I want custom e-learning BUT….
“It’s too expensive.”
“I don’t have the technology.”
“It feels overwhelming.”
“I don’t know where to start.”
“I’m not sure what I need.”
Do any of those feel familiar?
I’ve heard every one of those statements.
And yet, everyone can offer e-learning, whether to their employees or clients.
Fundamentally, to deliver e-learning you need three things:
Subject Matter Expertise + Instructional Design + Technology = e-learning.
That’s it.
So, let’s break down each part of the formula.
Subject Matter Expertise
This is the content. The message being delivered to your learner. That may be in your head. It may be in PowerPoint slides or manuals. It could be video, text, or images. It could be a combination. Whatever the format, with the effective use of instructional design, that content can become your dream e-learning.
Instructional Design
This is applying learning best practices to translate your content into a learning experience that effectively delivers your message. It can be a professional role in an organisation, undertaken by a freelancer, or undertaken by you. Course creation is at an all-time high. New technologies offer anyone the opportunity to spend a few hours adding content and publishing it to their waiting audience.
Technology
The choice of technology for learning today is phenomenal. Back when I started 20-odd years ago, it was a mystical, complicated ‘thing’ that was only accessible to the few. Many involved in large-scale e-learning projects didn’t have access to the tech. We made do with sending vast quantities of scripts, usually overseas, and ta-da, it came back magically converted into illustrated courses, with 15 ways to click to reveal the content. But there are so many more choices now. The technology is available to everyone. You can create your own e-learning in a matter of hours. Platforms like Kajabi and Teachable offer anyone the tools to create and publish to the world.
Each part of the formula can be met, and your choice for each will likely depend on your investment in budget, your time, and your goals.
What do you want your dream e-learning experience to be?
What are your learner’s expectations?
How much money do you want to invest?
Will it be a commercial product?
There is an e-learning solution for every budget. Technology has provided a great leveller by offering the potential for better learning experiences at less cost.
Assuming you have the subject matter expertise covered, let’s take a closer look at your options for instructional design and technology.
Technology
Your e-learning experience is up to you. There is no right or wrong choice. You know your learners' expectations and what they need to meet them.
That experience will influence the technology you will need.
The technology you choose will need to undertake two tasks:
1. Create it- to convert your content into a learning experience.
2. Host it- so your learners can access it.
It doesn’t need to be the same technology to do both parts.
What you choose will depend on the answers you gave to the earlier questions:
What do you want your dream e-learning experience to be?
What are your learner’s expectations?
How much money do you want to invest?
Will it be a commercial product?
The learner experience is what you want your learner ‘to do’ in the e-learning.
👀 Are they going to be watching videos or listening to podcasts?
📖 Do they need to read your content?
🖇️ Do you want to include links to other content, or downloadable resources?
🪛 Or practice doing something in a simulation?
The format your learner experiences will determine the technology used to create or build your course.
We’ve all seen the ads for AI avatar video training, add-ons that convert your processes into quick standard operating procedures and global platforms like Kajabi and Teachable that host the content for you.
There’s gamified learning, virtual reality and the more traditional corporate illustrative style.
And rapid authoring tools, initially designed for in-house training teams, now allow everyone to create highly desirable, polished e-learning without involving teams of people.
Instructional Design
Getting the message delivery right, making the learning ‘stick’, and delivering the content within the e-learning in a way that encourages the learner to ‘pull’ the information from the course and ultimately change the way they do something. Learning is about changing behaviour.
Does it need to be done by an Instructional Design expert? ….No.
Many people are able to create and deliver effective messages that bring about change. We do it every day: teaching our children how to get dressed, showing our colleagues a quick way to update a system, or making a customer’s order. And many are very effective at creating e-learning for their customers or employees.
You can create your own e-learning. And you will know if your learning is effective if it brings the desired change in behaviour you want.
So there’s the do-it-yourself option. There’s also the do-it-yourself-with-support approach. Where you create the content, but you’re given guidance by another. It could be templates, guides or power hours when you get stuck. There are many ways you can get additional help.
Or you could choose someone else to do it for you, perhaps from overseas, remote freelancers from Fiverr or UpWork. You don’t need to meet them or have much conversation. You can send your content over, and it comes back as a nice, shiny e-learning package. Perhaps it is more of a templated approach, but it may meet your needs.
If you prefer a more personable experience, you may choose a small e-learning business, whether a sole trader or limited company. They will likely pull in additional experts as needed, keeping costs and complexity down. Have a coffee and chat, and let them guide you through it while taking away the effort.
Or you could choose an e-learning company. They also deliver larger-scale, end-to-end projects, but they have a larger price tag.
Again, who you choose will depend on the answers you gave to the earlier questions:
What do you want your dream e-learning experience to be?
What are your learner’s expectations?
How much money do you want to invest?
Will it be a commercial product?
There are a lot of decisions to make. But I promise that the more questions you ask and the answers you find, the better your end result will be.
Bringing your e-learning to life doesn’t need to be complicated, costly, or time-consuming.
I hope this inspires you to get started.
This article is part of a series called ‘Essentials’ aimed at providing you with the information you need to make informed decisions, create better e-learning, and ultimately get that return on investment that it’s all for.