Moving training from face-to-face classroom sessions toeLearning is not a matter of simply converting content to an online or mobileformat. The eLearning Guild asked members to share their tips and experience ofconverting classroom training to eLearning. What emerged is a wealth ofsuggestions, which the Guild has now published in two eBooks, with a third onthe way. Here, Learning Solutions delves into comments that addressrecurring themes about when to trim content and how to fill gaps left by theabsence of an instructor.
Less is more
Think of this as a wonderful opportunity to cull thecontent, revise it, and package it in a way that is engaging. Too often, peopletreat the classroom content and syllabus as sacred. Make sure that anything youare moving to the new environment should be there.
Valary Oleinik, Weil
Cull, edit, trim, think small. Not all eLearning fits amicrolearning approach, but all eLearning should be focused andclear. That means that the content of a face-to-face course must be analyzedbefore instructional designers convert it to eLearning: Not every element offace-to-face training can or should make the transition to eLearning.
Rather than moving an instructor’s materials, wholesale, tothe eLearning course in development, IDs should carefully review them—with theinstructor or an SME—and choose only the components that directly support one ormore learning objectives in the new course.
Less is not more
Make sure you fill in the gaps from what was spoken inclass to what someone might read or say in the web-based training. Too often, Isee people try to just dump their classroom presentation into an “eLearning”and not add in speakers’ notes and content, or stories from the classroom aremissed.
Andrew Marsula, UPMC
Narrowing the focus is one goal when converting coursematerials to eLearning, to eliminate content that is not absolutely necessary.But less is not always more. A second goal points to the need for balance:While striving to keep content short and focused—to avoid creating hours-longeLearning modules—IDs must also avoid leaving out critical information. Whentrimming material, eliminating sections perhaps, eLearning designers must also ensurethat the remaining content is complete and thorough.
In practice, that means, once the initial culling iscompleted, a second content review needs to identify what’s missing. When preparingfor face-to-face teaching, many instructors create a PowerPoint or writtenoutline. These notes are then fleshed out during the class sessions with stories,examples, questions that draw out the students’ knowledge and experience, andmore details. The instructor’s materials are likely to form only an outline ofthe course. In creating eLearning, the instructional designer must identify andfill in these gaps.
Some of the examples and stories can be turned into interactiveactivities, such as games, flash cards, and test-your-knowledgequizzes. Others can become linked, carefullycurated, supplementary materials. Case studies are a useful way toillustrate the application of information or skills taught in the corematerials, but in-depth case studies might also be good candidates for linkedresources, rather than required elements of an eLearning course.
Mind the gaps
In the classroom, you are a big part of a leaner’sscaffolding. You answer questions and provide background or alternative viewswhen your learners don’t quite get it. Think about what you can include in youronline lesson to fill these gaps. Things like case studies or online forumsmight be ways to provide this support.
Pete Brown, CooeeProductions
In addition to course content that the instructor providesnaturally during a face-to-face class, which might not be documented in hernotes, the absence of an instructor creates an additional gap in eLearning: Inclass, learners can ask questions to fill in details that are missing orunclear in the instructor’s prepared materials, stories, and examples. Whenworking through asynchronous eLearning, learners are on their own. Even invirtual classrooms or synchronous modules, spontaneous interactions betweenlearner and instructor are less common than in a classroom where learners andinstructors are in the same space and can share information on the spot.
Instructional designers can address this gap within the eLearningin many ways, among them:
Interviewthe SMEs and instructors, taking pains to ask specifically whichareas generate the most discussion or questions. Ask the instructor for notesfrom discussions or suggestions on where to add detail. Build this informationinto the course materials or add as resources.
Ask an SME to recommend supplementary materialsthat can be linked to the course; learners with questions or a desire to diginto the topic more deeply will appreciate the curated, targeted content.
Ask the instructor to help create an FAQ. Whilethis does not have to be an integral piece of the course, gathering andanswering questions that have come up often enough that they can beanticipated—and providing the answers in a linked, easily searchable format—canhelp fill in some gaps.
Provide online discussion forums where learnerscan ask and answer one another’s questions, When creating courses that will beoffered synchronously to large groups of learners, ask an SME or instructor toreview the discussion forum periodically and address recurring or challengingquestions. In larger companies where significant numbers of learners take thesame asynchronous training, a discussion forum connecting co-workers could alsobe helpful.
Create a human presence
Personality. When you are in a classroom setting, yourpersonality as a facilitator or trainer comes through. It’s your humancharacteristics that are sometimes missing from eLearning. Intentionally addinga conversational voice and flow makes your course more human-to-human.
Ruth Fidino, BrightHorizons Family Solutions
Short, focused, and clear don’t have to mean dull ormechanical. IDs can give eLearning a voice, a human “presence,” by creatingcharacters and scenarios that learners will identify with or a visual designthat creates a specific feeling. The eLearning might use games, role-play,branching scenarios, chats, quizzes—any number of approaches to presenting andreviewing content will contribute to the voice and flow. Thedays of text-filled screens, connected by the next button are (or shouldbe) left in the past.
Sculpting content around learning objectives isnecessary—but only the beginning. When creating eLearning based on face-to-facecourses, IDs can be more effective if they move beyond merely meeting contentgoals and think about who learners are and how they will use the eLearning—anddesigning something that will succeed in engaging that specific audience.
Read more tips on converting classroom training to eLearningin Movingto eLearning: 154 Tips on Getting Started and Movingto eLearning: 283 Tips on Shifting Content and Experiences.
And don’t miss The eLearning Guild’s Super Spotlight on eLearning fundamentals,GetAll You Need to Create Effective eLearning, online December 12 &13, 2018.
