLearning development process works the best for me.

In this post, I’ll share with you the five steps to my eLearning development process.

Step One: Plan the Project

My 5-step eLearning development process Tim Slade

The first step in my eLearning development process is to: Plan the Project. Before you begin building your eLearning course, it’s important to spend time with your stakeholders and subject matter experts to plan and scope the total project. When planning your eLearning project, you’ll conduct a kickoff meeting with your stakeholders to determine the learning objectives of your course, agree upon a project plan, and draft a development timeline.

Check out these posts to learn more about planning your eLearning project:

Step Two: Draft a Storyboard

My 5-step eLearning development process Tim Slade

The second step in my eLearning development process is to: Draft a Storyboard. During this step of the eLearning development process, you’ll work with your subject matter experts to collect and organize your learning content. You’ll then develop that content into a storyboard for your stakeholders and subject matter experts to review.

Check out these posts to learn more about drafting a storyboard:

Step Three: Develop the Course

My 5-step eLearning development process Tim Slade

The third step in my eLearning development process is to: Develop the Course. Development typically starts by creating a prototype of the course. A prototype is simply a short sample of the course, which lets your stakeholders and subject matter experts get a preview of what the final course will look like. This lets them make any changes or suggestions to the final look and feel. Once the prototype is approved, you’ll then develop the entire course and conduct a series of review cycles with your stakeholders and subject matter experts along the way.

Check out these posts to learn more about developing your course:

Step Four: Review the Course

My 5-step eLearning development process Tim Slade

The fourth step in my eLearning development process is to: Review the Course. Once you’ve finalized the development of your eLearning course, you want to spend time conduct a detailed quality assurance (QA) check of the entire course. A QA check is meant to help you identify any outstanding typos, grammar errors, and most importantly, any functionality errors.

Check out these posts to learn more about reviewing your course:

Step Five: Deliver the Course

My 5-step eLearning development process Tim Slade

The fifth step in my eLearning development process is to: Deliver the Course. Depending on how you want to make your eLearning course available to your learners, you’ll either publish your course to a Learning Management System (LMS) or some other methods via the internet. During this steps, it’s also important for you to organize and archive your project files and conduct a project retrospective.

Check out these posts to learn more about finalizing your eLearning project:

Is your eLearning development process similar or different from mine? If so, how? Share your thoughts by commenting below!

Additional Resources

Tim Slade
Tim Slade is a speaker, author, and award-winning freelance eLearning designer. Having spent the last decade working to help others elevate their eLearning and visual communications content, Tim has been recognized and awarded within the eLearning industry multiple times for his creative and innovative design aesthetics. Tim is a regular speaker at international eLearning conferences, is a recognized Articulate Super Hero, author of The eLearning Designer’s Handbook and creator of The eLearning Designer's Academy.

8 Responses to “The 5 Steps to My eLearning Development Process

  • Thanks for sharing! My process is similar but this is a great reminder of how simple it can be!

  • Scot Vessell
    6 years ago

    I LOVE that you have two steps before you even OPEN an authoring tool. Thank you for the additional links beneath each individual step. Great article. Great learning, Tim.

  • Rey Ortiz
    6 years ago

    I enjoyed these steps and think e-learning is essential. Making sure to have a plan and execute it effectively! Very helpful!

  • This is even helpful for professional elearning content development companies. As an elearning company by ourselves this post has shown us an insight how simple the development stages can be. Thank you for contributing such an helpful article for the elearning community.

  • These 5 steps are really helpful. Thanks for contributing.

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