When the ADDIE methodology is used to develop eLearning content, everyone knows that the course will take 8 to 10 (or however many) months to be developed. Agile, however, turns that concept on its head and says: Expect something every 2 weeks! How’s that possible? It is POSSIBLE because of the way Agile approaches the development process. In short iterative cycles, of 2 weeks (called Sprints), instead of one prolonged design, develop, test, and implement cycle. By delivering small chunks of usable content frequently, rather than the entire course at the end of the project. Here are some Agile best practices to follow when developing eLearning courses: Agile Teams: Build a team of self-organized, cross-functional people. Getting all the experts around the table early on is the key to successful Agile. User Stories: Look at the content needs from a user perspective. The most popular way to do so is to use the following User Story template: As a {type of user: … [Read more...] about Developing Agile eLearning Content: Bits and pieces at a time!
The ELearning Course Designer’s Blog
ELearning in Action: Turning Performance Goals into Objectives
The reasons why people are taking a course in the first place can sometimes get “foggy.” Instructional Designers know that learners have a gap in their performance...but the dilemma that they face is how to articulate that gap in learning objectives. Here are some ways to do that: Understand your audience: People tend to turn to learning when there is a perceived gap between what they SHOULD know, and what they ACTUALLY know. Therefore, before developing content, make sure YOU understand the objectives your learners should accomplish. Change your focus: Be action-oriented, and instead of focusing on the knowledge that the course will impart, build content that will turn knowledge into specific actions to be learned to meet the objectives. Get real: Content that merely paraphrases written materials won’t help bridge the gap between learners’ goals and the courses’ learning objectives. Instead, add real-life examples or simulated use cases to ensure the … [Read more...] about ELearning in Action: Turning Performance Goals into Objectives
Agile Project Management for ELearning Development
Nowadays, more and more eLearning project managers lean towards agile methodology. As opposed to traditional project management approaches, agile methods let you adjust your courses as you go based on the need. Agile project management is an iterative method of managing the design and development activities for eLearning projects. The best part about agile project management is that it embraces change even late in the development phase. The main difference between agile and traditional approaches is that agile method reduces complexity of a project by specifying and managing small usable chunks of the project as opposed to managing the whole project at the same time. In agile method, team members handle most of the assignments, are responsible for managing their chunk of the project, and are accountable for quality control of their piece of the project. To ensure success of any project, agile project managers are responsible for managing the team’s environment … [Read more...] about Agile Project Management for ELearning Development
Why Companies Choose to Outsource Training Design and Development
Did you know that not all companies have their own training department? In fact, many organizations choose to outsource training instead of hiring their own instructional designers. There are many reasons why companies decide to outsource their training needs or even purchase prepackaged training materials. For some companies, outsourcing employee training and development makes both financial and business sense. First and foremost, it is much cheaper to have an outside vendor create training than to hire a full time instructional designer to accomplish the same task. Therefore, if a company only requires occasional training, it makes much more sense to hire an external instructional design/training company. Many companies, however, outsource training to supplement their internal resources. For instance, while an internal training department may be very good at instructional design, it may need assistance in the area of development or production. Also, some organizations do … [Read more...] about Why Companies Choose to Outsource Training Design and Development
Critical Knowledge Transfer- Managing Your Company’s Best Brains
Many organizations experience high employee turnover rates. The biggest problem with this is the lack of knowledge transfer. Because new employees who come onboard are not equipped with the knowledge and tools needed to be successful at their new job, they often cannot contribute to the optimal level. It is clear that all organizations must have a system for transferring existing knowledge from departing employees to those who come onboard. While limited time and resources are all contributing factors to the lack of knowledge transfer, it is essential to obtain managerial support before the organization can successfully implement the knowledge transfer initiative. Here are some of the common knowledge transfer practices that any effective organization should consider implementing: On the job mentoring, coaching, and shadowing Formal training (classroom courses and eLearning pieces), and Informal learning through social media and other knowledge repositories Nowadays, … [Read more...] about Critical Knowledge Transfer- Managing Your Company’s Best Brains
How to Write Effective Learning Objectives
All instructional designers are well aware of the benefits of learning objectives. However, even those who mastered the art of writing objectives often wonder of their effectiveness. First, let’s look at some of the reasons why we need to include learning objectives in our lessons. Most importantly, objectives tell learners what they should expect from the course. They also help learners understand what is important in the course and what they will most likely be assessed on at the end. While the advantages of learning objectives are evident, many learners find them useless and often skip over them. So, what can an instructional designer do to help learners pay attention to the objectives? There are several ways to handle this problem. First, instead of offering a bulleted list of learning objectives at the beginning of the course, instructional designers should try to find some creative ways to engage learners. One way to do that is to come up with a realistic attention … [Read more...] about How to Write Effective Learning Objectives