Standfirst

At first sight the advent of rapid e-learning technologies, which allow companies to write professional quality e-learning courses without programming specialists, would appear to be a threat to those who earn their living from producing such courses. However, Mike Alcock, MD of Atlantic Link argues that consultants have the potential to harvest a boom in e-learning if they embrace the possibilities that the technology has to offer.

The changing world of e-learning

The last five years have seen a revolution in rapid e-learning tools with software which allows non-programmers author high quality e-learning quickly and easily. The inexorable advance in WYSIWYG editing software for word processing and website writing made it inevitable that such tools would move into the e-learning arena. Many thought that such was the technological sophistication of high end e-learning, that "DIY" tools, as they were sometimes derogatively known, would never succeed in challenging the output of sophisticated e-learning houses.

This was a major miscalculation. The e-learning tools of a few years ago were indeed simple in scope, being desktop based and focused on producing e-learning very quickly by integrating output from common pieces of software such as MS Word, MS PowerPoint, Flash and pdfs into SCORM compliant e-learning output. This they proved very proficient in doing and started arousing interest from major companies who were reluctant to commit budget to the production of simple e-learning from e-learning houses and saw this as a good way of using internal resource to cut their outsourcing budgets.

E-learning consultancies noticed this trend but, while regretting the loss of some easy projects, did not see it as a major threat to their livelihoods. However, when more sophisticated rapid e-learning products started incorporating server side authoring which allowed international collaboration, "instant" implementation and interactive authoring, it began to be recognised that this technology was likely to make a permanent change in the way companies sourced their e-learning.

Such recognition has proved valid as rapid e-learning software has started to enable users to author in ways that consultancies had previously seen as their preserve. Examples of key developments are the tools which now allow rapidly authored courses to meet W3C AA accessibility standards and tools that ensure users can create courses which can meet the strictures of compliance with the Institute of IT Training’s requirements for courses.

Rapid e-learning as a threat to consultants

There is no reason to believe that such advances in the technological capabilities of rapid e-learning will not continue. It is clear that consultants who rely solely on technological superiority will find themselves chased down quite quickly. It is my contention that the consultants who will survive, and indeed flourish, are those that accept the technological facts and compete on creativity, and experience.

Where consultants convince themselves that the bells and whistles provided by their programming and technical skills give them an enduring competitive edge I believe they will find it impossible to stay sufficiently ahead to justify the costs of their courses. The danger for them is they will try to introduce increasingly esoteric features into their courses in the attempt to maintain a technological edge but find that their best efforts are not meeting the core needs of the marketplace.

The real competitive advantage of e-learning consultants lies in their creativity, knowledge, understanding of instructional design techniques and their experience. They are the specialists in knowing what does and does not work well in an e-learning course. They have studied numerous different learning approaches and should be able to identify the approach which will be most effective for any particular project. They will know all the tricks and techniques that make a piece of e-learning smooth and interactive. This is where an e-learning consultant’s real competitive advantage lies. This knowledge has a value and as the e-learning landscape continues to change it is one that I believe will be called on by many companies even when they have in-house rapid authoring capability.

The new generation of E-learning consultant

We are already beginning to see the first examples of a new breed of e-learning consultant being established. These consultants are comfortable creating e-learning on the very rapid e-learning tools that others see as their competition. The reasons they are embracing the rapid e-learning technology are simple. Increasingly their clients want to be able to collaborate in the development process and to then be able to extend and amend the courses produced to give the courses longer a lifespan and increased functionality.

The point about collaboration is one of the key attributes of advanced rapid e-learning software. The fact that development is server side means that at any point the consultant’s clients can be invited to see how particular aspects are progressing, check that it is in line with their expectations, and even agree changes mid development. The course can be seen by potential users across the world, allowing a variety of input into the development process.

We are seeing this model of development being used increasingly. It is not creating the "free for all" that some have feared. Pausing at natural development break points to consult and experiment with the course often saves a lot of money in the long term and helps the understanding between consultant and client.

The ability to amend and update a course is similarly important. How often have clients put up with small and annoying errors in a course because sending them back to the developer would incur an unreasonably large bill? How often has a course become out of date within weeks because of an unforeseen change in the environment, maybe a change in the law, or a product, or a company name? A simple way for companies to avoid these pitfalls is to ensure that courses are written so they can be simply amended by in-house personnel. This provides an important insurance for those investing in courses and can ensure that a course’s shelf life can be extended very effectively.

Laurence Wilson, who runs an independent e-learning consultancy, recently employed this approach on a project for recruitment giant Vedior. By building the courses for Vedior on-line using a collaborative authoring tool, he was able to share the development process with the end customer, ensuring that the client was happy with every stage of the development. At the end of the development cycle, Vedior purchased the tools so that they could update and maintain the courses that Laurence had developed. The client can now commission Laurence to create additional courses for them, confident in the knowledge that they will receive top quality materials that they can then maintain themselves.

An e-learning consultancy that learns these important lessons will soon find itself in demand. Industry surveys such as that from the E-learning Guild 20061 show how e-learning is growing significantly and that industry players expect it to become even more significant as part of the portfolio of training tools. The E-learning Guild research also shows that alongside significant interest in rapid e-learning there is an increasing focus on quality of content. Many businesses are finding it worthwhile to employ consultants to write the initial core of e-learning courses, employing their creativity and experience to provide a high quality base. They are then building off this base using "in-house" resources. We have had first hand experience of this process and consultants shouldn’t be afraid of it, it is just a new way of working. Our clients are talking to us about developing e-learning into numerous spheres in which they had previously had to rely on classroom, book or coaching learning. A consultant who can write creative and effective core courses which then can be updated and extended by in-house resources will never find themselves short of work.

1 E-Learning Guild - The Rapid E-Learning Research Report 2006

Mike Alcock is Managing Director of Atlantic Link Ltd and a Committee Member of the E-Learning Network. www.atlantic-link.co.uk