Keys to Course Development
Implementing
a Learning Management System (
Let’s examine
the key strategies of course development.
Who are the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) within your organization? It takes just a few minutes to
identify colleagues, training specialists and others with expertise and
materials pertaining your developing course, even if created
in diverse formats. Also, are there potential developers you can recruit
for the course cultivation projects on an ad hoc basis?
What content already exists, and how
can I incorporate it?
Take inventory of existing materials and resources. Research possible sources for learning content (PowerPoint,
Word files, video material, flash movies, web sites, HTML and text, etc.). In many cases, you
may already have web-deliverable components and just need an authoring tool to
create the logical arrangement of learning screens. In other cases, you
may need to convert text from word processing format to HTML format. Classroom
and CD-ROM-based learning tools often generate large files that are too slow to
load over the internet. Conversion to streaming video format or Flash
movies can prepare these multimedia materials for use in a web-based learning
environment.
Where do my learners go to find
online content and support material? First, decide which materials are online content and which would
make better support materials. Instructional material is needed to teach the
concepts and knowledge you want to disseminate online. Information that
covers special cases, alternative methods or additional examples can be organized
as support documentation. You can use hyperlinks, document libraries or simple
reference notes. One way to differentiate training material from reference
material is to consider frequency, immediacy and criticalness.
When do I need an introductory
course to lead to more advanced courses? Most training experts agree that the cardinal rule of
authoring is to make sure courses are not overwhelming in size. Even
within the course, you want to make sections manageable and possibly even divide
the course into multiple sections and classes.
Why is it important to group
courses? Job
requirements, experience levels and the diversity of your learners will help
you determine how to assemble training material and structure course offerings
to effectively cover a specific subject, competency or certification.
How should I structure my online
courses? The
Once you
examine your available resources and gather the components of your course
development, the FlexTraining online training experts can help you plan and
develop your online training projects.
Dynamic
Analysis: An Essential E-Learning Component
Information
tracking is not static, and dynamic analysis is an essential component of your
online training software. Whether you want to evaluate enrollment trends, test
question effectiveness or detail test results, your integrated reporting
function should allow for unlimited data analysis for repetitive or ad hoc
reporting. To keep your E-Learning programs on track, you need a flexible
reporting function so you can ask the right questions and get the answers you need
to stay the course or change direction.
What should your
reporting function do for you? Extract routine or unplanned data for
spreadsheets, presentations and reports. Archive the information for review
down the road. Track learner progress against short- and long-term goals and
deadlines.
Store, search and retrieve documents regarding
training accomplishments and augment performance evaluation data to
identify strengths and opportunities within your workforce. Remember, what gets
measured gets done, and the FlexTraining