How to: Successfully Deploy E-Learning
Deploying an e-learning course in a business is more than just uploading content to a Learning Management System (LMS) and sending out a company-wide email. To ensure success, you need a strategic approach encompassing planning, communication, support, and monitoring. In this blog, we’ll explore the components of a successful e-learning deployment, why it’s essential to get it right, and how it starts from your project’s day one.
Why Successful E-Learning Deployment is Crucial
Before we dive into the 'how,' it's important to understand 'why' successful deployment matters.
You’ve spent considerable time, money and resources on your shiny new E-learning course. You’ve matched the content to the business needs. You have your return on investment calculated. You’ve incorporated constructive feedback from subject matter experts, and you may have even purchased a new learning management system to host it.
You’ve completed the final user experience testing, the course has been signed off and is ready to go. It’s sitting waiting on the LMS ready to be released on your world.
Now what?
Well, that depends on your deployment plan.
We know when deployed effectively, e-learning solutions offer several benefits to both businesses and learners:
Cost Efficiency: E-learning eliminates the need for travel, venues, and printed materials, making it a cost-effective solution for training.
Scalability: Courses can be easily updated and rolled out across multiple locations, ensuring uniform training for all learners.
Employee Development: Well-executed training enhances skill development, boosts morale, and increases retention rates.
Compliance and Risk Management: In industries with strict regulations, e-learning ensures that all learners receive consistent training, reducing the risk of non-compliance.
However, if e-learning is not deployed effectively, it can lead to wasted resources, disengaged learners, and potential compliance risks. A poorly deployed course can result in low completion rates, technical difficulties, and a lack of real learning, which defeats the purpose of introducing the course in the first place. And that carefully planned return on investment? Not realised.
So let’s get it right. And the good news is, you should have already created the foundation for a successful deployment when the project first began, right back during the analysis stage.
Steps for a Successful E-Learning Deployment
1. Thorough Needs Analysis
Before you start designing or deploying your e-learning course, you will have conducted a thorough needs analysis. This step ensures that your course content is relevant, addressing both the learning goals and business objectives.
Understand the Target Audience: What are the learners' current skill levels? Are they familiar with online learning? Understanding their needs helps you create content that resonates with them.
Identify Learning Gaps: What specific knowledge or skills need to be developed? Speak with managers, survey employees, and analyse any available performance data to identify gaps in knowledge or skills.
Business Goals Alignment: Your e-learning course should align with the broader business goals. For example, if the aim is to increase compliance or safety standards, the content must focus on those areas and emphasise their importance.
The analysis stage forms the preparation for a successful project and supports the phrase: fail to prepare? Then prepare to fail. From experience with my clients, I know it can feel like such an intensive stage, with lots of questions to answer, decisions to be made and extensive documentation. But it matters. The more time we spend examining the problem and questioning the solution, the better the outcome, I promise. You will have a detailed Learning Needs Analysis and may have undertaken action mapping to truly craft the task-focused learning experience your learners need.
Analysis done.
So now, you will be planning out your e-learning. What is happening when, and by whom? and what’s next?
2. Detailed Project Planning
Once you understand the learning needs, it’s time to create a detailed project plan. Here’s what it should cover:
Timeline and Milestones: Break the project down into key milestones, from course design and content creation to testing and final deployment. Define clear deadlines for each stage.
Resources and Budget: Identify the resources you need, such as subject matter experts, instructional designers, LMS administrators, and a technical support team. Estimate costs for course development, LMS setup, and additional resources (e.g., video production or assessments).
Roles and Responsibilities: Assign roles clearly within the team, outlining who is responsible for course development, content reviews, LMS setup, testing, communications, and post-launch support.
A detailed project plan is essential. I use two project plans with my clients. A high-level top-down plan. Perfect for sharing with stakeholders and overseeing overall project status. And a bottom-up one. Designed with Agile in mind. It breaks activities down into individual tasks each allocated to sprints, so we can see together, how the e-learning will evolve in releases and plan downstream activities.
You will also be reporting back to stakeholders. This is where weekly update reports, regular check-in meetings; and a real-time project dashboard provide a huge benefit. A quick mechanism to give you what you need, in real-time to pre-empt questions and plan your next steps.
So let’s move on.
The project is well underway, and the design stage has been completed. Your new e-learning course has been designed and evaluated against business objectives. You will have a Solution Design document detailing the curriculum for the course, how it will be experienced by learners and the activity types that will be included. You will also have designed the visual look and feel of the course, how it will be navigated and meet accessibility guidelines. You may also have a prototype, a mini version of your new course, built with select content, for you, to test, to share with stakeholders, to support your communication plan and ultimately, give you the confidence of a successful return on investment.
Design done.
The new e-learning course is now coming to life in front of your eyes. And you’ve reached the development and testing stage.
3. Content Development and Testing
Effective e-learning content development is key to learner engagement and retention. Here’s how to approach this phase:
Engaging and Interactive Content: The content in your course will require the learner to do something. It will be engaging, interactive, and aligned with the learner's role. It will use multimedia like videos, quizzes, and simulations to enhance learning retention.
Mobile-First Design: With the growing use of mobile devices, your course must be mobile-optimised. Learners should be able to access the course across multiple devices without issues.
Testing and QA: Before deployment, test the course extensively. Test it on multiple browsers, devices, and LMS configurations to ensure it functions properly. Involve a pilot group of learners to complete the course and provide feedback before a wider launch.
How your course is developed will depend on the methodology used. My preference is an agile-styled approach. Designed specifically for e-learning course development, the LLAMA (lot like agile methodology approach) originally designed by Megan Torrance, is a methodology I use. It enables my clients to see and experience their new courses quickly and far earlier than other methodologies. The course is built in sprints, each incorporating storyboarding, development and testing, before being released for review. It means we can incorporate feedback directly into the next set of content and reduce re-work at the end. It supports everyone having ‘time to think’ and enables the course to evolve efficiently.
We’ve reached the end of development and testing. Successful technical testing, accessibility testing and QA has been completed. The course has been loaded onto your LMS.
Development and Testing done.
So what now?
Your deployment’s success hinges on how well you communicate with both learners and stakeholders. A strong communication plan ensures that everyone knows what the course is, why it’s important, and how to complete it.
4. Communication Strategy
Pre-Launch Announcements: Send out teaser emails or intranet/internet/social media announcements before the course launch, highlighting its benefits and the importance of participation. Build excitement!
Detailed Launch Plan: On launch day, send a clear communication to all learners or targeted groups. Include step-by-step instructions on how to access the course, deadlines for completion, and any technical support they can reach out to if issues arise.
Ongoing Communication: For longer courses, send periodic reminders to keep learners engaged and on track. Highlight the learning benefits, compliance requirements, or personal development opportunities.
5. Provide Ongoing Support
E-learning can be challenging for some learners, especially those not familiar with digital tools or online learning platforms. To ensure a smooth rollout:
Technical Support: Ensure learners have access to a support team for any technical issues with the LMS or course materials.
Learning Support: Provide avenues for learners to ask questions or seek help with the course content itself, whether through an FAQ section, discussion forums, or support from managers and subject matter experts.
Manager Involvement: Encourage managers to actively support their teams by checking in on their progress and answering questions related to the course’s objectives.
6. Monitor and Track Progress
Once the course is deployed, use LMS tracking features to monitor completion rates, assessment scores, and learner engagement.
Here are some key metrics to track:
Completion Rates: Ensure learners are completing the course on time and in full. Send reminders to those who are lagging.
Assessment Performance: Analyse quiz and test scores to gauge whether learners are absorbing the material.
Learner Feedback: Send out post-course surveys to collect feedback on the content, delivery, and overall experience. Use this data to improve future e-learning deployments.
7. Post-Deployment Review
After the course is completed, conduct a post-deployment review. Evaluate the following:
Were the business needs and learning objectives met? Compare post-course assessments or performance metrics to the initial learning gaps identified during the needs analysis.
Was the deployment efficient? Analyse whether the deployment timeline was adhered to, if there were any major challenges, and how they were addressed.
What improvements can be made? Gather feedback from both learners and stakeholders to identify areas for improvement in content, technical delivery, and overall deployment processes.
What’s next for the course? Will it require regular updates following external change, for example, legislation updates or process change? How will you validate and incorporate updates from learner feedback?
Conducting a detailed ‘postmortem’ means using reflective practice to gather detailed lessons learned that can be applied as actionable tasks. It’s an activity, that I find brings closure to the experience, recognises success and the journey we’ve been on. And for those directly involved, new experiences, new skills, and new opportunities for the future.
Successful e-learning deployment in a business requires more than just great content. It involves careful planning, clear communication, ongoing support, and robust tracking to ensure learners engage with and benefit from the training. And a return on your business investment.