January 17, 2011: Storyboarding -Our project leader surges into the unknown

Storyboarding has begun using Powerpoint to record our ideas, and help us visualise the learner experience in our VC.  It sounded straight forward enough, but day one began with a steep learning curve.

The E-Reach Team had a deep think about what we had learned so far  - sequencing, matching colours, content, navigation tools, chunking information and a plan for everyone to follow were high on our list. 
Our own ideas were on the drawing board; engaging learners on the hottest topics in VET; how will technology influence industry and training? Thinking green: sustainability/environmental issues, and filling in any knowledge gaps as they popped up. 

With a quick chat to our Jobs Australia web page expert, we had a list of JA colour palettes and 2011 logos to help with our design.   Ater a quick word of advice on 'white space', font sizes, our StoryBoard Code Guide was ready.  With a quick glance at completed toolboxes on the Australian Flexible Learning Framework website http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/preview/index.htm like the scouts, we felt prepared for anything. It seemed simple enough until we were confronted with a big blank screen. Where to begin?  Could planning truly prepare us for the rush of ingenuity that was now required?  Well, eventually...

A snippet from the Diary of a devoted Project Leader:

Attempt one: 10:37am. My tall skinny latte (in a recyclable mug) was empty and my computer screen was blank.  Phone calls were made, emails read.  Start somewhere, anywhere!  The content was ready, but it needed to engage learners.  As a trainer once said to me, start with what you know, and take them where they need to go.  I am visual, so are a lot of people.  I know about drop down boxes. I'll start there. People like hyperlinks, hyperlinks are good...   I had begun.

Attempt two:   Go to flickr for some inspiration  - Creative Commons only!  An image of a crane represented the topic of industry, and the colours matched the JA colour palette on our StoryBoard guide. Success! Adding stripes in three JA colours gave us more colour and a definitive title space. A little navigation was added.   It was an improvement but something was missing.  

Attempt three:  Ah, that would be the unit code, logo, and white space. After a rethink with the team our training wheels were off.  Team E-Reach were on our way.