Top 10 Free Instructional Design and eLearning Resources

Do you want to:

🤩 develop, improve and grow as an instructional designer?
📚 add to your toolkit of handy resources?

Well, you are in the right place!

This blog is full of value! It is time to level yourself up (again).

💙💜 We have pulled together our top 10 free Belvista Studios’ instructional design and eLearning resources.

We are all about change in behaviour so in the spirit of this not being a passive experience for you, we suggest that you look through the list, download which ones will add the most value to your life and include them in your process for future use.

Here we go! 👇🏻

#10 Alt-Tabbing Storyline 360 Tips

Do you:

• use Articulate Storyline 360?
• want to consider all of your users and their individual needs?

This document shares our lessons learned at Belvista Studios, which will support you in achieving a more accessible eLearning course using Storyline 360. It focuses on the alt-tabbing component of accessibility and will help you to avoid rework and learn from potential mistakes (let’s just say that we have made them for you 😏).

🤷‍♀️ Who is it for?

Instructional design or eLearning freelancers, consultants and agencies who want to:

• Create more user-friendly courses for their clients.
• Develop courses that better align with the accessibility standards when it comes to alt-tabbing.
• Incorporate alt-tabbing into their eLearning to ensure learners of all abilities are being considered.

👉🏻 Download our FREE Accessibility Storyline 360 Tips here.

#9 Graphic Design Tips Resource

Do you want to avoid common design mistakes made by instructional designers and eLearning developers?

This document shares our 9 simple tips for increasing learning through improved design.

The 9 tip topics are:

• Don’t Make your Learners Think.
• Avoid Text.
• Visual Triggers.
• Make it Intuitive.
• Colour Meaning.
• Make it Easy.
• Voiceover and Audio.
• The Adventure of the Travelling Eye.
• Avoid Clutter.

🤷‍♀️ Who is it for?

Instructional design or eLearning freelancers, consultants and agencies who want/need to:

• Incorporate graphic design techniques into their solutions.
• Create solutions that provide an effective user-experience.
• Impress their clients through delivering eye-catching and appealing solutions.

👉🏻 Download our FREE Graphic Design Tips Resource here.

#8 Writing Effective Scenario Questions Guide

Do you want to change behaviour by asking the right questions?

How often do you encourage your learners to practice their new skills? If you want to meet your project goal you often need your learners to adjust their behaviour to align with it.

Knowledge acquisition is important but the magic happens when behaviour shifts. Scenario questions are a great way to achieve this.

Writing scenario questions can be challenging. Where do you start? How do you make them engaging? How do you ensure that they meet the project goal?

At Belvista Studios we have been writing scenario questions for years. We have learnt what works, what does not and the techniques that will make your job 100 times easier (not to mention the epic impact it will have on your projects, learners and clients!).

This guide shares our process for writing scenario questions, empowering you to apply it to your own projects and in turn, increasing the impact of your learning solutions.

🤷‍♀️ Who is it for?

Freelancers, consultants, in-house teams or agencies that create training solutions and who want to:

• Create effective scenario questions.
• Change behaviour through their learning solutions.
• Follow a step-by-step process for creating better scenario questions.
• Impress their clients, learners and team through presenting high-quality scenario questions.

👉🏻 Download our FREE Writing Effective Scenario Questions Guide here.

#7 Branching Scenarios: A Case Study

Do you want to know how to create an effective branching scenario?

This case study takes you through the process that we took with a client to enable their leaders to effectively hold wellness conversations with their team members.

The process revealed through the case study enables you to gain an understanding of how we were able to create an effective, conversation eLearning scenario. From managing the project to developing the solution into existence, our aim for this case study is to demonstrate how we do what we do and inspire and educate you for your own projects.

🤷‍♀️ Who is it for?

Instructional design and eLearning developers who are freelancers through to agency owners who:

• Want to gain inspiration from other successful instructional design and eLearning projects to apply to their own projects.
• Want to understand what it’s like to work in an instructional design or eLearning team.
• Are seeking to learn more about strategies and methodologies that can be used for learning solutions.
• Want to learn how to create effective, branching scenarios.

👉🏻 Download our FREE Branching Scenarios: A Case Study here.

#6 Video Planning and Logistics Template

Do you want to plan and prepare today to improve your filming solutions tomorrow?

This video planning and logistics template encourages you to record and plan out the scene details, dates, times, locations, actors and props for your desired film project.

These are the tried and true steps followed by an award-winning eLearning studio to deliver a successful eLearning project that incorporates filmed videos.

🤷‍♀️ Who is it for?

Instructional design or eLearning freelancers, consultants and agencies who:

• Require support with a step-by-step template to follow.
• Find themselves overwhelmed by the filming logistics aspect of an eLearning solution.
• Want to incorporate filmed videos into their projects but aren’t sure where to start.

👉🏻 Download our FREE Filming Logistics Template here.

#5 Quality Assurance Checklist

Do you want to avoid backtracking and fixing ‘finalised’ projects?

Having a QA checklist is the best way to ensure that all aspects of an eLearning solution are checked.

The person who is completing the QA can cross check each screen against the checklist and in-turn ensure that nothing is missed.

😉 Also, why wouldn’t you want to use a checklist generated from years of experience from an award-winning studio?

🤷‍♀️ Who is it for?

Freelancers, consultants, in-house teams, project managers or agencies that create eLearning solutions who:

• Want to deliver high-quality error-free solutions.
• Want a practical and efficient process for checking their eLearning solutions.

👉🏻 Download our FREE Quality Assurance (QA) Checklist here.

#4 eLearning Style Guide

Do you want to ensure complete uniformity in style and formatting for each of your client projects?

An eLearning style guide is a reference to ensure you are ‘on-brand’ with a client.

Our eLearning style guide incorporates guidance on:

• Fonts
• Colour codes
• Dot points
• Images
• Alignment
• States
• Quizzes
• Voiceover
• Other miscellaneous considerations.

🤷‍♀️ Who is it for?

Freelancers, consultants, in-house teams, project managers or agencies that create eLearning solutions who:

• Want to deliver solutions that are of high quality.
• Want a practical and efficient process to ensure they have created a project that is on-brand and consistently meets client requirements.

👉🏻 Download our FREE eLearning Style Guide here.

#3 User Acceptance Testing Approval Template

Do:

• you want to close your projects officially and avoid a never-ending project, with never-ending changes?
• your clients often ask for changes to be made to ‘completed’ projects?

This User Acceptance Testing Approval template represents official approval that the solution your client has received is fit for purpose and the project can therefore be approved and signed-off.

It also specifies the process for changes and fixes beyond the project close date and welcomes feedback on their experience of working with you.

🤷‍♀️ Who is it for?

Instructional design or eLearning freelancers, consultants and agencies who want to:

• Officially close projects.
• Ensure that their clients are satisfied with the end-solution.

👉🏻 Download our FREE User Acceptance Testing Approval Template here.

#2 Project Brief Questions

Do you want to

• effectively scope a training solution?
• get all stakeholders on the same page?

When starting a new project there are SOOOOO many things to consider and it can become overwhelming trying to figure out where to start.

By answering these questions you and your stakeholders will be better placed to see real change through your training solution.

🤷‍♀️ Who is it for?

Instructional designers and eLearning developers who:

• Are looking for some guidance on how to scope a learning solution.
• Find themselves overwhelmed when thinking of the 'right' questions to ask a client.

👉🏻 Download our FREE Project Brief Questions here.

#1 Storyboard Template

Do you want a useful tool for organising content into an effective eLearning module?

The storyboard is the blueprint of your eLearning solution. It is a plan that specifies the visual elements, sound elements, interactions and details relevant to the learning solution that will be developed. Simply, a storyboard outlines the learning content, screen by screen. Any developer should be able to pick up a storyboard and successfully develop the learning solution as it was planned.

This template:

• Provides you with a go-to resource to successfully plan and organise a potentially overwhelming stack of content into an eLearning course.
• Helps get all stakeholders on the same page for what will be developed (the final product).

🤷‍♀️ Who is it for?

Instructional designers and eLearning developers who:

• Are looking for a storyboard template.
• Find themselves overwhelmed by organising content into an eLearning course.
• Struggle to get clients to understand the end vision.

👉🏻 Download our FREE Microsoft PowerPoint storyboard template here.

You can also view our full list of products on our creator hub.

We encourage you to experiment and take action on the resources that resonate with you. You can also add value to the lives of others by sharing a resource/s with them that you know will help them on their journey.

COURSES

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GIVE GRATITUDE: This helps us on our mission to provide quality education to you.

References

Belvista Studios. 2021. Creator Hub. Retrieved from https://creatorhub.belvistastudios.com/.