• $$$
  • Perhaps I am financially driven, but I think the bottom line... should be the bottom line. 
  • Consider the training you do now and the costs associated. 
  • Will switching to eLearning save you money or provide an ROI?
  • Often, you won't be able to fully answer this question until later in the process - but it's good to consider up front - and to always keep in the back of your mind.
  • Click here for more info on KMi pricing
• Jargon
  • Learn the terminology. 
  • LMS versus LCMS - what's the difference?!
  • Does it matter to you?
  • SCORM versus AICC - what the heck are these?!
  • In terms of an intro to eLearning jargon, I recommend the simple, but often over looked resource, Wikipedia. It gives a great introduction to some of the common terms used in the eLearning industry
  • Even if you don't know what each term means in detail, you'll at least start to recognize good comparison points across your eLearning options.
• Audience
  • This point is equally applicable to learners and providers. 
  • Who will be doing the learning? Is it a geriatric crowd or perhaps a house full of teenagers?
  • Outside of eLearning, what training and teaching techniques have worked in the past? How might we start to think about translating those previously successful techniques into an eLearning experience?
  • If your audience is widely diverse, you may need more eLearning tools and features. If the demographics are similar for your learners, try to hone in on those similarities and how eLearning tools can exploit the commonalities of your audience.
  • Need help defining your audience? Click here to contact Paul Shannon

Often when customized eLearning programs are initiated, the corporate stakeholders focus on the business and learning objectives, the corporate branding and tone, and the diversity and attributes of the audience. Rarely, is there a concrete discussion of the approach and whether humor or plain fun can be incorporated for a more compelling, memorable experience. And, if there is a discussion, it usually falls by the wayside as the other criteria are deemed more important.  There is an assumption that eLearning should not be fun or humorous because it may compromise the other objectives. This simply does not have to be the case. Consider using some of these techniques for customer service skills training or other online soft skills training. Work closely with your elearning content developer to create learning that is fun, compelling and effective.

• Use real-life narratives and scenarios. Add some humorous dialogue that can apply across cultures, regions and ethnicities or make it easily editable for the specific regional audiences.
• Create a thematic approach to a single module or series of modules. Get your audience ensnared in the storyline, eager for more.
• Create compelling custom illustrations or use clever photographic images that reflect the real-world experience but in a lighter, more memorable way. 
• Don't underestimate your audience. Humor and fun can be included with an adult flair. Think of all those email jokes and YouTube clips that fill your inbox. Do you open them? Why do you find them so irresistable?
• Make gentle fun of key managers, create caricatures in language or illustration. For example, for one of our clients we created a super hero figure based on the Director of the target audience. The Director loved contributing to the design of his character ( and, even went further with the humorous elements than would have been done without his input!) and the audience found it hysterical.
• Add unique interactivities that engage the learner yet convey the learning points.

  To see some outstanding examples of innovative custom eLearning solutions, contact Margie Herron at mherron@kmionline.com for a demonstration. In the appropriate context with the appropriate content, eLearning can and should be fun and effective.

   

So you have a custom eLearning project ready for kick-off. After careful evaluation of eLearning development companies, you have identified the best eLearning content developer and you are eager to start the development process. The problem is you don't know exactly where to find the content for this particular custom eLearning solution. Is it in the classroom materials you previously used for this course? Or does it reside within the mind of one of your colleagues? Will you provide a high level and/or a detailed course outline and script?
Frequently,  clients have just such a challenge: where and in what form will the raw content be provided to the eLearning company? Identifying those sources is essential to accurately scope any custom eLearning solution. As we discussed in previous blogs, the instructional design and related storyboarding effort is dependent on the raw content. And, the effort required is in turn dependent on the source of that content. Raw content can be provided in many ways and may or may not require the active participation of the selected vendor:

1. Written: this may be in many forms, electronic files or hard copy only and from a variety of sources, such as:

• Courseware from a classroom course
• PPT presentations
• Marketing materials
• Technical product, system or application tutorials
• Design document and outline

2. Oral:

• Interviews and collaboration with internal subject matter experts
  
• Interviews with external subject matter experts

3.Research

4.Topic specific training or product use

5. Combination of resources

Whatever, the source for your raw content, it should be openly discussed at the scoping phase. This will enable your custom content development company to more effectively scope the project for time and cost as well as to identify the best internal resources for the project.  The more detailed and specific the raw content, the simpler the instructional design and storyboarding effort.

For example, we created a highly successful course for an application training course. Since this content was for a new product for which no technical documentation had yet been written, the course raw content was provided as actual training of the instructional designer in the use of the application, an entirely hands -on process. Since no written content was provided, the instructional design and storyboarding effort required was a high level. 

So, an experienced custom eLearning development company will work with you and the content you provide, no matter where that content may be found. But, it is critical that the client and the vendor understand what the source of that content is so that both can adequately assess the effort required to translate that into outstanding custom eLearning courseware.

KMi has 10 years of custom content development experience. Let us put that experience in action for you. Contact Margie Herron at mherron@kmionline.com for more information.

After many years in custom content development for eLearning, I am convinced that there are as many successful ( and unsuccessful) approaches to instructional design as there are IDs! However, the one common thread between successful courseware is to consider the end user as a human being with many distractions, low motivation for training, a frenetic daily schedule, and the need to be engaged, all while juggling emails, meetings, reports, and other daily tasks. The objective of good ID is to connect with users to give them a short, concise, encompassing, and targeted learning experience that has clear learning points, outcomes, and professional impact.

How this is accomplished depends on the ID and their understanding of the learner.  KMi believes in a multi-disciplinary approach to eLearning, combining three distinct backgrounds critical in a successful project team: business savvy to fully comprehend learning content and the need for the bottom-line impact of training, instructional expertise to understand the fundamentals and nuances of the learning process, and web design mastery to exploit the full advantages of the power of web-delivery. Accordingly, the backgrounds of an instructional design team can be varied: graduate degrees in education and instructional design, marketing, advertising, professional coaching, skills assessment, organizational psychology, and classroom training. This diverse perspective can lead to innovative and compelling custom content development.

KMi has six questions that instructional designers ask themselves upon embarking on any given course.

• What is the user’s motivation for taking this course?
• Will the user see something within the first 30 seconds that will entice, excite, and draw in him or her?
• Would I want to take this course amid a hectic daily business schedule? 
• If a colleague asked the user about the course upon completion, what highlights would the user convey to the colleague?
• Are the key learning points prominent and effectively presented to ensure that the learner identifies, comprehends, and retains them?
• Will the course have an actual impact for the user at his or her job? (Is the connection between the training and the real-world job clear and compelling?)

It is only after thoroughly understanding the answers to these questions that we decide the approach that is best for our custom eLearning solution. We employ a number of principles and methodologies as the basis for instructional design. While these theories are not exclusively used to define rigid parameters, they do provide a system of basic recommendation in the creation of any eLearning content development. We may employ one of or a combination of these (and other) ID approaches throughout the customized eLearning project.

• ADDIE
• Formative Summative Model
• Cognitive Load Theory
• Morrison, Ross and Kemp Model

If you would like to learn more about the KMi instructional design approaches, our learning content development process, or our online learning platform, eLMS, please contact Margie Herron at mherron@kmionline.com. Be sure to check out our website at www.kmionline.com

• reduced the cost of delivery
• promoted training consistency across geographies and divisions
• reduced time to market
• delivered simultaneaously to all audience members, when they need it and on-demand

it has also allowed the client to truly deliver content developed precisely for them. This means that their audience is learning about their specific culture, their specific use of software/hardware, including any customizations and the foundation for and application of any behaviors and concepts specific to their organization.

The result: outstanding success in uptake, acceptance and desired behavior change.

Let KMi assist you in achieving equally successful custom eLearning solutions. Please visit our website at www.kmionline.com or contact Margie Herron at mherron@kmionline.com.