Custom e-learning development: The corporate learning solution?

e-Learning is now permeating every corner of the corporate world. With increasing popularity, the need for high-quality custom e-learning courseware is also increasing. Many organizations now prefer to outsource the development of their courseware to external resources. This is a budget-friendly solution that helps the organizations to keep up with the increasing demand as well as the restrictive timelines.

The main concern however, is the quality of the e-learning solutions – does it meet the standards of the organization and the industry? Here are a few ways to ensure that custom e-learning courses are developed as per your needs and that they also met the required standards.

• SME interactions: Developing custom e-learning requires closely interactions with subject matter experts (SMEs). But the SMEs – though they may be experts in their own fields – are not always the best resources to create impactful training. The information required for creating custom e-learning content is also very dynamic – especially in the software industry. To ensure creation of authentic e-courses, the external resources should be geared up to handle the challenge with ease. Pertinent information can be extracted in a quick and efficient manner. One popular way to do this is to use a question-answer format, which gives the experts a fair idea of the exact requirement. The level of interaction can be increased, and discussions can facilitate a deeper understanding of the requirements of the custom e-course.

• Quality assurance: The knowledge extracted from SME interactions should be shared with the client on a continuous basis and the input from these interactions should be incorporated. This will ensure that data collection from the SMEs is fast and continually approved by the client for conversion to the custom e-course. The external resources should also ensure the quality of the courseware – in matters of language, structure and relevance for the end-user. The Instructional Design team should create a suitable structure for the courseware – a structure that ensures smooth and logical flow of information. The editorial team also should come onboard to ensure that the course is linguistically sound. They should check for correct use of technical terminology as well as the overall tone of the custom e-course. Clients always conduct quality audits at their end, but the external resources should also perform their own quality checks to ensure that all elements of the course are working without a hitch.

• One size does not fit all: The external resource should understand client needs and proceed accordingly. If the client is a regular consumer of e-learning, they will be very precise in their requirements. But if the client is a first-time e-learning adopter, the external agency needs to help the client understand the various facets of e-learning and provide their ideas accordingly. If need be, judgments should be made on changing the storyboard, visuals or written content, and these decisions should be implemented with client approval. These changes and developments should be shared with the client and approved at all levels. For clients who want to develop multiple courses, dedicated resources should be allocated by the external agency to cater specifically to the clients’ needs.

Every client has different requirements and priorities, but the quality of production and smooth execution are common pre-requisites. In addition to these pre-requisites, it is also important to continuously work on strengthening the other facets – like ensuring sound instructional design, bringing together a creative content team, using appropriate technology, and providing sound technical support. If your external e-learning resource is geared to do all this, then custom content development can definitely be smooth and efficient for you.