Most instructional design best practices include carefully curated writing principles, and for good reason. Both what you write and how you write it directly impact learners\u2019 interaction, perception, and retention of the material.<\/p>\n
And today, because of the ever-expanding culture of busyness, learners are\u2014or at least feel\u2014busier than ever. What and how you write has never been more crucial for effective instructional design.<\/p>\n
In a recent issue of our Abstract<\/em> newsletter<\/a>, we shared an interview featuring Todd Rogers, coauthor of Writing for Busy Readers<\/em><\/a>. This interview was one of our most-clicked resources, demonstrating a common desire for more and better techniques for effective L&D writing. In the book, Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink outline the following six principles of writing for busy readers:<\/p>\n Inspired by these principles, we\u2019re sharing our principles around writing for busy learners, drawing on our existing instructional design best practices, our wealth of experience, and the four core Learning Principles that drive everything we do.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest mistake is that we think that our job is to write well when our job is actually to write effectively, which means writing in a way that makes it easy for the reader. Everything flows from that.\u201d \u2014Writing for Busy Readers: Communicate More Effectively in the Real World<\/em><\/p>\n Clear is kind, and it\u2019s also efficient. The easier it is for learners to read your content, the more likely they\u2019ll be to stick with it. Don\u2019t bog learners down with unnecessary expository or introductory information. Keep words simple, sentences short, and points succinct.<\/p>\n One metric that will keep complexity in check is reading level. The ideal level will depend on your audience, but at Maestro, we typically aim for an eighth-grade reading level for instructional content. There are a variety of online tools for evaluating the reading level of your writing, from Google Docs add-ons (we like WriteClearly<\/a>) and MS Word features to websites like Hemingway Editor<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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. We\u2019ve found that a great storyboard format has three qualities: it\u2019s simple, it\u2019s scannable, and it\u2019s adaptable. Want to steal our tried-and-true template for your own eLearning development process? It\u2019s all yours!<\/span><\/p>\n\nGet the free template\u2192<\/i><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Accessibility and inclusivity are key ingredients for effective instructional design. Here are some best practices for writing for all your busy learners: Remember our previous tip for writing at an appropriate reading level for your audience? Not only will doing so ensure your writing is easy to understand, but it\u2019ll also make it accessible to a wider audience, including ESL (English as a second language) learners. It\u2019s a win-win.<\/p>\n Even the best writing needs a proofread, so don\u2019t skip this step. Grammar violations, typos, and punctuation\u2014extra or errant\u2014might distract or derail your learners. Online grammar-checkers are growing in popularity, but use them with caution. They can introduce errors as fast as they clean them up. The best route is to keep the human element in the mix, checking the AI\u2019s work along the way. Even better than doing your own proofread, ask a trusted colleague to review your final draft. Our instructional design team schedules peer proofreads at multiple milestones of every project<\/a>:<\/p>\n The first proofread is assigned to a writer other than the one who wrote the storyboard. The storyboard writer, though, tackles the second proofread. And the final proofread falls to the project manager, who has context for the content but isn\u2019t as close to it as the writer or visual designer.<\/p>\n\n
Keep your complexity in check<\/h2>\n
The Ultimate eLearning Storyboard Template<\/h5>\n
Be inclusive<\/h2>\n
\nReduce insider language (unless all learners are familiar with and confident in that language).<\/p>\n\n
Proofread (and then proofread again)<\/h2>\n
\n