Can eLearning Content [Not] Be Managed?
To many, creating engaging eLearning content is more about the art than the science. While it is true that the final judgment of eLearning content is how artistically exciting the material is, how we get to that point is a science. While many articles are written on how to design artistic eLearning content, this article takes you beyond the art in describing how a team of content developers can work in an organization to effectively create engaging eLearning content that can be easily managed.
Is It Development?
For years, software developers have relied upon the tried and true Software Development Lifecycle: Requirements, Design, Implementation, Testing, and Release. Even though many consider software to be an art, it has shown that even art can be managed as a project from phase to phase. In the end, good software has gone through good process. Content Development can learn a thing or two from our Software brethren.
A Case In Point
So where do I come into all of this. Well, I’m a software developer at heart. When I started developing software, I was part of a large team. The only way we could get our software delivered on time and to our customer’s satisfaction was to proceed through a rigorous development process. It’s been a while since I developed software, but when I found myself in charge of an eLearning Content Development Team at Right Reason Technologies, I learned I must turn back to some of the foundation I learned as a developer. Initially we started creating our content as an art form. Each singular piece of content was custom created and there was little process involved. It worked to some extent…that is until we had seven people trying to create forty training modules simultaneously. That’s when it all fell apart. Time for proper process to take hold.
The First Step
How are you going to work on content in a team? The first challenge is learning how you are going to manage many hands in the content pot. You need a good repository for your eLearning pieces, from images, to Flash® files, to audio and narrative; you want to be able to store everything. Source management tools work well. Most of them allow you to lock a file while someone is working on it. We use Microsoft® SharePoint® for our repository. It allows us to store all of our content while creating a flow as we go though the phases of our lifecycle.
From Software To Content: Requirements
We started with the Software Lifecycle…it was good enough for them, but how does it map to content development? Well, everyone has requirements. In the requirements phase for content development, we need to talk to our customers to see how they will be using the training module. 
Is it presentation based? Does it need to be interactive and hands on? Are there any supporting materials, like Microsoft® PowerPoint® Presentations and documents that can be used as a starting point? Document everything. As we learned from software, your customer has a vision, you have a vision, the coders have a vision, and unfortunately, sometimes none of them see the same thing. Documentation ensures that you keep your customers in the game throughout the process so that you can produce content that meets their needs.
Design is to software what subject matter is to eLearning. Once you have your requirements, it’s time to identify who the subject matter experts (SMEs) will be. Work with your SMEs to develop an outline of the content. Many times storyboards are used to convey how the content should look. We’ve created our own product, RightCourse™, to handle all of this. It is a great tool to storyboard with and our SMEs know how to use it. It also generates the final content for delivery. Having a tool to handle the entire process makes a big difference. Other tools such as Microsoft® PowerPoint® or Word® can be used as well. Since we develop all kinds of content,
Design: Subject Matter Development
we’re not the SME on most. Learning to communicate with your SMEs makes all the difference in the end product.We go a little further in our design phase to include development of the curriculum and narrative. It is vital that you get the message right before you begin creating content. Narrative can change during implementation, but having it early on lets your customer know what he or she is getting in the end. Make sure to have your customer sign off on the Subject Matter Development Phase. This allows everyone involved to be sure that the customer’s needs are being met.
Implementation: Creative Development
Now it’s time to get your content development team working. Who will gather your media? Who will handle voicing? Who will put it all together? These are the roles that you need to fill during development… all the while making sure that the pieces that are created are stored in your repository. Purchasing royalty free images is a great way to create good content, but it’s vital that you can search for all the images you buy when creating new eLearning content. If you can’t search for it, you’ll spend too much time reinventing it or using a less accurate graphic to get your message across. As with every phase of this process, taking time to organize upfront will do more than save time in the end… it will improve your final product.
Voicing is something that many people overlook in creating eLearning content. Many will use non-professional voice actors. No matter how good the eLearning content is visually, using an untrained voice will always make you look unprofessional. And if you think someone will be good just because they have a nice voice, think again. There is art and talent in delivering content. Go with someone with experience. Look into online voice services like Voice123. You can have many voice professionals bid for your narrative. Try to make relationships with those that you use. If you’re good to them, they’ll be great for you.
Test for Quality Assurance
You’ve put it all together, but who should review the product? Not your customer…not yet, anyway. There will be typos, misreads, bad images and all sorts of bugs in your pre-release. Have multiple people who were not involved in the creation process review the content from beginning to end. New eyes are a vital ingredient to avoid careless oversights or errors. Have them fill out a form for each slide or section in the module. They should note anything that isn’t working properly from a functional aspect as well as a learning flow aspect. If it isn’t conveying the message to them, there’s a problem. Consider bringing back your SME to ensure that it conveys what it’s supposed to convey. After a few revisions, now it’s time to let your customer give his or her blessing to the product.
Release to Production
So, now you’re all done with your eLearning module, right? Well, almost. You still need to version the final product. Make sure you keep all of the source for the release together where you can get it again if you need it. Again, a tool such as
RightCourse™ goes a long way toward solving this problem. Consider this: you released your module for the end users. Everything is working out perfectly. Now your customer wants you to offer the module in Spanish. You go back to your staff and find out that you don’t have softcopy of the narrative or copies of the original images. You need to have someone physically go through the entire training module retyping the narrative so you can send it out for translation. You also need to repurchase the images because you needed to add a few slides for the next version. Keep the source material…someday, sometime, it will save you in ways you couldn’t even envision today.
A Closing Thought
eLearning is an art. That is something I agree with. But when providing eLearning services such as content development, try explaining to your customers that you can’t really quantify why your process will take three months or cost $15,000. eLearning creations are an art, but selling your services needs to be explainable, and for your internal infrastructure, it needs to be definable. Picasso could afford to set his own timelines. As eLearning providers, we must satisfy our customers. Put the proper process around your eLearning development and your customers will always understand why your services are premium. They can always come back to you and expect high quality. And that is the bottom line.