Developing essential e-learning content

Date posted: January 2004

Charles Gould takes an in-depth look at the factors involved in developing content at the heart of the learning experience.

Perhaps it’s a sign of the relative immaturity of the e-learning industry that we still talk about it in its separate components: technology, services, content, etc. It may also be a sign that suppliers - rather than buyers or users - are still driving the terminology. After all, how many users would consciously distinguish ‘content’ from the rest of the learning experience?

However, as Nigel Marsh, from Royal Mail puts it: “Unfortunately, the experience is still too often dominated by issues that should be extraneous to the learning experience or better still, invisible – in other words, the technology.”

While the track is still being laid, it’s inevitable that issues of infrastructure and organisational strategy still occupy such central positions in the e-learning debate. Yet, as the technologies become more settled (some will establish themselves, others will fall by the wayside) the decision-making activities will focus increasingly on the three C’s of learning experience: content, context and community issues.

So what are the issues, both now and in the future, that decision makers must consider under the banner of content?

Bespoke versus generic content

Most organisations recognise that they have general needs that can be served by generic (off the shelf) content. IT skills, basic customer service skills, regulatory knowledge: many of these don’t need to be developed specifically for an organisation. It makes more sense to shop around for the best existing content on – for example – Microsoft Office than try and develop it yourself. Why re-invent something that has already been developed at greater levels of investment than you could realistically commit?

In a sense, generic skills are a base level requirement that any organisation should be able to address. But the real competitive advantage will come from maximising the unique intellectual capital of an organisation. Almost by definition, this means unlocking the specific knowledge and skills of your corporation.

We know that one of the big problems organisations face with e-learning is user uptake. Users will open themselves to learning if they believe it’s genuinely relevant to them. “Why do I need to know this? How will it affect me, my job, and my organisation?” Without clear answers to these questions, people will simply not invest time in e-learning. By developing bespoke content, you have the opportunity to answer these questions directly and explicitly. You are more likely to engage the learner and sustain their interest:

  • By putting content in a familiar context.
  • By using recognisable case studies and examples.
  • By using the tone and language of your organisation.

These will all help to maintain the credibility of the message.

Interestingly, bespoke development is not always the more expensive option. This is particularly so for large organisations where cumulative user licenses can add up to large sums of money. Developing your own content has an initial fixed cost. However you will then have more flexibility and usually no additional external costs when extending the target audience across the organisation. Although, do ensure that appropriate support is in place with your supplier.

In-house versus outsourcing

So, if you need to provide a learning programme that’s specific to your organisation and not something off the shelf, what are your options?

Typically the choice has been between developing content in-house and outsourcing the process to specialist development companies. Few organisations have the resources to develop and manage the diverse skills needed of an e-learning development team. These skill-sets range from creative to instructional to technical. Equally, few organisations are willing to support another overhead that’s not part of the core business. So, the prevailing trend is to outsource.

Nevertheless, there are essential ingredients that can only be found in-house. For example, deep subject knowledge and a real understanding of the target audience. The challenge with outsourcing is in harnessing these assets effectively. In practice, effective content development demands collaboration, combining the respective strengths of internal resources with those of outside experts. There are usually in-house subject-matter experts who know most about the subject.

In-house trainers often have the best feel for how their people will learn. The target learners themselves may be best placed to comment on the tone and style of the learning, while often there are existing ‘practitioners’ whose experience can be exploited. Not only will these people make a valuable contribution to the development process but they become the champions of e-learning during and after implementation. This in turn will create a receptive atmosphere that makes success more likely. So how do you manage this naturally complex process effectively?

Development methodology

The key is a development methodology that is designed to orchestrate internal and external resources. It should also have best practice technical processes and instructional design approaches built in. In this way, the attention is away from the technology and focused where it should be – on the content and context of the learning. An additional benefit of this hybrid is that costs can be more intelligently managed. A common result of this approach will result in an overall reduction in external development costs, while delivering learning deliverables of a more reliable and consistent quality (and therefore more effective).

ScottishPower has a strategy that applies this approach. For simple content that must be produced, deployed and used quickly, they have enabled subject experts within the business to become the developers. They use an authoring environment that strictly guides them through a best practice production process.

As the content need becomes more sophisticated, the dependence shifts from the subject experts towards the specialist learning design and development skills of an external company. ScottishPower has developed five courses in this way in the last six months, with a further ten currently in development.

Paul McKelvie, Director of ScottishPower Learning, says “The key is to use techniques that are fit for purpose. Much of our content can be developed by subject experts closely supported by a small central team of in-house consultants and external partners.”

What should you expect of an e-learning provider?

Fast development and implementation

Change can happen quickly and learning needs can arise at short notice. E-learning that takes months to develop and deploy may be too late to do its job fully. For certain purposes such as a new product or a change in legislation, organisations need the ability to implement simple, effective e-learning content quickly. In other areas, they may choose to take longer for more strategic content projects such as induction training or new corporate direction.

Flexibility in the use of resources

Some organisations will want to outsource the entire process of content development from needs analysis right through to deployment and evaluation. However, others will want to control cost and the content message more closely by using some in-house resources. E-learning providers should be able to accommodate both extremes and anything in between.

Learning Design expertise

Too many providers offer style and quantity of information rather than well-designed and structured learning content. Providers of bespoke software must be able to demonstrate a learning design methodology that goes beyond the gloss and gadgetry that too often passes for e-learning content. Learning design is not just about the instructional approach to content but also about the context of the learning. It should integrate appropriate elements of a blended learning experience.

Ability to maintain/update content easily

Of course, one of the strengths of online learning is that content changes can be made and deployed almost instantly – at least in theory. In practice, organisations need a very clear route to making different categories of changes. Text, simple changes, layout, exercise and simple structural modifications should be quick and easy to make by a subject expert or trainer. A mechanism should also exist for making more extensive design alterations through an external supplier. And ideally there should be a seamless process in place between internal and external maintenance activity.

Ability to adapt and customise content easily

It should be easy to adapt courses, modules or other content elements for re-use in different contexts. This could be re-branding of the GUI, it might be re-purposing a case study exercise for a different situation or even perhaps re-using navigation buttons. Organisations will want their supplier to be able to have a library of these ‘semi-off-the-shelf’ elements that can be rapidly plugged into a new content context.

Ability to enable user/learner ‘refreshment’ of content

Organisations can capture and re-generate some of the valuable thoughts and experiences that come out of the learning process itself. As learners work through learning content, they are in a position to become producers (as well as consumers) of learning content. By providing interfaces between the runtime content and a content database, features such as lessons learned, polling, and dynamic content elements in context (see what people in your job did/thought, etc) can be incorporated.

Interoperability with Learning Management Systems and compliance with emerging standards

By 2005, the Gartner group reports that 70% of large organisations will have a Learning Management System (LMS). Any bespoke content strategy must offer interoperability with LMS’s. Unfortunately, existing standards (AICC) have not yet ensured a consistent approach. As well as adhering to the latest de facto standards, your e-learning provider should be experienced in dealing with the idiosyncrasies of the leading LMS.

What does it cost?

One of the most frustrating questions asked about e-learning content is ‘How much does it cost?’. Frustrating, because it needs an answer, but this is almost impossible to answer out of context. Why is this? Despite the repeated criticism of suppliers for the dubious quality of the content they produce, the truth is that buyers are just as culpable for their focus on cost. Most bespoke content that has been produced has been bought ‘by the hour’. How can the focus be on learning effectiveness if the emphasis is on getting the most learning time for your money (however that is measured)?

Whether or not the technologies and standards that dominate the e-learning debate will settle down, the sharp end of the e-learning experience will always be content. Getting the right approach to bespoke content development is increasingly at the forefront of successful e-learning strategies.

"The key is to use techniques that are fit for purpose. Much of our content can be developed by subject experts closely supported by a small central team of in-house consultants and external partners."

Paul McKelvie, Director of ScottishPower Learning