Review Comments & the Review Cycle
When developing and updating eLearning it will go through what is know as review cycles, a review cycle is a cycle in which an eLearning course goes from the developer to the client for review, the client then reviews the eLearning and records the updates they want the developer to make in the form of review comments, this is then sent to the developer who makes the updates.
This method of using review cycles is an effective way to update your eLearning and digital training, however this process can become tricky as you often will several people on both the client and developer side are making comments and performing updates.
As result things can be interpreted differently by different people, what a developer thinks a client wants and what they actually want can be different, therefore it is important to ensure that when making comments during the review cycle they are clear and direct.
Below are some examples of review comments and what can be done to improve their effectiveness.
Specific
Specificity is vital when it comes to requesting updates or writing comments, if you are not specific in your requests this leaves things open to interpretation or guessing by the developer.
Review Comment: “Move the image to the right.”
Leads to: “Which image needs to be moved? How far to the right does it need to be moved?”
A better approach would be: “Move the image of the man walking on the left hand side of the page to the top right of the page”
Actionable
Actionability is also important when it comes to writing review comments, if the comment is not actionable the developer may not be sure how to proceed and more time will be needed to clarify.
Review Comment: “I don’t like the colour.”
Leads to: “What is the colour being changed to? What things on the page are changing colour?”
A better approach would be: “Can you change the colour of all arrows on this screen from blue to the branded light red.”
Open Ended
Writing open ended review comments can also cause issues during the review cycle, a comment in the form a question often makes it open ended which can make it difficult to interpret by the developer.
Review comment: “Can you make the text look nicer?”
Leads to: “What does nice mean exactly? Is there too much text on screen? Does it need more colour?”
A better approach would be: “Can you add a fade in animation to all the text on this screen and change the colour to the branded dark blue.”
To learn more about eLearning development and best practices for conducting eLearning review cycles, contract Pathways Training and eLearning at info@pathwaysinc.ca or phone us at 1-888-961-6011.
