I’m sure you’re all familiar with the story of Alice in wonderland, in which Alice enters the forest and asks the cat which way she needs to go. The cat replies saying it depends a good deal on where Alice wants to arrive at. To that Alice responds by saying she doesn’t care much where to go. The cat, in turn, replies that it doesn’t matter then which way she takes. What do you learn from this story? We learn that you need to begin with the end in mind – you need to know what you want to achieve to be able to make the right beginning. In the context of eLearning too, it is important to set your learning objectives in advance so as to achieve the end results for which you are developing the eLearning.

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To evaluate the impact of training, there are two possible ways of measurement – one based upon financial measures (Return on Investment) while the other include qualitative measurement based on Return on Expectation. However, the ultimate objective remains the same – to generate greater benefits at the lowest possible cost. Therefore, it makes good business sense to know about the major ways to increase the impact of training.

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Managing Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) is both a science and an art, as many battle-scarred project managers, instructional designers, and SMEs themselves will attest to. Here’s a list of dos and don’ts that SMEs wish eLearning teams would remember.

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On one of their documentary series called Deadliest Catch aired by the Discovery Channel, I had watched Alaskan fishermen braving the elements to go fishing for king crab in some of the world’s most turbulent seas with freezing temperatures. And yet, the primary emotion on the fishing crew’s faces was that of exhilaration for pitting their wits against nature and meeting the challenge and dangers head-on. So what’s this got to do with eLearning? Not much. And yet, a lot.

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‘As if we didn’t!’, is what a few of you might be thinking on reading this title. Think of your last design project. And how much thought you gave to your learners. If truth be told, sometimes the learner is the last person on our mind. The moment we get a design task on our hands, we roll up our sleeves and jump into the mechanics of it all. We are thinking of content flows, interactivities, assessments, and everything else that goes into making an instructionally sound course. And what about the learner? He/she lurks somewhere in our consciousness, but more as a wispy, distant entity rather than a flesh and blood character who will probably laugh or cry looking at some of the things we as instructional designers sometimes unleash on them. Here are a few tips to putting the focus back on your learners:

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