As far as infrastructure is concerned, when it comes to eLearning, we think of servers, bandwidth, LMS/ LCMS etc. all very expensive to acquire and sometimes time consuming to set up. So, do you have the required infrastructure to get started with eLearning?

You already have the infrastructure if you:

• Are using computers
• Have Internet and Intranet access
• Have a training hall with web conferencing facility
• Are active on Social Media -
  • Facebook
  • Twitter and
  • LinkedIn

You don’t need an LMS/ LCMS to start with.

I know of an oil major, which for the first 5 years or so, used multimedia as teaching aids in their training centers and classroom, before they ventured out to deliver learning online.

While you may be in a hurry to roll out a full-fledged eLearning solution, I would like to suggest that if your existing trainers and a sizeable chunk of learners are exposed to some elements of online training in a gradual manner, the chances that organization-wide eLearning will take off will be high.

Start with the present Infrastructure

Initially start with what you have. Once learners become familiar with eLearning, then you can scale up the infrastructure to include a Learning Management System.

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1. Infrastructure Requirements for ELearning Implementation and Delivery
2. Using ILT Resources – Some Challenges
3. Planning your eLearning Budget

Organizations don’t adopt eLearning in a vacuum. Most of them already have well-established Instructor Led Training (ILT) programs in place to address their organization-wide training needs thus far. And most of this is supported by instructionally sound training material. All they have to sometimes do is convert this existing ILT material into eLearning after suitable tweaking and treatment as required. However, there are two common mistakes organizations routinely make when planning an eLearning implementation – sometimes they tend to overlook what they already have and try to reinvent the wheel by developing content from scratch or they swing to the other extreme and assume that just because they have all the content they need, they don’t need that much effort to convert it to eLearning. As a result, they end up not factoring enough time, cost and resources required to define, design, develop, and deploy effective learning programs.

If you already have an extensive training program and the infrastructure, content and the presence of instructors, tutors and subject matter experts to support it, ensure that you tap these rich resources. Once you identify your existing resources, identify content that is best suited to eLearning. Here are a few things you need to evaluate before you even start creating or tweaking content.

What content do you want to deliver through eLearning? Is the material that you have instructionally sound (are there suitable learning objectives, does the flow of content support easy retention, is the content arranged in a logical sequence, are there sound assessments in place etc.)? If existing materials are well-developed, then you need to only focus on how best you can now present them in an eLearning format with the suitable use of interactive instructional design, media strategies, and engaging functionality. What is the best instructional approach for the various types of content? How will you plan for the treatment of different content types? Do you want to use exploratory approaches, simulations etc.? Ensure that you make all eLearning content relevant by building in lots of scenarios, examples, and case studies. This will help learners learn and retain learning.

What type of e-learning process do you want to use? Traditional or rapid eLearning? The answer to this question will determine the types of tools that you will need to invest in.

These decisions need to be taken at the planning stage because your eLearning budget will be affected by your decisions. Conventional e-learning takes longer, has a longer development process, uses different sets of tools and requires a different set of skills for course development. Because it takes longer time and requires specialized skill-sets, it is more expensive than rapid eLearning. However, if you go in for rapid eLearning by developing courses internally rather than outsourcing it to custom content development companies, then you will have considerable initial expenses in acquiring the required tools and training people to use them. However, the main advantage of rapid development is the fact that once these skills are acquired, your team can develop courses quickly – a critical advantage for supporting the business goal of faster-speed-to market. With the plethora of rapid eLearning tools available in the market, it pays to invest in some of them even if you are planning to take the longer and more traditional route towards eLearning.

Once you keep some of these considerations in mind, it becomes easier to plan for converting existing ILT materials to eLearning programs.

Related posts:

1. Tapping Your Existing Content
2. Defining the Initial Scope of an eLearning Solution
3. Use Of Simulations In E-Learning For Software Training

The training industry, especially the e-learning industry has evolved from ILT, online courses, blended courses to rapid e-learning, audio/video and a range of instructional simulations and interactivities. Earlier, companies would convert manuals and instructor materials into slideshows for training purposes. Now, e-learning programs offer engaging, interactive and virtual experiences. A year or two ago, when recession affected industries, people focused on learning to retain their jobs.

Recent times have seen learning happen through social media tools. From YouTube to blogging, podcasts to micro-blogs, social news and bookmarking to wikis, social media tools have taken e-learning to another level.

The shift towards social learning is mainly because organizations have started recognizing the tremendous need to build, manage and formalize their social and collaborative learning programs.

Organizations are rethinking their training strategies and models to accommodate learning programs under ‘learning environments’ that offer collaborative learning and built in social media tools. According to Wikipedia, collaborative learning refers to various methodologies and environments where learners engage and actively interact to learn or attempt to learn something together.

A collaborative learning environment in an organization enables learners to converse with contemporaries, present as well as defend ideas and perspectives, exchange diverse beliefs, question other conceptual frameworks and get actively engaged. Learning in a collaborative environment can take place at any time. It can happen when individuals are in discussion in a group or over the Internet.

Some organizations may offer ILT training on a need basis, but over 70% of learning happens while reading, watching and listening or simply by talking with one another.

There are many new tools and platforms similar to LMS to manage, track and facilitate people to learn and work together. It’s a matter of time when collaborative learning will happen on the move through mobile phones, Blackberry phones and related mobile devices.

While Google has Google Wave, Microsoft’ SharePoint and Live Services, Adobe’s Connect, a few companies such as Saba, Plateau and Taleo are creating new tools and platforms to facilitate communication and knowledge-sharing.

What are your thoughts on Collaborative Learning? Will organizations be able to create learning environments to enhance informal and collaborative learning? Please comment and share your knowledge.

Thank you for reading my blog.

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When I first read Dr. Robert Mager’s seminal book (more a booklet), “Setting Instructional Objectives”, I had my first ‘aha’ experience in the field of training and learning. At that time, I have just changed my career track from Sales to University Teaching and Corporate Training. I did not have a formal background in Learning and Performance Management and his principles guided me through my new career like a beacon of light to explore and learn further.

The book itself is a gem, so succinctly yet so humorously written that I finished my first reading in one sitting! It is one book that practices what it preaches. Its instructional objectives are so well set and so well achieved in me that I never read the book again for clarification. But I read it many times (and continue to read it) for the sheer pleasure of reading such a masterpiece.

His almost simplistic aphorism about setting quantifiable and measurable learning outcomes is so simple yet so powerfully logical. If used along with the other two principles of conditions (under which the performance has to be done) and criteria of acceptable performance, it becomes a cornerstone for all instructional interventions, be it classroom or eLearning.

ROBERT MAGER’S PRINCIPLES AS APPLIED IN COMMLAB’S PRODUCTS

For me, Robert’s principles always helped me answer critical questions while designing training programs or developing storyboards for eLearning courses.

• What will be content for the subject?
• What will be the duration of learning?
• What will be the instructional strategy (how best can a particular topic be presented)?
• What will be the type of assessments?

I would like to hear from my fellow learning professionals what they think of Mager’s principles and to what extent are they used in today’s world of rapid eLearning.

Thank you very much for reading my blog.

RK Prasad

CEO

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