{"id":3126,"date":"2020-10-14T17:26:52","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T17:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maestrolearning.com\/?post_type=downloads&p=3126"},"modified":"2026-06-20T18:58:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T18:58:48","slug":"elearning-storyboard-template","status":"publish","type":"downloads","link":"https:\/\/maestrolearning.com\/downloads\/elearning-storyboard-template\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate eLearning Storyboard Template"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

At Maestro, we\u2019ve found that we can give our eLearning courses just the right amount of love when we have instructional designers who focus on the content and interactive designers who focus on the design. And when they get together, the experience is magical. You can see exactly what we mean when you download our go-to tool: The Ultimate eLearning Storyboard Template.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How do our designers collaborate? Many times, it\u2019s through a storyboard. But that isn\u2019t the only reason we use storyboards in our development process. In fact, you don\u2019t need to be collaborating to reap the benefits of a well-designed storyboard. At the very least, a great storyboard will give you the structure and organization to write the content your learners need to know while allowing space to start thinking through the visual design of your course. And there are a ton of other benefits, too.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Maybe the idea of using a storyboard in your instructional design process is new to you. Maybe you have a storyboard format that you already use and love. Well, at Maestro, we\u2019ve thought a lot about our eLearning storyboard template, and we\u2019ve distilled that thinking into a simple, yet highly usable, document that\u2019s been tried and tested in hundreds of learning projects we\u2019ve worked on. Read on to learn more about why and how we use it\u2014and to snag our free storyboard template for yourself.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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What\u2019s an eLearning storyboard?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What comes to mind when you think of the word \u201cstoryboard?\u201d If you don\u2019t use one for your learning and development work, your thoughts might turn to Hollywood, where animators sketch out preliminary scenes in big, blank rectangles and make notes about the actions on screen.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Well, an eLearning storyboard isn\u2019t all that different. But rather than explain just the visual movement that will happen on screen, a storyboard can also include information about voiceover, interactions, and more. And when all that information is laid out in a way that\u2019s easy to follow, course development is just so much easier.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Why you should be using a storyboard<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It should already be pretty clear why we\u2019re a fan of storyboards, but to get a little more specific: we use storyboards to document on-screen text, voiceover, and visual direction, as well as any other helpful notes that might be worth capturing during the content-writing phase of development. For us, storyboards are like the blueprint to a house\u2014we want to make sure everything is laid out before we start building.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Using one makes collaboration easier because we can be on the same page (literally) about the decisions we\u2019re making as we sculpt our instructional content. And we\u2019re not talking about just our instructional designers and our developers. We mean all <\/em>the stakeholders involved with the project, including SMEs, project managers, project leads, regulatory panels, and whoever else might need to approve a course before it goes out into the world. Better to get that feedback sooner rather than later, especially once we start authoring our course.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So, we know we want to use a storyboard in our process. But what does that storyboard look <\/em>like?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The three qualities of a great storyboard<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We\u2019ve found that a great storyboard format has three qualities: it\u2019s simple, it\u2019s scannable, and it\u2019s adaptable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Simplicity<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It can be really tempting to throw anything and everything into a storyboard. The more information, the better. For the sake of transparency, right?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Well, maybe not. Consider this instead: what is the bare minimum<\/em> amount of information you need to convey to prepare yourself or others to develop the course?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The principle of least effort<\/a><\/em> tells us that, when given the option, people will choose the path of least resistance. This can apply to both you and anyone else with a stake in the storyboard. Help your stakeholders by removing the unnecessary and making the review process more streamlined.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This isn\u2019t the only argument for simplicity. Richard Meyer, known for his Principles of Multimedia Design, supposes in the Coherence Principle<\/em> that people learn better when extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded rather than included. We can apply this concept to information processing in general.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A great storyboard contains only the information it needs to.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Scannability<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The other important feature of a great eLearning storyboard template is its scannability: how quickly can you (or a stakeholder) look through it to get the gist or find something specific that you\u2019re looking for?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Let\u2019s be honest\u2014there are plenty of free storyboard templates out there. (And you\u2019re welcome to try those, too!) But more often than not, their design is just\u2026 confusing. Not only do they tend to include too many places for information, but they also tend to have arbitrary layouts for information. A great storyboard layout appreciates the relationship between the chunks of information on the page.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Scannability is especially<\/em> crucial if you\u2019re not the only one working on the project. A disorganized storyboard format can be unintuitive\u2014even intimidating\u2014to stakeholders who aren\u2019t familiar with a specific format. And as the Aesthetic Usability Effect tells us, when something looks good, people think it works better.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A great storyboard is designed so information is easily accessible.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Adaptability<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Not every eLearning course is the same. Some require voiceover, some don\u2019t. Some are multimedia-heavy, some aren\u2019t. You get the idea.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A great storyboard needs to be simple and scannable, but it should also be flexible<\/em>. You don\u2019t want to waste unnecessary time adjusting your template to the project at hand\u2014or worse, try to cram your content into a format it wasn\u2019t designed for. You need something that you can pick up and run with.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Better yet, a storyboard can even adapt to use cases outside <\/em>of eLearning, such as video scripting and ILT.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A great storyboard effortlessly adapts to various project requirements.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Anatomy of our eLearning storyboard template<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We\u2019ve spent a lot of time and thought on our eLearning storyboard template layout, and at first glance, it might not look like much. But think back to the three qualities. Is it simple? Check. Scannable? Check. Adaptable? Oh, yes indeed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Here\u2019s a breakdown of what our default storyboard looks like.<\/p>\r\n

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When we\u2019re starting an eLearning project, we begin with something that looks a little like this. It\u2019s a simple table with rows and columns.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When we storyboard, we\u2019re intentional about how we use rows. Each row represents a single \u201cchunk,\u201d or unit of information, such as a slide, an interactive component, or a placeholder for a video. This means that each row is usually pretty slim; we prefer to have more rows with less content than fewer rows with more content because doing so makes the storyboard more scannable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In this storyboard, we\u2019ve got columns for a reference number, voiceover, screen text, and production notes. Let\u2019s go through each one.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Reference number column<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We like to include reference numbers for each row of content in our storyboards. They allow the instructional designer and any other team members or stakeholders to quickly reference content. Rather than refer to a page number and the content\u2019s placement on the page, storyboard numbers allow for more specific referencing.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When describing various parts of an interaction, we\u2019ll append the number with a series of letters. For instance, a hotspot interaction might span the rows of 3A, 3B, and 3C. The granularity of this approach allows us to easily reference each chunk of information.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Voiceover column<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When a course we\u2019re developing includes voiceover, we use this column to craft the final spoken language for the course. Once the storyboard\u2019s finished and the voiceover\u2019s been approved, we simply send the storyboard off to our VO artist, which is helpful for them because it provides context for what they\u2019re speaking to.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We\u2019ve found that it\u2019s helpful to have our written voiceover placed side-by-side with the on-screen text and visual direction. This allows us to consider the juxtaposition between the two, and we can make decisions about whether the script we\u2019re including is necessary or if more is needed. This is especially helpful when considering Richard Meyer\u2019s Principles of Multimedia Learning, which provide specific guidelines for the right balances of audio, text, and images.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By the time we start storyboarding, we\u2019ve already decided that our course is going to include voiceover. But in cases where a course won\u2019t, we can simply delete the column without much hassle. That\u2019s the beauty of the template\u2014it adapts pretty easily to whatever course we\u2019re creating.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Screen text column<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In this column, we include the actual language that will be displayed on screen that the learner will read. Having all of our instructional content in one column of the storyboard allows us to focus on the quality of our content without getting too distracted by how that information will be presented. Same goes for our stakeholders, too.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Production notes column<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This last column provides a space for notes related to the production of the course. Here, we\u2019ll include any preliminary ideas for images or other media we\u2019ll want to add. If we\u2019re developing the course with an authoring tool, this is also where we\u2019ll make a note about which component we\u2019re considering for the chunk of content. And for courses where citations are important, we can include links to source material in this column, too.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tools we recommend<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Chances are, you\u2019ve got your word processor of choice. At Maestro, we prefer Google Docs <\/strong>for a number of reasons:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n