session overview

Wednesday 27th January 2010
15:30 - 16:30 Track 1 Session 3

e-Learning authoring

The days when Learning and Development departments churned out a regular schedule of training courses have long gone. It is still, however L&D's job to ensure that good learning materials are available - whether created centrally or by remote teams of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), and whether for delivery in the classroom, online, or in some other format. This session focuses on the strategies L&D should consider when creating content, and the considerations to bear in mind when selecting the tools to implement them.

P1: The shifting authoring landscape

David Wilson, Managing Director, Elearnity

The development of organisation specific e-learning is changing significantly. Based on new Elearnity research with major corporates, David will discuss the main drivers of change for e-learning authoring, and the emerging corporate strategies including the merits and realities of rapid e-learning, LCMS, internal vs. external production, SME authoring, and impact on corporates and custom e-learning vendors alike. Which strategies could be right for you? And do they work in reality?

  • The range of content development strategies
  • Methods of production: SME-led, distributed, and centralized
  • The evolving environment - where rapid development and LCMS fit in
  • Where to build? Internally, externally and hybrid models
  • What are people really doing, and what's really working?

P2: Selecting your content development tools

Barry Sampson, Consultant, barrysampson.com

Having developed your content strategy, how do you go about selecting the right toolset? Are there really tools that anyone can use, or will there be a big skills gap? Will one tool do anything, or will I need more? What's most important, speed, flexibility, simplicity or collaboration? Is it possible to pick your own content development tools and still work with content vendors? In this session Barry Sampson builds on the strategy considerations and looks in details at the tool options.

  • Choosing the right content development tools for your strategy
  • What are the benefits and issues around productivity?
  • Output formats: what do you need and what can you produce?
  • What are the skills and supporting resources you need?
  • Real experience: the realities of in house development