When organizations begin to look into rapid e-Learning they typically ask, “What is rapid e-Learning?” This is usually followed by another question: “Is my company right for rapid e-Learning?” These sound like simple matters, but the answers are often far from easy to agree upon.
My goal for this article is to provide a clear idea of my view of what rapid e-Learning is, along with its best-use practices. In order to achieve this objective, I will begin by discussing e-Learning delivery modes. I’ll also outline development considerations and effective uses of the different types of e-Learning. Finally, I’ll present some examples of rapid e-Learning in practice, plus a list of the different kinds of tools used to create the various styles/types of e-Learning. For the purposes of this article, “e-Learning” means information delivery or training that is presented using Web-based technologies (Web servers, intranets or the Internet, and Web browsers), possibly over large distances.
E-Learning delivery modes
There are two main delivery modes for e-Learning, synchronous, and asynchronous. Synchronous training involves setting up a specific time at which students and teachers meet online for an instructor-led session. Asynchronous training uses material made available through the Web that is complete enough for use any time – students access it as needed.
Synchronous e-Learning is similar to traditional classroom training. Typically the students and instructor are on a conference call, log onto the same Web page, or log onto an online whiteboard facility. PowerPoint is currently the most popular authoring tool for this kind of session, but Power Point requires conversion to a Web-deliverable format. Most synchronous delivery systems include a shared whiteboard for viewing presentation content or to allow the teacher to share a central computer’s desktop with the learners. The teacher controls the slide or whiteboard while the students listen to the lecture and passively view the whiteboard or slide from their computers.
Asynchronous training is student-guided. Asynchronous e-Learning content resides on the Internet and is available to students 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so that they can access it at will. The content must be complete enough in both breadth and depth so that self-study (or referencing) is possible. Therefore, presentation tools such as PowerPoint are a poor choice. Without a live presenter, the “talking points” are a weak skeleton, and the content provides only an outline of the topic.
Both asynchronous and synchronous e-Learning approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. Synchronous e-Learning can provide the two-way communication between teacher and student that is often essential for proper training and evaluation; but it requires a live instructor and fixed schedules. Clearly there is a time and cost benefit of synchronous e-Learning over classroom training since one can eliminate travel times. However, there is a loss of the non-verbal cues sometimes needed for human evaluation. Synchronous training is also very effective when the material is rapidly changing since the instructor can make changes and adapt the presentation while delivering the content.
Asynchronous e-Learning is different in many ways from synchronous training, and it is important to understand these differences before preparing the content. The main advantage of asynchronous e-Learning is that the content is delivered when it is convenient for the student, at the student’s pace, and (if done correctly) matched to the individual’s needs. Asynchronous e-Learning does not require a teacher. However, for effective use, the content needs to be highly engaging, and must provide more depth of information than is the case with synchronous instruction. When building the course, the author needs to consider all the reasonable questions that would be asked of a live instructor, and needs to provide the answers for all these questions. This allows the content to “stand on its own,” that is, to be complete and interesting enough that the students can master the necessary information. Asynchronous e-Learning material can work very well as content for a synchronous session but synchronous content does not work well in an asynchronous context.
The strongest situations for asynchronous delivery include those with shift workers (hospitals, manufacturers, service centers), employees that travel, staff located in geographically distant offices, and personnel with unpredictable schedules (e.g. emergency workers and call centers).
For example, hospitals often prefer asynchronous e-Learning because they must constantly train (and retrain) employees, many of whom fall into the categories above. It is difficult to pull an emergency room nurse out of the ER for a scheduled training session – the busy times for the workplace are unpredictable, and the nurse may be on the late night shift (when an instructor is typically not available). Asynchronous e-Learning lets the nurse complete required training as permitted by the flow of traffic in the Emergency Department.
Call centers also have unpredictable loading schedules. Employees need to be trained on new products and procedures as they are developed. Because of the variable load on call centers, it is difficult to plan training sessions for all employees at slack times. An asynchronous course lets the employee control the training schedule.
Another group that benefits from the flexibility of asynchronous training is the sales team. Sales people can be located anywhere in the world, making it difficult for them to participate in training simultaneously or at a preset time. They also tend to need just-in-time training, and are notorious for having short attention spans (or, to be accurate, we could say that they often have their priorities ordered differently than other employees). A sales person may use asynchronous e-Learning content before (or even during) a sales call to update herself on the latest product specifications or service offerings. Many times sales people need to present a product or feature they don’t know thoroughly. Asynchronous training provides members of the sales force with an easy way either to refresh themselves, or to look up the details as the customer asks questions.
Asynchronous e-Learning types and development considerations
There are two types or categories of asynchronous content: rapid e-Learning and traditional e-Learning. Creation of rapid e-Learning projects typically requires eight to 20 hours (perhaps spread out over a few days to a week or two), assuming one or two people on the development team. The goal of rapid e-Learning is to leverage Web technology and best practices to deliver content in a training format. The main characteristics of rapid e-Learning are:
- Short development time
- Integrated instructional design and implementation (rearranging content for more effective structure at the same time that content is implemented)
- Avoids use of new, custom graphics or simulations in order to save development time
- Quick delivery to the students (does not require large downloads)
- Shorter courses (learners typically require between 10 minutes and two hours to complete the content)
- Graphics focus on topic rather than creating eye candy
- Learners can complete the content over several sessions without having to start over each time
- Primary focus is on training for products and services
By contrast, traditional e-Learning projects require a team of people from two to six months to produce. Traditionally-developed content tries to replicate the vast multimedia capabilities of Computer Based Training (CD-ROM products), while delivering content through Web technologies. The primary features of traditional e-Learning are:
- High production values resulting in a movie-like product
- Complete storyboarding and script development prior to implementation
- Separate teams for content development (instructional design) and for implementation (graphics creation)
- Use of elaborate animations and simulations
- Primary focus is on soft skills and behavior modification
There are no specific types of organizations that are better suited than others for rapid e-Learning. Rather, some projects are better suited for rapid e-Learning and others are more effective as traditional e-Learning. Management needs to decide which projects to allocate the time and budget necessary for traditional e-Learning to, and which projects are candidates for rapid e-Learning. Of course, before you decide which projects fall into which category you need to understand the benefits and limitations of each approach.
Projects that are best suited for rapid e-Learning
Projects that are best suited for rapid e-Learning have a number of characteristics that will help you understand them better.
Rapidly changing content
Topics where the content changes rapidly (new sales offers, regulatory requirements), is time-sensitive (customer support when new problems are discovered), or is frequently updated (disaster recovery) are the best candidates for rapid e-Learning. Industries with rapidly changing content include retail, banking, high technology, pharmaceuticals, and health care. For example a human resources department may need to update employees on new or modified public safety regulations or explain how changes in a law may affect hiring or benefits. A call center may need to train employees to handle a myriad of issues that can pop up quickly, such as a product recall, newsmaking announcements, or service outages.
Limited or short shelf life
Limited or short shelf life projects and products are also great candidates for rapid e-Learning. A company will not generate the desired revenue if it doesn’t have a way to train sales people on new offerings. If it takes more than two weeks to prepare the training material, the company will not be able to adjust quickly to changing market or competitive conditions. Rapid e-Learning provides companies with a way to get the latest information to the people who need it most, quickly and in a digestible format. For example, after a rate increase an e-Learning course can provide a mortgage company with a quick and easy way to train their entire network of brokers on their latest mortgage programs.
Small or low-funded projects or products
Many companies have small projects or minor products. Minor products or sub-releases of major products may not get the funding of a full release or larger project. It can cost up to ten times more to produce a traditional e-Learning course compared to a rapid e-Learning course on the same content or skill set. A product manager who is responsible for add-on products may not have the budget to create a highly-produced course, and a highly-produced course may not be necessary. This product manager’s portfolio of products may change on a quarterly basis. Rapid e-Learning provides the means to produce courses that otherwise would not exist. For instance, courses to train sales people, distributors, and customers on the features and benefits of new add-on products.
Just in time information and hot topics
In some industries or situations, new information hits the airwaves and employees need immediate training. Rapid e-Learning’s quick turn-around time can provide organizations with a way to get information need to having a SARS course aailable to all employees in less then 48 hours.
Content that is best suited for rapid e-Learning:
The specific characteristics of content that lends itself to rapid e-Learning include:
- Material that already exists in some other format
- Subjects that are explainable in words and don’t require visual or physical experience to learn them (Factual topics rather than subjective ones)
If some of the material already exists in a different format, repurposing it for rapid e-Learning is easiest because the time it takes to identify and outline the project was already spent. Many course creators use existing PowerPoint presentations as their e-Learning course outline. The course creator then adds exercises, articles, links to resources, and tests to make the material robust and interesting.
Easily-explained subjects that only require words, simple graphics, diagrams, and photographs are also good candidates for rapid e-Learning. WebMD, a provider of physician management software, continually updates their products and services. The material offered for training consists of features and benefits that are suitable for listing and presentation in multiple formats. Prior to implementing online training, Web-MD delivered internal and client training onsite. The cost of onsite training, and the challenge of being able to deliver that training in a timely manner, required WebMD to find alternative solutions. Initially WebMD’s corporate trainers and product managers used rapid e-Learning techniques to develop training for their sales organization. The online courses became so popular that sales people gave their customers access to the training courses. WebMD decided to provide their technical sales staff with copies of their rapid e-Learning tool so that they could customize already produced courses for individual customers. To date WebMD has produced over 600 unique courses, and served over 2,000 employees and 3,500 client organizations.
Projects that are best for traditional e-Learning
It is expensive and time-consuming to produce a traditional e-Learning course. Production estimates for a traditional e-Learning course can range from two to six months using a team of four professional course creators. A traditional e-Learning course, including simulations, may take 220 to 2,500 man-hours to create. Companies need to leverage and re-use traditional e-Learning courses due to the high production cost. Many companies buy pre-built courses on generic business topics like management training, financial training, or time management courses, and then tweak them to their special situation. (But you can’t do this effectively with company-specific topics.)
Companies that create their own traditional e-Learning courses do so only on projects with large budgets and long lead times, such as a major product release. Projects that require extensive simulations, such as industrial control systems or flight simulators, are good candidates for traditional e-Learning. Also, training with long shelf life, such as a company introduction, may be good candidates. The high production values needed for this type of course also typically result in high costs to change existing content. Therefore, traditional e-Learning is a good choice for material that is static.
Who creates rapid e-Learning and how
Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are the ideal people to produce rapid e-Learning. Although most SME’s don’t have a Web design, instructional design, or graphic design background, they know their material best and have the most experience presenting it. They are probably the most knowledgeable about who their audience is and what this audience demands. Most likely they understand how to present the information in different formats such as diagrams, specifications, procedures, etc. Organizations that want to create effective e-Learning will make an instructional designer (ID) available to SME’s. An ID has the background and understands how to present the information for maximum effectiveness. Having these types of resources available to SMEs helps improve the ROI for courses under construction.
When e-Learning is in the hands of the SME, rapid e-Learning authoring tools need to be simple to use (although the content may be quite complex.) Most importantly, the tools must be content-focused, not graphics-focused. That is, if the focus is primarily the product’s look-and-feel, the SME developer might never get past setting up the template. Traditional e-Learning tools tend towards graphic focus, since the implementation is assigned to graphic artists and other visual professionals who fall into the “power user” category. These situations understandably require specialized skills requiring months or years of training. For rapid e-Learning, however, speed of implementation of content, and the ability to use nonspecialists override other considerations.
Although traditional and rapid e-Learning have different purposes, they are not mutually exclusive. Large e-Learning groups can also take advantage of rapid e-Learning. Take Telefonica, a $60 billion per year telecommunications company, for example. Telefonica has an e-Learning division called Educaterra that had a target to increase their annual e-Learning production from 50 courses to 500 courses, without a sizable increase in budget. At Educaterra, it typically takes four to six course developers four months to produce a traditional e-Learning course. Management realized that they needed to rethink e-Learning in order to accomplish a tenfold productivity increase.
They solved their problem by creating two groups, a traditional e-Learning team, and a rapid e-Learning group. The rapid group became their “Content Factory.” As new projects arrive, management now directs these to one of two tracks. The courses that have a long shelf life, need extensive simulations, storyboarding, and high production values go to the traditional e-Learning group. The courses that need fast delivery, are more content focused, and that can stand on their own with simple simulations or graphics go to the Content Factory. The traditional e-Learning group has 40 employees with various specialized pedagogical and graphic design skills, while the Content Factory consists of four people: one graphic artist and three course developers with a background in journalism. Educaterra’s analogy for the difference in process is that producing a traditional e-Learning course is like producing a blockbuster movie, while creating a rapid e-Learning course is like creating a segment for the nightly news. The first relies on high production, long lead-time, and a large team of highly skilled artisans delivering a high production, long shelf-life (hopefully) product to a large audience; while the other (rapid e-Learning) is quickly created, is narrative-based, and relies on a reporter to create, edit, and produce the piece. The rapid e-Learning product may go out to an equally large audience, but the design aims at more immediate impact, rather than for long-term changes. Educaterra is now producing 500 courses a year: Fifty of them are traditional e-Learning. The other 450 are rapid e-Learning.
Tools
Traditional e-Learning, rapid e-Learning, and synchronous e-Learning require different tools for their creation.
Traditional e-Learning tools
Traditional e-Learning developers use “Power User” tools. These tools are ideal for graphic artists, Web designers, programmers, and instructional design experts. It typically takes months if not years to learn how to proficiently use these tools. Most of these give the course creator a blank WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) screen that provides graphic flexibility but needs a lot of experience to use. Before creating a course, traditional course creators need to storyboard, lay out, and design the entire course. Designers create the framework for navigation and other interactions prior to inputting any content. Popular traditional e-Learning tools include Macromedia’s Flash, Dreamweaver, and Authorware. Other traditional e-Learning authoring tools are Toolbook and Lectora. The end product looks like Computer Based Training, and usually requires a specific screen resolution for proper display.
Rapid e-Learning tools
Tools for rapid e-Learning make it possible for SMEs to create interesting multilevel courses but do not require a graphic or design background. Since most SME’s are not producing content full time, the tools need to be as easy to use as PowerPoint. A short learning curve allows SMEs to create a course quickly, attend to other business, and return to the tool months later to create the next project.
Because of the short times allocated for creation of rapid e-Learning, the tools integrate the storyboard and visual layout processes into the content creation. In order to meet these difficult demands, one approach is to separate the look and feel of a course from the content structure, which is established as the author inputs the information. A course developer chooses a course template, enters course material into dialog boxes that correspond to elements that form an instructionally sound, Web-optimized, complete Web course. This is the approach used by ReadyGo’s Web Course Builder. The end product has the entire functionality of a Web site, but may have the look and feel of anything ranging from CBT to a Web site.
Other approaches to rapid e-Learning include tools that build screen snapshot simulations. These simulations can show how computer applications work. Tools in this market include Expert Author, Viewlette Builder, Camtasia, and Captivate. For the educational marketplace a tool like HyperStudio lets teachers and students create multimedia environments. For users in
Synchronous e-Learning tools
To successfully deliver a synchronous e-Learning session you need, at a minimum, a telephone conference line and a presentation-sharing mechanism, either hosted on your own Web server or through a service like WebEx, Centra, or Macromedia Breeze. Synchronous e-Learning sessions are similar to classroom training. Since the material does not need to stand on its own, a presentation tool like PowerPoint will work although you may save the content or convert it for delivery through a Web browser.
Summary
We can categorize e-Learning into three main modes or styles: synchronous, traditional, and rapid. If you want the blockbuster movie or CBT-like experience, traditional e-Learning may be more appropriate for your project. If your goal is to deliver presentations via the Web, synchronous training (instructor-led) will provide this. However, for projects where your budget and schedule are tight, or when you don’t have dedicated personnel to lead live training sessions, you should use just-in-time rapid e-Learning. To effectively use rapid e-Learning, select projects that need it, personnel who are open to the speed, and tools that are enabling technologies, and set your sights on quick information delivery.
