(This article is a preview for our upcoming industry study Rapid E-Learning: What Works™ which you can order now!)

The Need for Rapid Development

For decades, the promises of using technology to train people has lured corporations, universities and non-profit organizations to migrate some of their educational programs to technology platforms.  THe overriding goal for e-learning is to increase the scale, speed, and cost-effectiveness of training.

But, what about the cost and speed of e-learning development?   I often hear professionals talk about the time and expense of creating e-learning.  In our Spring 2004 industry survey, we found that the two biggest challenges that developers face are time and resources. (280 survey responders, April 2004).

When we ask training managers about the nature of their programs, we find that more than 70% of the programs which trainers develop are "time-critical."  Time-Critical programs are those that have either short timeframes (they are urgent) or go out of date quickly (they have low durability).  If it takes 3-4 months to build such programs, e-learning is simply not an option!

Fig 1:  Why Rapid E-Learning is Needed

Enter Rapid E-Learning:  A Whole New Approach

Enter a new category of programs which we call Rapid E-Learning.  We coined this phrase over a year ago when we started to look at a range of new tools which convert PowerPoint to Flash.  Rapid E-Learning is a category of programs (not tools) which has the following characteristics:  it is rapid to develop, it does not require extensive training in development tools, and it often uses PowerPoint as its authoring environment.

Fig 2:  Where Rapid E-Learning Fits

We believe this new "category" of program is exploding.  For every training professional in an organization there are 100 to 1,000 "subject-matter-experts" who may need to train an audience.  Product managers, sales specialists, service specialists, technical experts, HR managers -- these individuals all need to author content quickly and deploy it to a large audience for training.  As we described in our earlier tip, "breaking the bottleneck with SMEs", these professionals can be "unleashed" by this new approach.

Rapid E-Learning:  New Tools and Methodologies

Rapid E-Learning is not just a new approach, it is a whole new category of solution.  In this new world there are new tools, new approaches, and new "best practices."  In our Rapid E-Learning:  What Works™ Market Study we give you detailed case studies on best practices with a wide range of new tools.

Tools:  There are two categories of tools for Rapid E-Learning:  Self-Study and Live (Scheduled) .  Self-Study tools for Rapid E-Learning build upon PowerPoint skills which nearly every professional already has.  Some of the companies we highlight in the report include Articulate, Macromedia Breeze, Impatica, ReadyGO, and Trivantis.  Live tools include Breeze Live, Centra, iLinc, Interwise, and Webex.

Methodologies: The key to using these tools effectively is to develop instructionally sound templates which make it easy for subject-matter-experts to author content quickly. 

Fig 3:  Methodologies for Rapid E-Learning

As Figure 3 shows, in the traditional design process steps flow in a waterfall.  Subject-matter-experts are involved at various stages but instructional designers and developers drive the process.  In Rapid E-Learning (scheduled or self-paced) the SME is in the center of the process.  Instructional designers and instructors now take on the role as a coach or facilitator.  Your role is to help the SME develop the most appropriate and easy-to-follow instructional materials in their area of expertise.

Templates, checklists, and design guides are often used to facilitate this process.

Our Industry Report

In our Rapid E-Learning study we examined a variety of best practices in development and deployment.  The study reviews processes developed at Proctor & Gamble, Bayer, SAP, WEBMD, SAP and others.  As you review these processes you will find ways to make rapid e-learning easy and scalable for your time-sensitive problems.