The restrictions placed on traditional classroom delivery of learning in 2020-21 have highlighted the importance of E-Learning as a learning delivery method for education and training establishments. Not only do online learning modules and interactive online resources offer the opportunity to continue engagement with learners remotely, but they also afford flexibility, and tailored E-learning resources and modules that will play a part whether teaching returns primarily face to face, or whether an online approach to learning is continued.
As providers to the Further and Higher education sectors and wider industry, Eidos Consulting have a wealth of experience in creating effective, engaging E-Learning content. This article will provide you with an overview of our approach to this, and how we work with our clients in partnership to ensure we provide E-Learning that meets the needs of their learners.
Understanding the learning need
Producing E-Learning that has a quality look and feel is important, but core to any E-Learning is understanding the learning need. This goes further than just defining the project scope and learning objectives, and looks at how the learner will be consuming the content, what their entry point to the learning is, and where the E-Learning module sits within the wider delivery of a course or qualification. Eidos Consulting have developed tools and templates to identify all these elements, ensuring that our E-Learning is truly reflective of, and fully meets, the learning need.
Our team of E-Learning developers have a background in learning delivery within further education, and so understand the particulars of pedagogy and how E-Learning can be used to engage learners in learning content. It is because of this that we place such high importance on understanding the learner need, and the wider needs of E-Learning as a delivery method. This also allows us to advise our customers on wider E-Learning strategy.
A collaborative approach
Although we may know E-Learning, it is the teachers and trainers that are the subject matter experts on the content. That is why we always look to take a collaborative approach to E-Learning. From experience we have seen two major benefits to this approach; firstly, that we can ensure the content is correct, accurate and well positioned; and secondly that involving the teachers and trainers in E-Learning development helps them to buy into and appreciate E-Learning as a delivery method.
To support our customers and their staff, we provide training to these subject matter experts (SMEs) on how to construct a storyboard, how to translate existing material to online learning, and how to carry out checks of learning & assessments within an E-Learning module. This upskilling of customer staff supports the ongoing collaboration, and ensures we can pull together high-quality content that is fully tailored to your learner’s needs.
This is made possible through continued interaction with our customer, and through offering a fully managed service that takes care of all the design, delivery, and implementation activities.
Design & Development
Once we have a defined the E-Learning and pulled together the content, we are able to move forward with the design and development of the module. As the E-Learning is tailored to our customers, we can provide a full design service that shows off our customers branding, colours and chosen imagery. During development we are able to embed images, videos, quizzes, matching exercises, timed assessments and a number of other interactive content to engage the learner. All of this will be agreed upfront with the customer.
All of our E-Learning is SCORM or TinCan compliant, meaning that we our E-Learning can be hosted on the majority of Learning management Systems.
As we develop the E-Learning modules, we provide online access to key stakeholders to review what we have created. This allows our team to act quickly on any changes that are requested, and reduces to time and effort associated with the process of finalising the online learning modules. This helps to keep production times and costs down, and gives our customers a really good idea of the look and feel of the final module earlier in the process.
Learning delivery & ongoing support
Once you have modules that you are happy with, we provide you with everything you need to get the E-Learning up and running on your learning management platform, and we will always do our best to support you in doing this.
One concern we hear towards creating E-Learning that is tailored to your needs, is that needs change – what works well with your learners now may not work well in a years’ time. That is why Eidos Consulting support our customers with ongoing maintenance for any E-Learning we produce. This ensures it remains current and delivers value for money.
Want to know more?
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