The task of finding the right persons for an e-learning project implies the variation between busting deadlines and budgets as well as successful completion of project.
Very often, e-learning projects may be assigned to training teams lacking any experience in e-learning. But an e-learning project needs certain amount of expertise to prevent costly mistakes. For correct decisions on the project, proper knowledge is vital. Without such knowledge, it is tough to evaluate the skills of new hires. Best e learning companies must be aware of this.
Here are a few tips to find the right candidates for the e-learning project:
- Need for knowing impact of decisions:
Take the case of director who unilaterally decided to host an online course in video format on the company server, without assessing its impact. The company could produce software and it may also feature a busy on-site call center. Also at break time employees may watch You Tube videos and all of these will slow down internet service. There is also no scope for adding band width. If such a plan was implemented, it would prove a catastrophe for client learners since it would be very slow and totally frozen during periods of peak activity. Hence it is vital to judge the impact of decisions while dealing with e-learning projects since they have serious repercussions.
- Need for e-learning experience:
Persons who lack e-learning experience, often misjudge the amount of work needed to produce online courses of high quality. It is impossible to assess effort and time needed for projects unless one has worked previously on such a project because of the several options available in the market. The various classroom courses must be adapted to online format since there would be no real time instructors to address doubts. Typically duration of e-learning courses is short since it lacks need for repetition by trainer and learners can go back and forth as per their individual pace. All said and done, online courses need additional planning and preparation in order to foresee questions and maintain a degree of interactivity to keep interest alive in the course. A problem situation is when manager orders employees to create a few small courses with animation, without realizing the great work involved in such creations and how the courses might be delivered. It is good if a manager knows how e-learning will be delivered as technologies while designing have their own limitations.
- Need to identify various roles of team members
A crucial process is the recruitment of team members. There is confusion in mistaking computer programming with production of online courses. There is no knowledge of what skills to master. This is evident in job postings across the net. Some companies are looking for ‘ e-learning specialists’ who can trouble shoot, configure and implement LMS ( Learning Management System) . The person must be capable of analysis of training requirements and designing of courses as per principles of instructional design. Some specialist are also required to create multimedia content featuring video/ audio editing, animations and possess skills in graphic design as well as programming skills in PHP and JavaScript. E-learning projects may need several distinct skills, but there is a shortage of persons with such versatility.
These are some aspects about finding the right persons for e-learning projects. For instance, there is a demand for persons proficient in e-learning mobile application.
