Conduct a task analysis by identifying the key functions students need to learn the software application. Observe people using the software and validate your findings with subject matter experts. Typically, the software vendor offers training courses that you use as a pre-requisite. For example, Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, IBM and open source websites provide access to courses, reference material and other training resources. Create customized training for your specific audience needs.
Create a training outline and define learning objectives for each lesson. Each lesson should contain introductory text to explain concepts, steps to take when completing a task and opportunities to practice. Create multiple choice, short answer or matching questions to test student knowledge.
Develop your training materials. For traditional classroom or workshop environments, training developers typically create presentations using desktop publishing tools such as Microsoft PowerPoint including screen captures of the software. Creating Web-Based Training courses typically requires using a programming language or an authoring tool such as Lectora, Adobe Captivate or Articulate. Use the resources provided by the eLearning Guild website select the authoring tool that fits your skill level and budget.
Record demonstrations of common tasks using the software application. Use authoring tools or free recording software such as Windows Media Encoder to produce short multimedia segments containing screens, captions and narration. For example, record the sequence of steps required to create a new email message using Microsoft Outlook 2007 by starting recording application, starting Outlook and describing how to press the "CTRL/N" keys to create a new message.
List additional tips and tricks to maximize student productivity using the software application. Provide links to software vendor websites for additional information.
Create social media technology resources such as wikis, blogs and forums to help your students make connections with other software application developers.
Test your software training with a small group of people. Conduct a focus group or individual interviews to get feedback about the software training effectiveness. Makes changes as required to your software training before finalizing and distributing your training materials.
Publish your multimedia files to a Learning Management System (which provides course administration functions such as registering and tracking) or upload to workspace such as a Microsoft Sharepoint site.