IEEE Expert Now Course Development

All productions begin with the submission of the main set of PowerPoint slides. PowerPoint slides are a clear and easy way to organize your materials. You may already have a presentation that can be modified for use in your course. In order to remain within the hour time frame, presentations should contain between 45-50 slides. The following guidance may assist you with organizing your slides.

Text Slides

Slides should be clear and easy to read. They should contain no more than 4-5 bullets each.

Visual Slides

When using visual slides, any graphics should be large and clear. Avoid the use of small details, unless absolutely necessary, as they may be difficult to read.

Introduction Slide--Learning Objectives

Of all the activities involved in the instructional design process, developing objectives is one of the most critical. A learning objective is a clear, concise description of what the learner will be able to do at the end of the course. Also, well-written objectives can often serve as the basis for Post-Test items.

When composing your learning objectives, some thoughts to keep in mind are:

• determine the overall goal of the learning module;
• determine what students must demonstrate to indicate goal achievement.

Write objectives based on the skills, tasks, or knowledge they should be able to demonstrate. Consider the expected outcome-is it knowledge? Application? Synthesis?

When writing learning objectives, use action words to state objectives For example, begin with the statement: "After completing this course, you will be able to:" Then begin the specific description with terms such as: analyze, explain, develop, determine, demonstrate an understanding of, list, etc.

Example:

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of project management;
• list the required skill set.

Use of Third Party Material

If you are including any Third Party Material in your presentation, it is your responsibility to ensure that no copyright, trademark, trade secret, publicity or privacy rights, or other intellectual property rights are being violated.

Following the development of your PowerPoint slides, you must capture the audio for use in your course. All courses are narrated by a professional voice talent with full credit to the SME. In order to capture the script for the final recording, you will be sent a microphone (which is yours to keep) and instructions on recording your voice over the PowerPoint files. A transcript of your audio will be developed, and you will be asked to review the transcript prior to the professional audio recording.

Note: The general guide is that voice over for each slide should range anywhere between 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

Please provide a picture of yourself in a .JPG format (or send an original for scanning-original will be returned to you) along with a short biography, which will be included in the introductory section of your course. This serves to introduce the learner to you and acquaints them with your background, experience, and credentials.

Looking for the definition of a term in a particular subject can be difficult and time consuming for the learner. Providing a review of key technical terms helps the learner:

• gain a better understanding of the content;
• assures accuracy in interpreting technical terms;
• expedites learner's access to the correct definition.

All IEEE Expert Now courses include a glossary of ten (10) appropriate key technical terms. Please review your course materials to identify a list of terms to submit along with the appropriate definitions.

Reference materials are a valuable addition to the course. These supplementary resources help the learner delve deeper into the subject or simply help clarify the information. All IEEE Expert Now courses include approximately ten (10) references. Examples of references may include:

• Key URLs--These can be links to any websites that will further expand on the material you are presenting.
• Articles/Books--Provide a list of recommended books and articles that expand on the content.

Post-Test Questions

IEEE Expert Now courses include a set of Post-Test questions (10). This provides an overall assessment of the learner's comprehension and achievement of the learning content. These questions must be formatted as multiple-choice, true/false, or a combination of both.

Answers

When you submit the questions for the Post-Test, please remember to provide the correct answers. Whenever possible, offer a full explanation (a sentence or two) to help the user clearly understand how it was derived.
Note: When submitting questions in the multiple-choice format, please send possible answers for all options (including the correct one).

Example:

1. Compared to dull and rough rock surfaces, shiny and smooth rock surfaces are most likely to cause sunlight to be:

a. Reflected (Correct)
b. Refracted
c. Scattered
d. Absorbed

The correct answer is "a". Shiny materials will reflect sunlight similar to what happens with one's image in a mirror. This is also simulated with a dark and light shirt on a sun-filled day. The dark shirt will absorb the light (warm) while the light colored shirt will reflect the sunlight (cool).

It is preferred that course materials are submitted by e-mail to j.bagley@ieee.org. Materials that can't be sent by e-mail (such as original photos) can be mailed to:

Jill Bagley
Education Program Manager, Continuing Education
IEEE Educational Activities
445 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854

Once all of your materials have been submitted, our production team will develop a preliminary version of your course. You will be asked to review this and provide feedback.

The final step in the course production process is to review the final course for any last minute changes.