The answers to eLearning’s most common questions Is there a definitive or correct spelling of online learning? Since the very first online learning course was designed, there has been a variety of ways to spell what it is that we do. The most common ways that you will see it spelt are e-learning, e learning, Elearning or eLearning. Here at Cobblestone we go with eLearning as standard, but we don’t get too upset if a client goes with an alternative.
Custom eLearning or Off-the-shelf courses? There are a number of marketplaces that you can go to for off-the-shelf eLearning. As these are produced for the mass market, they are likely to be general programmes and often very rigid. If you have specific learning objectives for your employees or team-members you will need some bespoke or custom eLearning design, created just for you to match your learning needs. What is the difference between instructional design and eLearning development? Generally speaking, instructional design is the phase where the core subject matter is taken from the expert and designed into
suitable content for an eLearning course. Here it will be broken into small manageable chunks and the Instructional Designer (ID) will curate the content and decide what screen type should be used. eLearning development or authoring is the next stage. This is when the storyboard is taken from the instructional designer and developed into an interactive course (this is usually done on authoring programmes such as Articulate Storyline, Rise, Elucidate or Evolve).
Is there such thing as eLearning outsourcing? Nearly all of the best eLearning content is outsourced. This allows for the latest trends to be incorporated, the most advanced software to be used, and of course the best eLearning experts to work on your project. By going to an eLearning agency, you are guaranteed to be working with expert instructional designers as well as other top-class professionals such as animators, videographers, voice talent, actors and more.
How to find eLearning agencies? There are a number of ways to find the best eLearning agency for you. There are some key factors to keep in mind during your search for an online learning agency. Firstly, their design and development expertise and experience. Do they look suitable to meet your needs? Can they provide the type of user engagement and interactive features that you require? It is also a good idea to look at their eLearning case studies. You should also have a look at what authoring tool an agency specialises in. Is it Articulate, or Evolve, or something else like Gomo or Rise.
Are there any trends that I should look out for? The design and development of microlearning is an area where we have seen huge growth and very positive results for companies across sectors in the last few years. This idea of microlearning can also be called microlessons or bite-sized learning. Compared to traditional eLearning, companies implementing bite-sized learning are seeing an even greater engagement, satisfaction and ROI on their microlearning design.