Adopt Microlearning to Deal With Micro Attention Spans - EI Design

A recent study by Microsoft* pegs the human attention span to 8 seconds while a goldfish is believed to have an attention span of 9 seconds. Interestingly, the same study indicates that the ability of humans to multitask has improved. With the percentage of millennials increasing in the global workforce, these pointers clearly reflect a challenge that HCM and L&D professionals need to address to retain the effectiveness of training and its eventual application on the job.

Source : https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/adopt-microlearning-deal-micro-attention-spans-asha-pandey

In this article, I will share insights on how Microlearning based training can come to your rescue and help you provide a high impact training approach that will resonate with your learners.

What is Microlearning?

How often have you stumbled upon a web page or article looking for some information and hit the close button after having barely read a paragraph or noticing that the piece is too lengthy? Why? Was the material not informative? Perhaps it was. Did it fail to grab your attention? Bingo. It did. That’s where Microlearning comes in as more than a handy learning strategy.

Microlearning is a short, focused learning nugget (often 3-5 mins long or shorter) that is designed to meet a specific learning outcome. It can be used to offer formal training but it often finds a wider usage in informal training (with a focus on performance gain).

Typically designed and delivered in rich media formats, it is a learner-centric approach that provides just-in-time training that is available on multiple devices (extending to Tablets and Smartphones besides Desktops and Laptops). All these aspects ensure that the microcontent that it offers can be easily accessed, quickly completed and applied by the learners.

Due to its short run length, rich media and availability on Smartphones, it resonates well with the millennial workforce.

What are the benefits of Microlearning?

There are several benefits of Microlearning. Let’s take a look at these from both learner as well as business perspectives.

Benefits for learners

1. Learner-centric:  Microlearning nuggets appeal to learners as they empower them and give a higher control in defining a personalised and flexible learning path. The varied formats used to create these microcontent nuggets are more likely to match individual learning styles.
2. Just-in-time: This is probably the biggest benefit for the learners. These nuggets are available to them precisely at the moment of their learning need. They are also available on demand (learners can pull them rather than being pushed into going through them).
3. Accessible: Microlearning can be designed for multi-device delivery (from Desktops and Laptops to Tablets and Smartphones) thereby providing higher flexibility to learners to learn when they need and on the device of their choice.
4. Rich media: The design formats of Microlearning include rich media formats that lead to better retention of knowledge.
5. Less time consuming: Microlearning is ideal for adult learners with shorter attention span. The shorter run length also appeals to millennial learners.

Benefits for business

1. Affordable and agile: Due to short training duration, the Microlearning costs are lower than traditional eLearning. They can be created and deployed much quicker than traditional eLearning.
2. Shorter development cycle: On account of the run length and the typical formats used to develop Microlearning, these assets have a much shorter development cycle.
3. Easy to update: Microlearning nuggets can be updated and corrected quickly to enhance their impact.
4. Wider application: Microlearning can be applied for formal learning or asPerformance Support Tools (PSTs). You can use these nuggets as stand-alone assets or they could be part a series of Microlearning courses.
5. High impact: By definition, Microlearning nuggets are designed to meet a narrow but specific outcome. This has a positive impact on learning and application. They can be used very effectively to bring about behavioural change.

Where does Microlearning find a fit in an organisation’s training?

Microlearning can be used very effectively to create sticky learning experiences thereby flipping the “Forgetting Curve” to a “Retention Curve”. This can be achieved by offering Microlearning nuggets in a learning path to:

1. Supplement or reinforce the primary, formal training
2. Extend formal learning through Performance Support Tools or Just-In-Time learning aids
3. Trigger behavioural change (leading to a transformational gain)

How can you use Microlearning?

Take a look at the following 5 Microlearning examples that show how Microlearning can be used for your varied training needs including Soft skills/behavioural change, Compliance and Professional skills.

To give you a feel of how a Microlearning experience would be, we at EI Designhave packaged 5 examples in one of the Microlearning formats.

I hope this article gives you a glimpse of understanding the possibilities of using Microlearning based training. If you have any questions or would like to see how you can transform your existing eLearning to higher impact Microlearning nuggets, do contact us.

* stat reference: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/humans-have-shorter-attention-span-than-goldfish-thanks-to-smart/

Top 10 Tips On eLearning solutions Localization

Localization of eLearning solutions to reach the global audience is a well established practice. However, successful localization needs to look at the entire development process (rather than see this as a translation exercise) and plan for several other factors that will help you succeed. This article, will outline top 10 tips on eLearning content localization that actually add value to your mandate.

Source : http://www.eidesign.net/blog/top-10-tips-on-elearning-localization-that-actually-add-value/

Top 10 Tips on eLearning Localization that Actually Add Value - EI Design Infographic

What Is eLearning Localization?

eLearning localization is the process of adapting a product to a particular language, culture, and a desired local “look-and-feel”. eLearning localization could be seen as language translation with adaptation for the geographic region in which the product is targeted towards.

Why eLearning Localization?

The primary reason is to reach out to your geographically spread out audience.The value of localization in eLearning development can be summed up very effectively through this quote by Nelson Mandela:

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

Easier Said Than Done?

We have been providing eLearning localization services for over a decade now and have localized hundreds of eLearning and mobile learning courses into 26 global languages so far.

What we have noted is that localization should not be an after-thought to your primary development of eLearning. Instead, localization needs processing beyond translation and/or audio integration in another language.

What Works?

Successful eLearning solutions localization projects need to plan for several unique aspects during each of the following phases. We have added tips that will bring in the required value during each phase.

1. During estimation.
2. During pre-planning.
3. During development of the master course.
4. During translation and audio recording.
5. During integration or development of localized courses.

1. During The Estimation Phase

Tip 1. Identify the required deliverables and scope accurately.

This includes:

• Effort for localization.
  This begins with identifying the languages you have to localize your elearning solutions. Remember the effort will vary for languages with special characters.

• Scope of localization.
  This includes:
  • User Interface and its elements.
  • Content.
  • Audio and its transcript.
  • Video or only its transcript.
  • Character images with or without text/graphs/screenshots.
  • Help/Glossary/Resources.

Tip 2. Plan for an accurate estimation using the following for each language.

• Onscreen text word count as well as audio word count (if applicable).
• Mode of delivery: Single SCO per language or multi-language SCO.
• Number of review and testing cycles.

2. During Pre-Planning

Tip 3: Create a design approach that is localization-friendly.

• User Interface.
  Should be learner-friendly and intuitive irrespective of the language.
• Images and graphics.
  It should be possible to replace these easily; avoid having text on images.
• Space for text expansion.
  Provisioning for adequate space as languages may need extra space for the translated content.

These screenshots illustrate how a localization-friendly elearning development approach can take care of handling these aspects:

3. During Development Of The Master Course

Tip 4. Watch out for cultural nuances.

Validate the selection of colors and other culture-specific aspects as:

• Different cultures have different meanings associated to colors.
• Some gestures may have a different meaning altogether in another culture.
• Certain symbols and icons may convey different meanings in another language.

Tip 5. Plan for a neutralized content.

Avoid references or phrases that may be difficult to translate into another language or may not convey the same value in the translated language.

Tip 6. Identify the components that will not be localized.

For instance, you may choose learning content to localize (or otherwise) currency, units of measurement, the date format, and so on.

4. During Translation And Audio Recording

Tip 7. Always hire professional translators (native speakers) and voice-over artists.

Tip 8. Add a linguistic reviewer to validate the translation.

You can also use them for validation of the localized courses.

Tip 9. Finalize one language.

Once this is completed, ensure the Translation kits reflect the feedback and enhancements and then move on to the balance languages.

5. During Integration Or Development Of Localized Courses

Tip 10. Do extensive testing to simulate how different users will be taking the courses.

It is better to factor for different devices (if mobile learning is part of your solution) or different browsers or different bandwidths. The latter is an important consideration and some countries may have limited bandwidth.

We hope this article is useful and these 10 tips on eLearning localization will actually add value to your localization projects. Please reach out to EI Design if you have any questions or need support in localization projects.

8 Tips To Convert Flash To HTML5 That Will Help Your Business

Particularly over the last 4+ years, most organizations have evaluated mobile learning or mLearning solutions integrating tablets and smartphones into their learning delivery. Mobile learning solutions are based on HTML5 technology. While it is fairly straightforward to create new courses using HTML5 that are mobile ready, there are several aspects that you need to watch out for when converting Flash to HMTL5.

Convert Flash Courses into HTML5 to Support Multi Device Access

How To Convert Flash To HTML5

This article will outline the HTML5 technology advantage, its challenges, and share 8 tips that you can use when you plan the migration of your Flash to HTML5 that will help your business.

Background

The challenge
Over the years, all of us would have created courses that predominantly used Flash for development. With increase in demand to offer mobile learning,  we have realized that Flash courses do not work on most mobile devices. As a result, there is a need to plan to migrate the existing legacy Flash content to HTML5.

The solution
HTML5 supports all mobile devices (tablets and smartphones). Additionally, the more recent browsers support HTML5 enabling us to run the mobile-ready courses on desktops and laptops as well. This flexibility now allows a single build to work seamlessly across all devices starting from desktops/laptops to tablets and smartphones.

Sounds simple? Not quite, do watch out for the following:

Multi-device support
While mlearning or mobile learning solutions are required to provide enhanced flexibility to learners to “learn on the go”, organizations do need to ensure that the same course is also available on desktops and laptops. In case they use older versions of browsers that do not support HTML5, these courses would not work on desktops and laptops. Taking a call on upgrading the browser versions (that support HTML5) across the organization needs significant budget outlay.

Learning Management System support

Existing Learning Management System may not support mobile learning. Today, most Learning Management System providers do provide this flexibility although there may be some that do not support this right now. As a result, we have two options:

• Upgrade the Learning Management System to support mobile solutions.
• Move to another Learning Management System that supports mobile solutions.

In either situation, we need to plan for a significant budget outlay as well as a plan to transition your existing courses to the new platform.

Security concerns
Alongside the mobile learning solutions, there has also been a change in learning delivery that supports Bring Your Own Device or BYOD. This provides the flexibility to learners to use their own device (tablet/smartphone) to access the courses. This needs to be done in a secure manner and planned ahead. Organizations need to identify the required security policy ahead of implementing mobile learning solutions. This too has a lead time that we must factor for as well as the associated costs.

How To Convert Flash To HTML5 That Will Help Your Business?

As we have noted, HTML5 has great strengths (ranging from universal support to the flexibility to run the same course irrespective of the device).This article will also outline some of the associated challenges that you should watch out for. With these aspects in the background, let’s see how we  can plan the migration or conversion of your Flash courses to HTML5 that will help your business.

1. List all the courses to be migrated.

Identify various courses that should be moved from Flash or legacy formats to HTML5. Additionally, identify the courses for the pilot phase.

2. Validate that all assets and pre-requisites are in place.

Validate that all courses and source files are in place. This will ensure smooth conversion from Flash to HTML5 in a timely manner.

3. Draw up the priority list of courses to be converted from Flash to HTML5.

This is very important and needs to reflect the varied approaches that we would adopt for the conversion. For instance, some courses would need only a technology uplift, some need only visual design uplift whereas some require complete re-design. Looking at the overall volume and the nature of upliftment, draw up the priority list that will enable us to do adequate sampling as well.

4. Identify the need: Technology update vs. complete redesign.

As highlighted above, the nature of value addition sought in a course or a series can vary. We must ascertain how we can plan the migration. Some of the cues could be:

• Recent courses
  These may need technology uplift only (conversion to HTML5 – no Instructional Design and Visual Design enhancements).
• Compliance courses
  The migration cycle can also factor for textual updates as well as visual upliftment.
• Legacy courses
  We can only reuse the content and then completely re-design (both from Instructional Design and Visual Design perspectives).

5. Focus on retention and performance gain.

We must evaluate moving older, longer run length courses to shorter, byte sized mobile learning solutions. we must evaluate a completely different learning design approach that can cater to multi-device support. we should also evaluate approaches to supplement or complement formal learning through innovative Performance Support Tools (PSTs). The PSTs can be delivered very effectively on tablets and smartphones.

6. Select adaptive vs. responsive designs and tools.

We have two options:

• Adaptive.
  These are multi-device custom mobile learning solutions that support PCs, laptops, and tablets.
• Responsive.
  These are multi-device custom mobile learning solutions that support PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

Authoring tool selection

Related to this is the tool selection. Besides offering adaptive or completely responsive design capability, the tools can be further classified into rapid development (Articulate Studio 13, iSpring, Adapt, and so on) or standard mobile learning authoring tools (Adobe CS6 with CreateJS, Adobe Captivate, Trivantis Lectora, Articulate Storyline, and so on).

7. Plan for sampling to test user experience.

As we have noticed this step is often missed out in the conversion of Flash courses to HTML5. Like all new initiatives, a checkpointing is crucial. Post the pilot phase, do this sampling to ensure your approach is valid and the required impact would indeed be created.

8. Ensure readiness of supporting aspects.

We have already touched upon these aspects that include the browser support for HTML5, Learning Management System support for mobile learning solutions, and updation to your security policy.

We hope these tips will help you craft an effective approach to convert Flash to HTML5 that will help your business. We also have several case studies and demos on successful projects where we have handled large volume migration and how this approach has brought the required value to the organization.

Over the last 4+ years, at EI Design have crafted custom mobile learning solutions of over 400 hours for both formal and informal learning (Performance Support Tools). We have crafted learning strategies that work for both individual learners as well as for collaborative (social) learning.

Source : http://www.eidesign.net/blog/8-tips-to-convert-flash-to-html5-that-will-help-your-business/

Read More Articles On Migration:

How To Convert Legacy Courses Into HTML5 The Right Way - EI Design

Migration From Flash To HTML5 – Warning: You May Be Losing Money - EI Design

7 Advantages Of Using Custom Mobile Learning Solutions For Your Company

The two significant challenges that Learning and Development teams face today are 1) how to enhance efficacy of learning; 2) what learning strategies should be adopted to ensure both learning and business mandates are met. Adopting custom mobile learning solutions/mlearning solutions for your company could be one of the measures to mitigate these challenges.

The Benefits Of Custom Mobile Learning Solutions For Your Company

This article will outline how custom mobile learning solutions or mLearning solutions can be used for primary learning (formal training) and informal learning (performance support intervention and social learning) to provide the required performance gain you seek.

The Forgetting Curve

Most of us are familiar with the “Forgetting Curve” that defines the exponential nature of forgetting. As you see from this diagram featuring the “Forgetting Curve”, we forget 80% of what we learned in 30 days!

It is evident from here that it is not enough to have formal training that happens for a short period of time during the year and is expected to lead the learner from learning to application at work and a behavioral change. Instead, the adopted innovative learning strategy must look beyond formal training and identify approaches to create “learning as a continuum”.

How To Offset The “Forgetting Curve”? Is There A “Recall And Retention” Approach To Offset This?

There are multiple approaches that can be used to offset the “Forgetting Curve”. One of them is to have on-going smaller bytes of learning instead of one large chunk. If these bytes could be delivered in interesting and engaging formats and made available to learners within their work-flow, they will work effectively in helping learn, recall, and retain. Over a period of time, this would lead to the required application at work and the anticipated behavioral change.

Custom mobile learning solutions are a great fit to move from discrete learning events (typically associated with formal training) to learning paths or learning pathways that have additional measures to help learners:

1. Recall.
2. Retain.
3. Reinforce.
4. Apply.

What Benefits Do Mobile Learning Solutions Provide?

As we know, instead of one big training program, if there are smaller chunks of learning over a period of time we are likely to retain better. While this can certainly be achieved with traditional eLearning approaches as well, mobile learning solutions have a significant edge in achieving this.

Let's start with a list of the key advantages of custom mobile learning solutions from one of the earlier articles , What Are The Benefits Of mLearning? Featuring 5 Killer Examples:

1. Flexibility to learners.
   At the top of the benefits list is the flexibility mLearning or mobile learning offers. This includes:
   • Flexibility and choice of device to access learning “anytime, anywhere”.
   • Flexibility of learning with more varied formats (videos, podcasts, and so on).
2. Better completion rates and higher retention.
   The bite-sized or micro-learning approach makes it easier for learners to initiate, complete, and retain learning better.
3. Collaborative learning.
   Collaborative learning is a great way to engage with peers to share learning experiences and be part of communities of specific practices.
4. Higher engagement.
   The experiences are more immersive and statistics reveal that more learners complete the courses through mLearning than traditional eLearning.
5. Multi-device support.
   With multi-device support the same course is available on varied devices ranging from PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
6. Performance support. Mobile learning or mLearning is becoming the preferred approach to provide performance support intervention as mobile devices are an intrinsic part of the learners’ work-flow.Performance support facilitates an easy access to information while at work and increases the probability of usage and retrieval.
7. Learning path.

Mobile devices can also be used to update learners on their “learning path” thereby facilitating “learning as a continuum”. With more people depending on phone-based organizers, integrating links in organizers to commence/resume the courses saves time for learners.

Can You Leverage On The Power Of Custom Mobile Learning Solutions For Your Company To Enhance Your Learning Strategy?

My personal experience in working with several organizations globally is that learners very quickly opt for tablets or smartphones for learning. (As highlighted earlier, studies show that more learners complete the courses when they have an option for Tablets or Smartphones). How do we ensure that we leverage on this higher learner engagement for a more effective learning? This is where custom mobile learning solutions find the right fit.

Let me outline how we handle this. We draw inspiration from Dr. Conrad Gottfredson and Bob Mosher’s Five Distinct Moments of Need©. These moments of learning are:

1. When learning for the first time.
2. When wanting to learn more.
3. When trying to apply/remember.
4. When something goes wrong.
5. When something changes.

You can use this framework to extend the formal training (for learning needs 1 and 2) and just-in-time Performance Support Tools (for learning needs 3-5). More specifically, looking at the nature of the learning need, you can integratesocial learning programs.

What Are The Significant Gains For Organizations If They Opt For Custom Mobile Learning Solutions?

Let’s take a look at a typical Learning and Performance Ecosystem and see what custom mobile learning solutions are possible for your company:

You can use custom mobile learning solutions to achieve performance gain. The application could be for:

1. Formal Learning:  Custom mobile learning courses that are available on tablets and smartphones (similarly, you can offer mobile apps for primary learning).
2. Performance Support Tools (PSTs): That is Performance Support Tools in varied forms like mobile apps, interactive PDFs/eBooks, expert videos, webinars/recorded webinars, whiteboard animations, and webcast/podcasts.
3. Social Learning: That is social learning for collaborative learning, sharing, content curation, and so on.

You can use creative Instructional Design to meet the learner-centricity objective with innovative learning designs delivered on tablets and smartphones (while retaining the flexibility of offering them on PCs and laptops).

Custom mobile learning solutions provide sticky learning through many approaches. Here are my Top 6:

• Gamification.
  A gamified interaction to identify time-wasters that would in-turn help team members with effective planning was designed to deploy on smart phones.
• Decision-making – branching scenarios.
  An interactive exercise demonstrating a conflict scenario at workplace where the learners could relate him/herself in the situation and make decisions. This mobile-friendly engaging interaction was designed to ensure sticky learning.
• Story-based.
  An instance of story-based approach from our multi-device compatible Instructional Design courses.
• Scenario-based.
  Learners get a chance to walk through and interact with a series of scenarios in this multi-device course to identify and mitigate conflict situations at work place.
• Guided exploration.
  An exploratory navigation through instances where learners can choose among a set of options and evaluate what is right and wrong.
• Interactive videos.
  Engaging videos designed for mobile devices that carry the learners through real life situations. The videos are paused at points letting the learners interact and check their understanding.

Over the last 4+ years, EI Design have crafted custom mobile learning solutions of over 400 hours for both formal and informal learning (Performance Support Tools). At EI Design learning strategies are crafted such that it work for both individual learners as well as for collaborative (social) learning. If you have any questions on how you can successfully integrate custom mobile learning solutions for your company, do reach out to EI Design .

Source : http://www.eidesign.net/blog/the-benefits-of-custom-mobile-learning-solutions-for-your-company/

Topp 10 Benefits of Microlearning by EI Design

Benefits of Micro Learning - EI Design

While microlearning is not a new concept, it is suddenly being talked about as the next significant approach to train workforce. Although chunking content into short bytes has existed for a long time, we are seeing an increased focus on microlearning as a fairly significant part of an organization’s overall training delivery. Here are 10 benefits of microlearning-based training.

10 Microlearning-Based Training Benefits

This article, will outline why “less is more” and touch upon the top 10 benefits of microlearning-based training.

What Is Microlearning?

Microlearning is a short, focused learning nugget (often 3-5 mins long or shorter) that is designed to meet a specific learning outcome. It can be used to offer formal training but it often finds a wider usage in informal training (with a focus on performance gain).

Typically designed in rich media formats, Microlearning is a learner-centric approach that provides just-in-time training that is available on multiple devices (extending to Tablets and Smartphones besides Desktops and Laptops). All these aspects ensure that it can be easily accessed, quickly completed, and applied by the learners.

Why Is Microlearning Suddenly In News?

Many of us may be familiar with the exponential nature of forgetting. As you see from this diagram featuring the “Forgetting Curve” (by Hermann Ebbinghaus), we forget 80% of what we learned in 30 days!

Microlearning can be used very effectively to create sticky learning experiences thereby flipping the “Forgetting Curve” to a “Retention Curve”. This can be achieved by offering Microlearning nuggets in a learning path to:

1. Supplement or reinforce the primary, formal training.
2. Extend formal learning through Performance Support Tools (PSTs).
3. Trigger behavioral change (leading to a transformational gain).

What Are The Benefits Of Microlearning-Based Training?

There are several benefits of microlearning-based training. Let’s take a look at these from both learner as well as business perspectives.

Benefits Of Microlearning-Based Training For Learners:

1. Learner-centric.
   Microlearning nuggets appeal to learners as they empower them and give a higher control in defining a personalized and flexible learning path. The varied formats used to create these nuggets are more likely to match individual learning styles.
2. Just-in-time.
   This is probably the biggest benefit for the learners. These nuggets are available to them precisely at the moment of their learning need. They are also available on demand (learners can pull them rather than being pushed into going through them).
3. Accessible.
   Microlearning can be designed for multi-device delivery (from desktops and laptops to tablets and smartphones) thereby providing higher flexibility to learners to learn when they need and on the device of their choice.
4. Rich media.
   The design formats of microlearning include rich media formats that lead to better retention of knowledge.
5. Less time consuming.
   Microlearning is ideal for adult learners with a shorter attention span and appeals to millennial learners .

Benefits Of Microlearning-Based Training For Business:

1. Affordable and agile.
   Due to short training duration, the microlearning costs are lower than traditional eLearning. They can be created and deployed much quicker than traditional eLearning.
2. Shorter development cycle.
   On account of the run length and the typical formats used to develop microlearning, these assets have a much shorter development cycle.
3. Easy to update.
   Microlearning nuggets can be updated and corrected quickly to enhance their impact.
4. Wider application.
   Microlearning can be applied for formal learning or as Performance Support Tools (PSTs). You can use these nuggets as stand-alone assets or they could be part a series of microlearning courses.
5. High impact.
   By definition, microlearning nuggets are designed to meet a narrow but specific outcome. This has a positive impact on learning and application. They can be used very effectively to bring about behavioral change.

Read more resources on Micro Learning at EI Design Blog  :

Hope this article was useful in recognizing the power of microlearning-based training. This approach will help your learners get just-in-time training in formats that are easy to learn and apply. This will certainly result in performance gain and increased productivity.

Source : http://www.eidesign.net/blog/10-benefits-of-microlearning-based-training/

Outsourcing to elearning content development companies

If you are reading this article, you are probably evaluating outsourcing of eLearning content development companies or are looking at alternatives for your existing outsourcing approach. There are several compelling business reasons to outsource and there are certainly plenty of possible partners you can engage with. However, the evaluation and selection of the right partner is a tough job. Tougher still is to make the partnership work effectively and consistently once you sign up. So, how do you determine if outsourcing eLearning content development is right for you?

Download Free eBook- An informative guide on Is Outsourcing of eLearning Content Development Right For You

How To Decide Whether Outsourcing To eLearning Content Development Companies Is Right For You

Having clarity on why you want to outsource is obviously the start-point. At the outset, define if the outsourcing is strategic for you or opportunistic (possibly on account of a large project execution).

Think about the gains you’re looking at from your outsourcing initiative. You can consider outsourcing if you’re looking to:

• Scale (to handle higher volumes).
• Reduce the time to deliver or time to market.
• Reduce costs.
• Access talent that you do not have.
• Add more innovative solutions to your portfolio.

Why Does Outsourcing Your eLearning Content Development Make Business Sense?

There are several advantages of outsourcing your eLearning content development. Here’s my list of the top 7 advantages:

1. Reduction in costs.
   This is certainly the first and the probably the biggest benefit of outsourcing. Through outsourcing, you can get access to large talent pools that map exactly to your requirement and yet pay a fraction of the cost that you would incur if you were to hire them in-house.
2. Flexibility to scale the team up and down.
   eLearning content development outsourcing offers you greater flexibility by allowing you to rapidly scale up and down the required team exactly as per your business dynamics.
3. Access to new skill sets and more varied talent in a given domain.
   With rapidly changing learner expectations, tools, and technologies it is not possible to have all combinations of skills that you or your customers may require. Outsourcing offsets this challenge and offers you the flexibility to have more than one partner to be able to address varied solutions.
4. Reduction in development time leading to a faster turnaround time.
   Typically, an outsourcing partner will have a dedicated team addressing your requirement including focus on shorter development cycles. This gives you a significant edge in managing a quicker turnaround time for your projects particularly when your internal teams may not be available.
5. Access to best practices leading to optimization of your development practices.
   Remember your partner will be servicing the needs of several organizations and therefore, is more likely to have development practices that are optimized for globally distributed development. You can use these cues to enhance your own development practices further.
6. Addition of more innovative solutions to your portfolio.
   You can leverage on your partner’s skills to enhance your portfolio with additional innovative elearning development solutions to service more varied or more complex needs.
7. Enhanced focus on your customers.
   Leveraging on the partner’s development strengths enables you to bring higher focus on customer interfacing activities rather than day to day execution. Besides creating better customer satisfaction, this may enable you to address new opportunities.
Is Outsourcing eLearning Content Development Right For You - EI Design from EI Design Private Limited

What Are The Challenges In Outsourcing Your eLearning Content Development?

The success of your outsourcing strategy for eLearning development can go belly up on account of:

1. Hidden costs.
   In your budgeting, you would have factored for the pay-out on account of outsourcing as well as time and budget for your Project Managers who would work with the outsourced team. The outsourced team’s inability to follow the brief accurately can often lead to higher review times adding to your costs. They may also add delays in your project schedules.
2. Aspects that you can identify only after you begin outsourcing.
   During the evaluation phase as well in the pilot phase, you get to interact with your partner’s top notch talent. Once you start scaling (after looking at the initial success), you find the talent pool has changed. Often this leads to additional costs for you to cover the re-briefing, additional reviews, and quality issues.
3. Inconsistency in performance and quality standards.
   Closely linked to the challenge outlined above, you often see a variation in the quality or lack of consistency. This too leads to additional review time and adding days to your project schedule to mitigate these challenges.
4. Inability of your partner to adapt and align effectively to changing dynamics.
   Often, the business dynamics change, the kind of solutions your customers require now can change, and this can lead to a gap in what you gain from an existing partnership. (For instance, significant transitions like Flash to mLearning or the current need of fully responsive mobile learning solutions that need a different expertise set) can play havoc with your further planning. If the partner is not in sync with changing market expectations or what more is required, you may have a show-stopper.

Can Most Of These Challenges Be Mitigated To Create A Successful Outsourcing Partnership?

The good news is that the challenges mentioned here can be mitigated to a large degree leading to a successful outsourcing of your learning needs to a eLearning content development companies .

Read Asha Pandey's  next article, That will outline measures that you can use to offset these challenges (you can use these pointers during your evaluation process). Additionally, It will also share pointers on how you can choose the right partner to outsource.

Meanwhile, do refer to earlier articles that cover various facets on outsourcing to eLearning content development companies.

1. 6 Pros Of eLearning Content Development Outsourcing
2. 10 Tips On How To Choose A Custom eLearning Company In India
3. How To Evaluate A Custom eLearning Development Company In India
4. Too Many eLearning Companies In India – How To Find The Best?

I hope this article has provided you the insights to help you weigh your options for outsourcing to eLearning content development companies. Do Contact Asha Pandey if you have any questions.

Source : http://www.eidesign.net/blog/is-outsourcing-elearning-content-development-right-for-you/