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What to know before you build
A practical guide for designing a certification course — without paying an agency to discover your content for you.
Start with the blueprint, not the platform
The biggest mistake in e-learning is jumping straight to video production or buying a course platform.
Before any of that, you need a clear answer to one question:
Pre-production means defining competencies, outlining modules, storyboarding each lesson beat-by-beat, and practicing scripts out loud. That blueprint typically saves $8,000–$25,000 CAD in agency discovery fees — because you arrive with your content already figured out.
Hold off until the blueprint exists: custom platforms, expensive video shoots, turnkey agency builds, recording before scripts are practiced, and marketing before a rubric exists.
Three frameworks that keep you on track
You don't need a degree in instructional design. These three approaches are enough for a strong certification course.
Backward design
Start with the certification standard (what graduates must do), then design assessments, then lessons. Never the other way around.
Action mapping
For every topic, ask: Is this a real performance problem? Can practice fix it? Is e-learning the right solution? If not, cut it.
SAM-lite (Show → Try → Reflect)
Each module shows a skill, lets learners try it, then reflects on what shifted. Repeat every module.
What to define before you storyboard
Work through these in order. Each step feeds the next.
Learner personas
Who takes this course? What motivates them? What does success look like in 30 days?
Competency map
What observable behaviors define "certified"? Link each to evidence (quiz, assignment, capstone).
Course outline
6–8 modules (15–25 min each) plus a capstone practicum. Industry standard for specialty certs.
Assessment blueprint
Formative checks during modules + one capstone teaching segment scored with a rubric.
Certification rubric
4-level behavioral rubric (Unmet → Developing → Proficient → Exemplary). Test it on one pilot learner.
The four phases of pre-production
Phases 1–3 are the blueprint. Phase 4 is production — hosting, video, and pilots — only after the blueprint is ready.
Analyze
Personas, competency map, action map. Who are your learners? What must graduates do?
Design
Course outline, assessments, rubric, blank storyboards. Structure before content.
Prototype
Storyboard every module, write scripts, table-read aloud, dry demo. Practice before recording.
Produce
LMS setup, video recording, pilot learners. Only after Phases 1–3 are complete.
At a comfortable pace (~10 hrs/week), pre-production takes about 12–18 weeks (115–175 hours). Structured DIY turns that time into vendor-ready outputs — not rework.
Spend & time matrix
Tap Do it yourself or Hire vendor on each row to sketch your plan. The middle column shows which Course Blueprint tool supports efficient DIY on Phases 1–3.
Own Phases 1–3 yourself — without the DIY tax
Hiring an agency for analyze, design, and prototype runs $8,700–$36,500. Unstructured DIY still costs you in rework and filming before scripts are ready. Course Blueprint gives you the framework agencies sell, at DIY economics: $0–$149 for the workspace plus your SME hours.
Keep Phases 1–3 in-house, then launch Phase 4 on the lean path ($5k–$15k) with storyboards vendors can build from. Start Phase 1 in the planner →
Ready to plan your course?
Open the 7-step planner and work through each step. Templates are available now while we build.
Open Course Planner →