How can you refresh your legacy e-learning content?
Virtual College are already working on a variety of different projects, helping clients overhaul their legacy e-learning. Based on our experience, if you’re considering updating your own e-learning catalogue, then here are some core principles you might need to think about:
Get business buy-in
This is first for a reason. Whether you are resourcing this internally or working with an external supplier, it’s a relatively large investment in both time and money, so make sure you get this signed off and that you have genuine executive support.
Review your catalogue
Set aside a day to sit down with your team and compile all your modules and assets. Once you’ve done that, consider the following three things for each module or asset: ‘what was it built in?’, ‘is the look and feel OK?’ and ‘is the core content OK?’.
Consider your learning landscape
If your content library features a lot of Flash-based content, you’ll need to look at how your staff want to access your content. Why not run focus groups or send a survey round to hear from them directly? It’s essential that you involve them in this process – after all, they’re the ones who are going to be using the content.
Decide what ‘good’ looks like
Think about what you are trying to achieve and how you’ll reach the KPIs in your business case. Are you trying to change behaviour? Tick a box? Impart knowledge? Or a combination of all three? These factors should all influence your decisions when it comes to redesigning or converting your legacy content.
Select your authoring tool
If you’re resourcing this internally, consider the pros and cons of the different authoring tools available on the market. If you’re resourcing this externally, make sure you ask the vendor to articulate why they are recommending a certain tool and what made them arrive at that decision.
Appoint a project manager
External suppliers should have trained project managers who will manage this process end-to-end, from scoping right through to implementation. If you are going to do this in-house you really need to appoint a project manager who will take ownership and monitor the progress of the project throughout.
Get to work
If you’re starting this process in-house, this is where the fun begins! But if you’ve been through the steps so far, then this will be a breeze. If you’re going external, ensure you have regular catch-up calls with your supplier to ensure everything is running smoothly.
Test
Before you relaunch, get some user acceptance testing sessions in the calendar to test your new or updated material on various devices before you officially launch! The last thing your CEO is going to want after they’ve invested in this project is for it to flop on day one due to a lack of testing.
Ultimately, whether you undertake this in-house or contract with a third party, you should be going through the steps above. If you do need an external resource to help you convert your content, why not get in touch with Virtual College? Contact Cameron Glennon at cameron.glennon@virtual-college.co.uk or Matt Dickinson at matthew.dickinson@virtual-college.co.uk for more information.
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