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eLearning Instructional Design - where to start...

Speed, cost and the level of interactivity are closely related when thinking about converting your classroom course to eLearning. Lets look at some of the options, from the cheap and questionable to the more impressive solutions.

Low cost and very fast

At the most economical level, designers may compile a list of learning resources available on the internet and instruct people to watch some youtube videos, read some pdfs and then take a quiz. This may suit companies who have an academic workforce, where the learning materials are subject to change and the best learning resources are already online. The main task is to develop a curated list of educational resources and design an assessment that confirms the learnings. The solution is not suitable when trainees find the content to be difficult or tedious.

Another low cost and very fast solution

Another relatively low cost solution is to video the classroom training session. A video of a well designed and organised classroom training session can be an effective learning tool. The instructor is covering the content that is specific to the lesson so the session is relevant and focused. The classroom recording could be divided into smaller edited recordings and quizes could be designed to confirm learnings before allowing the trainee to move to the next video.

This approach does require some extra work preparing and editing the video. It also has a couple of drawbacks. Videos can create a glazed look in the eyes of trainees where the video is playing but the trainee finds it hard to listen and take in the knowledge. Another drawback is that eLearning courses can typically cover the same material in 40- 50% less time than a classroom course. By videoing a classroom, you loose out on the potential productivity to be gained from eLearning.

Medium cost and relatively fast

A course in PowerPoint can typically be converted to an eLearning course relatively easily. There are many online tools that make it easy to export your PowerPoint course to eLearning format. The problem arises because a PowerPoint version suitable for classroom delivery is not necessarily suitable for online deliver. For example the PowerPoint used in the class room often contains slides with bullets that the instructor talks around. The instructor may be using a whiteboard to expand on some of the bullet points. All this extra information and engagement is lost when the same PowerPoint is converted to online format.

For a PowerPoint course to be successfully transferred to online format, you really should consider the services of an Instructional Designer and Graphic Designer. The online course will represent your company and needs to engage the trainee. That engagement starts with the graphics, the look and feel of your course. That first contact with your course should inspire and encourage your trainee to delve further into the topic. The graphic designer sets the tone for the course and incorporates your brand values into the course design.

High cost and slower development but very effective

When we built HACCPweb.com, we designed a course that is 16 hours long and covers a difficult topic. At the end of the course, the trainee is supposed to be able to design a food safety plan. We decided to make the 16 hours of training more engaging by enabling the trainee to build their food safety plan as they studied. Now the reward is bigger and the result is a more confident trainee. The planning tool was incorporated into the course and appeared as relevant topics were covered. Students could enter information and create their plan while covering the material. The planning tool was also available outside of the course so they had a familiar resource they could use to update plans and create new ones.