In last month’s article we introduced the basics of elearning - what it is, why you need it, where to start, and identifying your objectives and the learner. Without understanding or knowing the answers to these fundamental strategic questions you won’t be able to adequately answer the tactical questions related to "How do I get it?" This article addresses the "how" and the "who" questions related to a practical elearning implementation.
How much will it cost?
With most online development projects, your elearning budget will be influenced by the constraints associated to the project. All too often the mistake is made to "buy a Cadillac" when first approaching elearning development when your budget says "buy a Honda". Realistically ‘buying that Honda’ is like buying your first car - you don’t plan to have that car forever but you want to get the best buy for your available budget. You expect it to perform the job but it’s not the luxury vehicle that you dream of buying when you have the budget.
If your Needs Analysis and your Learner Analysis (see part one) show that you need to have that ‘luxury car’ but your budget tells you differently where do you go from here? Perhaps the answer is already contained within your company’s infrastructure. Does your company already have an LMS (Learning Management System)? Does HR have an enterprise solution for relationship management? Does your IT division have the time to help implement a tracking structure? If you need help working through the technology issues an experienced consultant can quickly and easily identify the capabilities of the infrastructure as it applies to your elearning goals.
How do you measure ROI?
The best way to secure a budget is to demonstrate Return on Investment (ROI) for building and implementing elearning. Consider a few simple aspects when evaluating ROI and proposing the project to upper management: 1) the learner’s time required to take the elearning vs. the time saved while performing their daily tasks; 2) the efficient nature of acquiring knowledge and new skills that can be applied to the job almost instantaneously; and 3) the benefit of a more consistent product delivered to your customers as a direct result of employee training programs that are relative and timely.
Establishing a performance baseline prior to taking the training and comparing performance improvement after acquiring the training is vital to understanding ROI. Calculating the overall benefits of elearning can be more difficult than identifying actual cost savings related to travel costs, learner time, and other ‘hard benefits’ that can be easily converted to monetary value associated with ROI. The ‘soft benefits’ are the intangibles that your organization needs to place a price on as they relate to the overall value and success of the company.
Who is the team?
A team that understands learning objectives and the learner is essential to an efficient process. Typically, identifying a Subject Matter Expert (SME) internally that thoroughly understands the content and what the standard for understanding the material will be, is the place to start when building the team. There may also be situations where in-house expertise does not exist and it will be necessary to find a consultant to be the SME. Regardless of their expertise in the subject matter they may not know how to effectively teach it to somebody. This is where a trained Instructional Designer (ID) that is experienced with elearning development ensures the development of sound online instruction.
IDs are trained to understand the most effective way to shape the content to achieve the learning objectives and accomplish measurable outcomes. With elearning it is important that the ID also has a basic understanding of the development tools and their capabilities involved in the project in order to build the most effective tool for success. They should work in tandem with the SME, the project manager, the graphic designer and the developer in order to build effective elearning that achieves the desired outcomes. Without an experienced team the development of elearning can lead to ineffective training and cost overruns.
The project manager, graphic designer and developer(s) should be active participants throughout the process. Understanding learning objectives and content can allow the team to provide creative alternatives in design and development that will support sound instructional principles.
How is it implemented?
Implementation of the content can be achieved efficiently and in a cost savings manner if you have clearly identified: 1) the learner; 2) the learning objectives; 3) the development team; 4) the technical requirements; and 5) a project plan that lays out the process, establishes milestones and dependencies, and facilitates good communication. Good planning, setting expectations and managing those expectations with the entire elearning team ensures a successful development process.
The next step and one that shouldn’t be overlooked, is to have a small group of targeted learners go through the elearning and provide guided feedback. This feedback can allow for corrections to the elearning that will make it even more effective in achieving the learning outcomes. Questions should be presented to the group to assist them in providing constructive feedback to the elearning team and that facilitate correcting any issues with the elearning.
Next comes launch, but don’t pat yourself on the back just yet! All the testing and design considerations that have preceded implementation should mean a launch that is relatively painless, but you’ll still need to monitor the results as they come in to ensure you remove misleading questions and support any technical issues that should arise as learners begin to use the module.
Finally, new learning objectives require new elearning modules which results in beginning the process again. This process should be applied to each elearning project to ensure that the most effective and efficient tool is designed to meet the learners need. Efficiencies in elearning development, implementation and learning outcomes will be achieved by using this process consistently.
In Conclusion
Through the use of an effective process that follows sound Instructional Design principles, elearning is a tool that can support the success of your employees. Improving job performance is essential to the success of an organization. Designing effective elearning provides you with the ability to measure learner results.
Elearning is a tool that can be developed in a cost efficient manner through a greater understanding of learner goals and outcomes to support organizational success.
If you have any comments or questions about any Aware InSites, feel free to contact us at
info@awareweb.com or call 800-783-8919. Any suggestions for additional elearning topics are also welcome.
Featured Resources
ROI for Elearning
Many Happy Returns: Calculating elearning ROI
Elearning Implementation: Your Roadmap to Success
Implementing Elearning Successfully
A Quick Guide to e-Learning - Gregory Sales, PhD