For many businesses, creating custom courses can present several challenges. Here are some common ones:
Identifying specific learning needs: One of the initial challenges is understanding the unique learning requirements of the business. Different departments or teams may have distinct training needs, and it's essential to identify these needs accurately. Conducting a comprehensive training needs analysis and consulting with stakeholders can help gather relevant information.
Aligning with business goals: Custom courses should align with the strategic objectives of the organization. Ensuring that the content, objectives, and desired outcomes of the training are in line with the company's overall goals and vision is crucial. This alignment helps maximize the impact of the training on business performance.
Tailoring content for the target audience: Custom courses should be designed to cater to the specific audience within the organization. Factors such as job roles, skill levels, and prior knowledge need to be considered while developing content. Ensuring that the material is relevant, engaging, and meaningful to the learners will enhance their learning experience.
Subject matter expertise: Developing custom courses often requires subject matter experts (SMEs) to contribute their knowledge and expertise. However, it can be challenging to find the right SMEs who are not only knowledgeable but also skilled in instructional design. Collaborating effectively with SMEs is crucial to ensure accurate and up-to-date content is included in the course.
Balancing customization and cost: Custom course creation can be more time-consuming and costly compared to off-the-shelf training solutions. Striking a balance between meeting the specific needs of the business and managing the associated costs is a challenge. Careful planning, prioritization, and leveraging existing resources can help optimize the customization process.
Technical considerations: Implementing custom courses often involves utilizing learning management systems (LMS) or other e-learning platforms. Integrating the course content with these systems and ensuring compatibility can be challenging. Additionally, organizations may have specific security or compliance requirements that need to be addressed during the course development process.
Ongoing maintenance and updates: Custom courses need to be regularly updated to reflect changing industry trends, regulations, or organizational policies. Ensuring the long-term effectiveness of the training requires ongoing maintenance and monitoring. This can be challenging, especially when multiple custom courses are implemented across various departments or teams.
Addressing these challenges requires careful planning, effective communication, collaboration with stakeholders, and a clear understanding of the organization's goals and learning needs.
What is Rapid eLearning?
Rapid eLearning refers to a development approach that allows for the quick and efficient creation of eLearning courses. It focuses on streamlining the course development process to deliver timely and cost-effective online training solutions.
The goal of rapid eLearning is to accelerate the course creation timeline while maintaining quality and effectiveness.
Here are some key characteristics and features of rapid eLearning:
Rapid authoring tools: Rapid eLearning relies on the use of specialized authoring tools that offer a user-friendly interface and pre-built templates. These tools often have drag-and-drop functionality, allowing instructional designers to create content without extensive programming or technical skills.
Templates and reusable assets: Rapid eLearning encourages the use of templates and pre-designed layouts for content presentation. These templates provide a consistent look and feel throughout the course and help speed up the development process. Additionally, reusable assets such as graphics, audio, and video components can be utilized across multiple courses, saving time and effort.
Content repurposing: Rapid eLearning often involves repurposing existing content rather than starting from scratch. This can include converting existing PowerPoint presentations, documents, or training materials into eLearning modules. By repurposing content, instructional designers can significantly reduce development time while maintaining the core information and concepts.
Quick iteration and feedback cycles: Rapid eLearning embraces an iterative approach, allowing for frequent feedback and revisions. This agile development process enables stakeholders to review and provide input on the course at various stages. Iterations can be made quickly, resulting in shorter development cycles and more responsive course updates.
Simplicity and learner-centric design: Rapid eLearning focuses on creating learner-centric courses that are easy to navigate and understand. The emphasis is on simplicity and clarity of content, avoiding unnecessary complexity. This approach ensures that learners can quickly grasp the information and engage with the course effectively.
Collaborative development: Rapid eLearning encourages collaboration among instructional designers, subject matter experts (SMEs), and stakeholders. By involving all relevant parties in the development process, the course creation timeline can be expedited. Collaboration tools, such as cloud-based platforms or project management software, facilitate communication and coordination.
Rapid eLearning is particularly useful when there is a need for time-sensitive training, quick updates, or when budgets and resources are limited. However, it's important to note that while rapid eLearning enables faster development, it may not always be the best approach for complex or highly specialized training topics that require extensive customization or interactivity.
Combining Rapid eLearning Tools with a Corporate LMS
Combining rapid eLearning tools with a corporate Learning Management System (LMS) can provide a powerful solution for organizations looking to efficiently create, deliver, and manage eLearning courses. Here's how the two can be integrated:
Content Development with Rapid eLearning Tools
Rapid eLearning authoring tools can be used to create the course content quickly and easily. These tools often allow you to develop engaging multimedia content, interactive assessments, and multimedia elements such as videos and simulations. Once the content is created, it can be exported in standard formats like SCORM or xAPI.
LMS Integration
The eLearning content developed using rapid eLearning tools can be seamlessly integrated into the corporate LMS. The LMS serves as the central hub for managing, delivering, and tracking the courses. Most LMS platforms support industry standards like SCORM or xAPI, allowing the content to be imported and launched within the LMS environment.
Course Organization and Management
Within the LMS, you can organize the courses into appropriate categories, assign them to specific learners or groups, and set access permissions. The LMS provides administrative controls for course enrollment, progress tracking, and generating reports on learner performance.
Tracking and Reporting
The LMS tracks learner progress and performance data, such as course completion, assessment scores, and time spent on each module. This data can be analyzed and reported to assess the effectiveness of the training and identify areas for improvement. The integration allows the LMS to capture data from the rapid eLearning courses and provide comprehensive reporting capabilities.
Learner Experience
Learners can access the rapid eLearning courses through the corporate LMS. They can enroll in courses, view their progress, and resume from where they left off. The LMS also offers features like discussion forums, assessments, and certifications to enhance the learner experience and facilitate knowledge retention.
Updates and Maintenance
When updates or revisions are required for the rapid eLearning courses, they can be made using the authoring tools, and the updated content can be re-imported into the LMS. This ensures that learners have access to the latest version of the course material.
By combining rapid eLearning tools with a corporate LMS, organizations can leverage the efficiency and speed of course development provided by rapid eLearning while benefiting from the robust features and centralized management offered by the LMS. This integration enhances the overall training experience, simplifies content deployment, and enables effective tracking and reporting of learner progress.
About LMS Portals
At LMS Portals, we provide our clients and partners with a SaaS-based, multi-tenant learning management system that allows you to launch a dedicated training environment (a portal) for each of your unique audiences.
The system includes built-in, SCORM-compliant rapid course authoring software that enables most anyone to build engaging courses quickly and easily.
We also offer a complete library of ready-made courses, covering most every aspect of corporate training and employee development.
If you choose to, you can create Learning Paths to deliver courses in a logical progression and add structure to your training program. The system also supports Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) and provides tools for social learning.
Together, these features make the LMS Portals platform the ideal solution for rapid course creation as part of a robust corporate training program.
Contact us today to get started or visit our Partner Program pages