5 Tips for Professional eLearning Production

eLearning production has grown and developed as the technology and systems have become more advanced. Industry standards are constantly being tested and reviewed by new optimised standards and tools. From advancements in Authoring Tool capabilities, to eLearning specific content formats there is no end to growth in eLearning, as such the industry standards are constantly shifting. As the eLearning industry grows there are certain standards that will remain relevant despite new technology, in this article we will be covering five of them.

Instructional Design Methodology

Choosing the right instructional design methodology is essential for the successful production of eLearning. The nature of the material and individuals involved determines the best methodology to implement. For example: Working with subject matter experts on complex and specialised material is best suited for the Successive Approximation Model, where as short deadlines and high quantities of content are best suited to a Rapid Prototyping Model.

Consistent Design

Consistent ‘look and feel’ is essential in eLearning Development, as bad or inconsistent design plays a big role in how professional your material appears. Before embarking on eLearning development ensure you have produced a design template that acts much like a corporate Identity document (CI), entailing all the design elements of the eLearning to maintain a professional and consistent experience from start to finish. 

Optimise your Assets

The quality of your eLearning is directly linked to the assets you use. This is particularly true in the case of video clips, images and animations. Every asset added to a learning module increases the size of that module and the performance on the Learning Management System servers as users stream those modules. Using the most optimised content types ensure your assets maintain quality and performance. A big tip when working with video is to avoid uploading large video clips directly into the eLearning modules, but rather embedding the video clip from an external server (Youtube or Vimeo).

SCORM Navigation

There are multiple eLearning formats that been developed overtime, with SCORM being the most prevalent. An important feature of SCORM is the built in media player which influences the module navigation for the user. Adult Learning recognizes the freedom and accessibility of eLearning, and part of that recognition is allowing the users to navigate between module items to find the lessons pertaining to their personal goals. For example: Revisiting a learning module to recap a specific lesson, without proper navigation the user will have to go through all the prior learning items to find the one they are actually looking for. 

Test Before Going Live

The eLearning industry may be growing in leaps and bounds, but some things never change. A proper editorial process is absolutely essential when producing any content. Furthermore, the authoring tools used to produce the elearning have many options for exporting your content, some may not be that obvious and as such should always be tested before going live. Keep in mine that your editorial process may be influenced by your instructional design model, but will always remain relevant. The last thing you want is to spend weeks producing a new course, post it to your LMS and have your audience participate, only to find that your modules were published in the wrong format and none of your marks or student progress was pulling. Simply put, test your SCORM modules on the LMS prior to publishing them.