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Rapid e-Learning : The Emperor’s New Clothes?
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Rapid e-Learning : The Emperor’s New Clothes?
Fast, Faster, Supersonic The generators take content developed in
PowerPoint and allow you to generate Flash
based courses. Audio, video, animations,
This year’s catchphrase is undoubtedly quizzes and learning games can all be
rapid e-learning. And, it seems, the faster included. Many of these tools come with pre-
the better. Everywhere you look, gurus pop built components such as multiple choice
up to tell you about the latest process and quizzes, drag-and-drop interactions and so
newest tools, all designed to help you to on. They usually provide the code to allow you
build e-learning at the speed of light. to integrate your e-learning with your SCORM
compliant Learning Management System.
The idea of rapid e-learning is that if you The generators, however, can be limited in
can put the development tools in the hands what you can do beyond the pre-defined
of the Subject Matter Expert, you can save components and can restrict your flexibility
yourself time and money. The tools are in when it comes to the look and feel. These
two camps – the PowerPoint generators and tools rarely allow you to write your own code
the authoring tools. in order to extend their functionality.
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- 3. The authoring tools add a layer of sophistication Getting our Subject Matter
to the generators. They allow you to create
bespoke components for your e-learning; give Experts to build content –
you more control over the look and feel; and they are you serious?
allow you to extend the functionality provided,
by writing your own code. In order to ease the
This is where the problems start and may be
learning curve, many authoring tool vendors
the fatal flaw in the rapid e-learning story.
provide templates that Subject Matter Experts
can use as a starting point. Some vendors even
In a recent article for e.learning age
provide generic content which can be tailored
magazine, William Ward acknowledges
by the organisation to meet its needs.
that Subject Matter Experts are often too
busy to be involved in training initiatives.
All sizzle and no sausage? Both Ward and Elliot Masie, the US learning
guru, argue that the pressure of working
with an Instructional Designer to develop
On the contrary. Many of the tools available content is too much to ask of an SME and
can be used to build sophisticated e-learning provides them with little or no ownership
courses. In my own organisation, we have built of the content. Ward correctly states that
several courses using rapid e-learning tools SMEs tend to be the biggest ‘hold-up’
such as Lectora, Authorware and Articulate. factor in the development of any training
The choice of these tools was driven by client intervention. Their answer to this problem?
requirements and, being a bespoke developer, Give the SMEs the tools to build their own
we obviously found that these tools have content!
their limitations. However, are they a barrier
to delivering high quality, bespoke content? If you haven’t already spotted it, the flaw
Absolutely not. in Maise and Ward’s argument is that they
themselves acknowledge that SMEs don’t
Having seen what can be produced using rapid have the time to help build content. Training
e-learning, it’s no wonder to us that in Larstan is often not their day job and burdening
Business Reports’ study of Fortune 500 them with an additional layer of tools and
companies, over 80 percent of respondents the inevitable work that is involved in
said that rapid e-learning strategies would building content does not seem to be much
make a significant contribution to their training of a solution at all.
initiatives.
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- 4. So SMEs can’t build content? Building e-learning is not solely reliant on
knowledge of the subject matter. A mix of skills
is required, including instructional design and
I believe that what Maise, Ward and other graphical design. Technical expertise is also often
proponents of rapid e-learning are driving at is required too, although is becoming less essential.
that SMEs can develop their own content and can Proponents of rapid e-learning often dismiss the
generate courses that are world class ... given the role of the Instructional Designer (ID), believing
right circumstances. However, there are several that this role only serves to take knowledge from
barriers to creating the right circumstances. the SME and drop it in the lap of the developer.
This is far from the truth – the ID is one of the
First, although many of the rapid e-learning tools most important roles in any learning project and
are easy to use, if you don’t use a product for this is not a skill that is easily or quickly mastered.
some time, it’s easy to forget how to make the Asking an SME to master all of these skills as well
most of it. as learning a development tool – in addition to
performing their day job – is a lot to ask!
Second, most projects will have different SMEs
– we work with clients’ companies where we An example of the last point is a Competition
build several projects per year and rarely do we Law course that we developed recently. The SME
come across the same SME. This means that was also the Legal Counsel for our client – time
every project could potentially have to absorb was at a premium. The SME was more than
the costs associated with learning how to use happy to provide us with content. The problem
the development tools. In the authoring tool was that it came across as an essay. Initially, the
category this overhead can be significant. SME would have been happy for this content to
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- 5. be transferred into Flash, made to look ‘pretty’ So it’s a crock?
and then deployed. From a legal point of view,
all the content was correct and from a lawyer’s
point of view, reading through pages of legal The point about rapid e-learning is that it can
text was not a problem. From a training point of work – and we have seen it work with great
view a course written in this manner would have success. However, the story that you can buy
been a disaster. Our IDs worked with the client to ten copies of an authoring tool, roll it out to
ensure the integrity of the material while making your SMEs and they will deliver world class
it digestible and engaging. This is something content is just that: a story. The many copies
that the SME just would not have had the time of authoring tools that we have seen become
to do. shelfware are a testament to this. Like any
learning project, a rapid e-learning project
needs a mix of skills – it’s not a job for one
Finally, as we have already said, there is the
person, however talented. If you already
question of time. Far from adding pressure to
have content in PowerPoint or can convince
the SME, we find that SMEs prefer to provide
your SMEs to produce this, if your training
Instructional Designers with a ‘brain dump’ and
professionals can repurpose the content, if
then to work collaboratively (often face- to-face)
your Graphic Designers can build the assets,
to review and sign off content. This removes
then you have a good chance of leveraging
the burden of writing content from the SME
the rapid e-learning model. Otherwise, you
and important tasks such as use of language,
risk adding to the already tarnished reputation
adherence to the brand’s tone of voice, grammar
of e-learning.
and spelling are handled by the Instructional
Designer.
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- 6. The Emperor’s new clothes?
Right about now you are probably asking “where’s the value?” If you have to employ all these people
to build e-learning courses, wouldn’t it be better to outsource the project? Our experience shows
that rapid e-learning adds value to organisations that have thought through the points mentioned
above. Recurring themes in organisations that are successful are:
They build small teams that handle the actual building of the content. As these teams work
on many courses, they become experts in the use of the rapid e-learning tools. Because of
the nature of the tools, these individuals can be training professionals rather than software
developers. This allows them to provide instructional design support as well.
They create strategic relationships with third party vendors who can provide services on an
ad hoc basis. These vendors often have expertise in using the e-learning tools and have
Instructional Designers and Graphic Designers at their disposal.
They take a hybrid approach to content creation. Some content is created internally, other
content is developed by third parties – a process for making these choices is usually also in
place.
So is rapid e-learning the Emperor’s new clothes? Only if you read what it says on the box and,
against your better instincts, believe it all to be true!
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- 7. Hanif has a unique background in technology
and learning with over 10 years’ experience
in the IT training industry.
He is one of the early proponents of a
blended or integrated approach to learning
and has been involved with designing
and delivering learning initiatives for IBM,
Deutsche Bank, Swiss Re, Credit Suisse,
Universal Pictures, Whirlpool, Liverpool
Victoria and Unisys.
Prior to co-founding Saffron Interactive,
Hanif held management positions at
Deutsche Bank, Rite Aid, LBMS Inc and
Stehle Associates where he held the post
of CEO. During Hanif’s involvement,
Stehle Associates became one of the few
organisations in the UK to gain the Institute
of IT Training’s Gold Standard and won three
awards for training excellence.
Hanif can be contacted at
hanif@saffroninteractive.com
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