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

• eLearning is usually less expensive to produce: of course, this may be dependent on the production value and tools you use and the particular content, but, once developed, an eLearning course can be leveraged for years without additional costs.
• The user determines the pace: As a self-paced learner from way back, this is one of its most attractive benefits for me. I can move through any online training solution at my own pace and access it just when I need it. Cool! 
• The learner can move through the learning faster -- As a user, I can bypass information I already know and focus on the information that I need to know. Beats sitting in a classroom and listening to repetitive material every time!
• eLearning provides a consistent message : Many of our clients are global organizations. They need their messaging to be the same whether it is delivered in Singapore, Paris or San Francisco. And, they need it to reflect just that global diversity as well. We just produced an online customer service course. One of the key learning objectives was to establish a consistent and repeatable process for customer support across their global platform. Providing the training as web based eLearning was exactly the right format for this project.
• Implementing eLearning can provide training from any location, any time, and just in time: One of the most obvious applications of this benefit was a sales training series we did for a health system hardware provider. They recognized that their sales people had little advance time to prepare for sales calls because they had such a broad range of services and products. So we created a custom series that reps could access just prior to their sales meetings to educate and update them on products and services. It was a resounding success. 
• eLearning can be updated easily and quickly: I recall developing a series of product training courses, which were updated monthly. The course were template based and allowed for easy updating of product spec changes. This meant that the field always had the most current product information. Imagine doing that through classroom training!
• eLearning leads to increased retention and a stronger grasp on the subject: This is because of the many elements that can be combined in custom eLearning to reinforce the message, such as video, audio, quizzes, interaction, animations, virtual role plays, scenario-based decision-making. Users can also revisit material as they need. Online soft skills training is usually a content area that seems challenging, however, we have produced many highly effective manager skills training courses such as Coaching in this format. Taking advantage of the tools available can produce outstanding learning! 
• eLearning can be managed and delivered for large or small groups of students: Using a SCORM Learning Management System such as KMi's, eLMS, allows the administrators to market courses, provide pre-assessments, evaluations, surveys, reporting, success tracking, blogs and all kinds of other features to enhance the learning experience.