Many e-learning developers create multiple courses, but these courses are often very similar in content. Instead of building different courses, they are essentially building the same course repeatedly.
A job seeker expressed their desire to move away from creating basic click-and-read e-learning content and work on courses that have a more significant impact. However, they were unsure of which organizations are producing these types of courses and where to look.
The main question then becomes: where can you find the best e-learning courses? I have some brief thoughts on this matter, and I am interested in hearing your opinions.
The Best E-Learning Isn’t Compliance Training
The driving force behind our industry is compliance training, which typically lacks performance goals. Consequently, the primary aim of such courses, regardless of the subject, is to ensure compliance by the end of the year and to track which employees have or haven’t completed the training.
These courses are typically subpar. Organizations tend to allocate minimal resources to these courses, which are often the tedious click-and-read type that people dislike and few developers are proud to create.
The Best E-Learning is Locked Behind a Firewall
Although many high-quality courses are being developed, the issue is that the majority of them are proprietary and inaccessible due to a firewall. Occasionally, you may get a glimpse of these courses during webinars, conferences, or on social media platforms such as LinkedIn. Nevertheless, they are typically not available to the general public.
The Best E-Learning Projects Are Outsourced
In my experience, organizations may possess numerous Articulate licenses, but they often outsource the development of impactful training to external vendors. This indicates that the organization is dedicating significant resources to these projects, something that in-house course authors typically don’t receive, which can be frustrating.
At the corporate level, many teams possess authoring tools and instructional design expertise. However, they may lack the experience or resources required for media, learning experience, and visual design. Vendors are generally better equipped to support the entire development process from design to implementation.
Where Can I See Examples of the Best E-Learning?
- E-Learning Challenges: we organize weekly e-learning challenges with the intention of encouraging course authors to experiment with the software, learn about its features, and try out new techniques. While the modules shared by participants may not always be actual courses, they present innovative ideas and interesting solutions that could be easily adapted to most courses. Even if you decide not to participate, we recommend checking out the recap posted every Thursday. You will find excellent examples that may inspire your own creativity. Here’s a favorite from a recent challenge on interactive video.
- DemoFest Examples: at their conferences, The E-Learning Guild hosts a DemoFest, which is like a science fair for e-learning projects. This is one of my favorite parts of the conference as it gives us an opportunity to view real projects created by individuals from a variety of organizations. If you can’t attend, no worries. Following the events, the Guild hosts a “Best of…” webinar, which is also worth watching and allows you to see some of the courses shared.
Those are a few suggestions on where to find good examples. Do you have any ideas to share?
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