Rapidly developing online learning

• Home
• Blog
• Learning & Development

Rachel Sweeney, Marketing Executive

Organizations everywhere have had to adjust to meet the challenges of remote working, and that change has raised L&D concerns. New systems require training, compliance courses need updating, onboarding programs need to reach new hires… How do you take your face-to-face materials and move them rapidly online to keep up with the workflow? 

Never fear, there are many effective ways to develop speedy online learning using traditional and modern approaches.

What you can do

Regardless of the chosen approach, quality training requires solid collaboration with your eLearning developers. Here are a few steps you can take to help quickly get your training out there.

1. Consider the size of your training

Shorter content not only helps learners retain knowledge but also speeds up development time. *[[Consider what information is the most essential and focus on that]]. A microlearning approach could be an excellent way to funnel your objectives into digestible, bite-sized chunks.

      2. Get your content ‘storyboard ready’

Focus on gathering the materials you need and have it neatly organized in a clear and concise structure. This will avoid wasted time and confusion in early development.  Ordering everything logically in a single PowerPoint or PDF? Great! 

Piling dribs and drabs of notes together in word documents or emails? Not so much…

      3. Smaller teams get it done fast

As the old saying goes: “Too many passionate souls spoil the learning soup”… or something like that. Design by large committee always slows things down. Keep your project team limited to a small number of inputs to reach faster decision making and more effective content review periods.

Turning waterfalls into rapids

Learning Pool is well accustomed to the traditional Waterfall development approach. However, the number of review stages means the process is not built for speed (on average it takes three months to complete a project). Luckily, we have a few methods of reducing time that still maintain high quality.

If your training requirement is smaller and doesn’t have a huge budget, consider reducing the number of content reviews. This can help bypass an entire development stage and get closer to creating the final version faster (e.g. skip scripting into a document and build directly into an authoring tool). If all reviews are essential, try hopping on a video call with the development team to amend changes on the fly. If you require multiple projects in quick succession, collaborate to establish a set of templates, styles, or approaches across the projects to create a speedy “production line” of sorts. 

Agile: Speed is in the name!

We have honed our own Agile development approach that typically takes mere weeks to complete. We strip away the step-by-step stages of the Waterfall and closely collaborate with our customers to build the training together. Forget design specs and scripts – we build the course in the authoring tool straightaway and allow customers to continually review the progress made and leave feedback while we work. This approach reduces typical lengthy timelines as amendments and tweaks are constantly being made in real-time. No waiting around here – it’s all go!

The secret to success is working with an experienced team of thoughtful, driven folk who keep the learner at the center of all they do. Thankfully, that’s us! For example, our many Agile developments with Sky since the shift to mass remote working have proved hugely successful. Sky employees have been returning to work with ease and peace of mind thanks to quick work in delivering essential COVID-19 safety information online. Agile’s quick nature requires more time from the customer and is at a slightly higher cost. However, if time is of the essence, it could be exactly what you’re looking for. 

If you’re looking to urgently develop an online training solution that doesn’t sacrifice quality, get in touch with Learning Pool and we can help find the best approach to suit you.