4 Responses

1. Standards for e-Learning Materials
   Deborah

   For e-Learning to fulfil its promise, learning materials have to be designed so as to facilitate learning within a simulating whilst enjoyable environment.

   I was part of the Standards Committee that put together the Institute of IT Training e-Learning Standards for e-Learning Materials. These standards focus on seven key areas:

   -integral learner support
   -content interactive design
   -navigation usability
   -media quality
   -technical quality

   You can request a paper copy of the standards by sending an email to:
   enquiries@iitt.org.uk

   Alternatively why not visit http://www.iitt.org.uk

   Regards

2. Relevant answer
   Adrian’s answer doesn’t seem to be related to the questions you ask, which are not about IT training.

   For online writing in general I recommend The Web Content Style Guide by Gerry McGovern et al (FT/Prentice Hall, 2002).
   (Reviewed here)

   If you are looking for a software tool you ought to look at Macromedia Studio MX (especially Dreamweaver) before anything else. This boasts that it produces SCORM compliant material. SCORM are the important techy standards these days (see http://www.adlnet.org/). You’ll need to be SCORM compliant if you want to get your material adopted by big players.

   Regulations: apply common sense and you should be OK. If you wouldn’t do it offline (e.g give instructions on how to make a bomb, cut your wrists etc.) don’t do it online.

   Copyright: huge can of worms! Please let everyone know if you solve it! I can advise on alternatives if you can be more specific about the problem.

   Good luck!

3. Online format
   You will find that the IITT Standards for e-Learning Materials are entirely generic and are in use by a wide range of organisations developing e-Learning content on topics unrelated to IT Training.

   I hopes this resolves any misconceptions.

   Regards

4. There are no restrictions on the WWW
   Deborah,

   I don’t know quite what you are wanting to do or how much you know about the World Wide Web. If you have space for a Website from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) you can put whatever you want on it. That is what the WWW is all about. There are no regulations at all on how you do it. Copyright may be a problem but mostly if you ask someone if you can publish their material on the Web they will allow it as long as you ackowledge the source. If you are worried about others copying your material then put a copyright notice at the bottom of each page. (See the Training Zone pages for an example.) If this is to be a private site be aware that if it is on the Public Internet then people will find it.

   As Bob Foley mentions there are specialised tools for writing material for the Web but they take a while to learn. Microsoft Word and Microsoft Powerpoint both allow you to save documents in HTML format which can be immediately published. This is a very easy way to start.

   As Adrian Snook has said, if you want to produce really professional material then you need to adhere to high standards. It all depends on what you want to do.

   Email me if you want help with the practical side of Web publishing.

   Steve