Over the years, you have probably noticed that the typically linear eLearning development process has undergone some changes. One change that I’ve noticed are that customers are realizing that we aren’t just creating courseware or writing content and interactions, we are also developing software. This has led to an expectation that the eLearning industry adopt some development models and methodologies from the software industry.

Make haste slowly
– Benjamin Franklin

We’re getting used to instant search, instant news, instant messages, instant updates, instant food, instant banking, and instant everything. In this world of instant gratification sometimes we need to take a moment and think is everything really necessary ‘now’?  Aren’t there things that need more time to be created properly, created beautifully?  While elearning itself helps the instant gratification needs of learners by being available whenever and wherever, elearning development needs little more time to be created well and can’t really be instant.

The battle between web technologies (read ‘Apple and Adobe‘) started a couple of years back when Apple decided to not support Flash on its newly launched iPad terming it buggy. Apple backed HTML5 to be the next big thing and single handedly forced the developer community to take sides. The eLearning industry was not too happy about the iPad not featuring Flash as it meant reinventing the wheel for animation and interactivity in eLearning.  Also HTML5 was not ready for eLearning development then. The fact is the iPad has taken a significant lead in the tablets market. I’d say purely because of the brilliant ‘form factor’ and the fact that it’s backed by the most popular app store.

I attended the CLO Summit in Mumbai last week and listened to some wonderful speakers over the course of the two day event. I felt one speaker that really delivered a punch, was Bhavdeep Singh, CEO Fortis Healthcare. His session titled “Learning and Development – an integral competency of a CEO” was full of very powerful messages for CLOs, L&D professionals, and other CEOs.  He has implemented several L&D initiatives successfully including a mentoring program at Fortis, so whatever he says is based on his first-hand experience. This is from the real-world, not preaching from the pulpit.

How much does one hour of Level 2 elearning cost? and what about Level 3?

If you have been involved with custom eLearning development you have either asked these questions yourself or have been asked these by a client. The concept of ‘levels’ of custom eLearning development is a commonly used standard matrix for comparing vendors; sadly, this is a much abused concept too.. Every vendor (and client) has a unique definition of levels and they seldom match.

Our customers account for a number of factors before taking the plunge into e-Learning. I was trying to put together some of the key change factors leading organizations to adopt e-learning stand-alone and as a part of the training blend. I arrived at these factors driving the change:

1. Business Strategy
2. Geographical Expansion Of Business
3. New Business Opportunities (which may lead to new skill development)
4. Cost and Benefits
5. Organizational Culture/Demographics
6. Infrastructural Readiness
7. Management Support

“Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.” – Plato

What Plato said then holds true for training today. From the days when training was deemed a crucial element in the development of an individual to today when it has come to become a bitter pill forced down peoples’ throats by HR.  More often than not, there are glitches in the learning needs analyses, the design of the training content, the choice of delivery mode, the choice of the trainer, and other such. Sometimes it is the way the training is presented to the learners – not as an opportunity but almost like punishment.

Bryan Chapman from the Chapman Alliance informed me this morning about the completion of a study they started last month to collect data about the time and cost of custom elearning development. The report is available  here. I had participated in the study and find the results align well with our own data.

Right now, everyone wants to develop applications for mobile devices and in particular for the iPhone, as it has changed the way we look at mobile devices. There is lots of material available about iPhone development on the web but very little about how to go about it. While working on IPhone development I have collected some links and we thought of creating a training plan for iPhone development for other Upsiders.

Bryan Chapman at the Chapman Alliance has set out to collect the latest data on how long it takes to develop custom e-learning at various levels. Read his post here and participate in the survey here.

I came across this mind map by Cammy Bean which covers nearly all the tools available for creating/authoring eLearning content. She tries to find answers to three simple questions regarding each tools mentioned in the mind map –

- When do I use it?
- What do I like about it?
- What do I not like about it?

After a few years of hype, mobile learning has now started flourishing; the advent of new generation of mobile devices, high-speed network access, powerful mobile browsers and better native apps are all contributing to this. There is still a lack of standardization across devices and amongst networks across geographical areas resulting in mlearning content development being somewhat constrained.

Before beginning to develop mLearning on their own, they should keep in mind some technical considerations. Earlier we’ve mentioned some tools that can assist you in mLearning applications. However, each one needs a fair bit of knowledge and skills before they can actually implement solutions using these tools.