5 Problems with Developing E-Learning and How a Platform Solves Them
Part III: Why the CourseAvenue Platform is The Ultimate Solution to your eLearning Development Problems
#5: The CourseAvenue Platform emphasizes 508 Compliance Functionality
As we have discussed in many previous blog posts (which you can find here or here), we at CourseAvenue consider accessibility in online learning an extremely important part of eLearning. It is our desire that everyone can take the same eLearning course and have a positive experience. As such, a key feature of the CourseAvenue platform is its 508 compliance functionality. If you aren’t familiar with 508 compliance you will find a thorough explanation of what it is and why it’s important here and here. In short, it requires that online courses have functionality that allow people with visual or hearing impairments to still be able to take a course. Unlike most authoring tools that treat 508 compliance as an annoying, legal afterthought or work-around, CourseAvenue cares about the spirit of the law, and as such, desires to make it possible for people to build one version of a course that could be accessed by anyone, including those with hearing and visual impairments.
We sought to do all of this without sacrificing the quality of the learning experience and have achieved it with our CourseAvenue platform. CourseAvenue went beyond creating an authoring tool, and instead created a software platform with built-in 508 compliance functionality. This means that the accessibility features of your course such as built-in tab order, an audio transcript window, high contrast color, screen reader focus, and accessible media controls aren’t last minute additions but are created right along with the rest of the course.
Learning should be accessible to all who seek it, and through the CourseAvenue platform you are able to ensure that all those who want take your course can do so.
What makes the CourseAvenue platform the ultimate solution?
This is just a small sampling of the capability of the CourseAvenue Platform, as well as its features. We are dedicated to helping you create quality eLearning that will best serve your needs and the needs of your audience.
Have any questions about the CourseAvenue Platform? Want to know more about any of the features we currently offer with your Platform? You can contact us via our website: www.courseavenue.com or by sending us an email at Sales@CourseAvenue.com
5 Problems with Developing E-Learning and How a Platform Solves Them
Part III: Why the CourseAvenue Platform is The Ultimate Solution to your eLearning Development Problems
#4: The CourseAvenue Platform offers revolutionary solutions for Mobile Delivery
We’ve all had this annoyingly frustrating moment. Your best friend emails you a link to what you can only assume is an amazing article with the tag line, “Check out this amazing article,” so you eagerly tap the link several times in nervous anticipation. Suddenly, disaster strikes: “Error: this device cannot support the content you are trying to retrieve.” As you fume in anger at your device and try to hold in your disappointment, you think to yourself, “Seriously technology, you haven’t figured out how to make all files accessible to all devices yet?”
You and your clever cat memes win this round, Science….
Well, CourseAvenue has tried to eliminate this problem in the regards to eLearning. CourseAvenue and attest to the fact that we have developed a revolutionary technology that is capable of developing courses that won’t come up with the despised aforementioned error code when launched on mobile devices. That’s right, your audience will be able to universally launch the course on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones by utilizing either Flash or HTML5. Up until now, the industry standard has been to create multiple versions of each course to run on each device. Needless to say, this is expensive, time consuming, and just plain annoying, especially later on when maintenance is needed on the course. If mobile learning is here to stay (which it is), you need to have one course that can run on all mobile devices!
Enter our OneCourse technology, the industry’s only universal solution that is capable of delivering and tracking a single courseware across most mobile devices. This means that an employee who is taking your course at home on a desktop can continue to work on that course on the train during their morning commute or while waiting for their son to get out of soccer practice.
Oh, you scored 3 goals? I took an entire eLearning course! They don’t call me “supermom” for nothing, Timmy…
OneCourse makes it possible for your audience to take training where and when it’s convenient for them!
Check back tomorrow for the final post in our Platform series!
5 Problems with Developing E-Learning and How a Platform Solves Them
Part III: Why the CourseAvenue Platform is The Ultimate Solution to your eLearning Development Problems
#3: The CourseAvenue Platform allows for Mass Distribution and Syndication
As we discussed in yesterday’s post, the CourseAvenue platform is cloud-based, allowing you to not only create content across your organization but also enabling those with varying skill sets to collaborate on your course, saving you both money and time. And guess what else? The same ease of access for different collaborators when it comes to creating the course carries over into the delivery of your course to your audience and with other organizations as well!
Content is easy to deliver on any AICC or SCORM (which you can read up on here) conformant LMS or any weblink, CD, or DVD. With a platform, it is easier than ever for your audience to receive your course and for you to check their progress. Furthermore, you can even share your courses and course content with sub-organizations within your organizations or partner organizations that would like to use your course. The possibilities are virtually endless, and the magic piece of the platform that makes this all possible is called Syndication Manager.
Virtually is a strong word, let’s call the possibilities pretty much endless.
Syndication allows you to make a hybrid course, providing core content for your learners while allowing a certain level of customization of the course based on the needs of your organization and sub-organizations. This is also a very helpful feature if you plan on marketing your course to those outside your organization, working with the e-Commerce component that is also found within the platform.
Mass distribution and syndication are not the only great features that the CourseAvenue Platform offers when it comes to delivery. Join us tomorrow as we explore yet another great delivery feature of the CourseAvenue Platform.
5 Problems with Developing E-Learning and How a Platform Solves Them
Part III: Why the CourseAvenue Platform is The Ultimate Solution to your eLearning Development Problems
We have reached the last stage of our journey to discovering a solution to the problems that plague eLearning development. Enter the CourseAvenue Platform!
So to answer the big question throughout this series…what exactly is a platform and why should you decide to utilize one for your eLearning development?
A platform, in the context of eLearning, leverages the tools and processes necessary for eLearning development in a single place. Think of the platform like a giant department store that has everything you need in one stop. Instead of having to waste money, time, and gas trekking from specialized store to specialized store for individual items, you can find everything you need in one convenient location. The same can be said about utilizing a platform. You can build, deliver, and track online learning all from one place. You can use it as a whole or leverage the pieces that are most helpful for your situation.
All this being said, let’s explore exactly why a platform is the best solution for eLearning development. This post marks the first of a five part series (with new parts arriving daily!) on the features and advantages of utilizing a platform for your eLearning development.
So join us as we look at the first feature of the CourseAvenue platform as the ultimate solution for your eLearning development needs.
#1: The CourseAvenue Platform is Flexible
As we mentioned in our earlier posts on the common problems with developing eLearning (which you can read here), one of the primary issues with developing eLearning the traditional way is that it is difficult and expensive to not only make courses scalable to your needs, but also to gather together all the tools necessary to develop your courses with the functionality you desire. The CourseAvenue platform provides a solution to both of these eLearning development problems by providing the flexibility necessary for your needs, no matter the size or complexity of your course.
Whether your courses need to be delivered across an organization of 10 people or 100 people or to various sub-organizations within your organization, the platform can develop and support courses to be scalable to your individual needs. Moreover, if there’s a feature of the platform you don’t think you’ll need, you don’t have to use it. For example, if you want to utilize the platform to develop a course that is 508 compliant, but you have your own LMS to deliver it on, then the platform is still a great solution for you! However, if you need an LMS to help with delivery and tracking of the course, the platform offers you a solution for that as well.
The CourseAvenue Platform includes CourseAvenue Studio (to build courseware, including courses to meet 508 compliance requirements) CourseAvenue Deliver (an LMS to deliver, track, bookmark, and report on courses), CourseAvenue Analyze (a data-tracking tool with question-level data pulled from assessments within the courseware), and CourseAvenue OneCourse (used for cross-device launching and tracking of courses on mobile and non-mobile devices). Best of all, the platform can be implemented on the whole or in pieces, depending on your individual needs.
Furthermore, if you find your needs go beyond our software and you need help developing your course, our experiences and seasoned team is ready to provide our services for all of your development needs as well.
Stay tuned for more on the platform tomorrow!
5 Problems with Developing E-Learning and How a Platform Solves Them
Part II: Proposed Solutions to the 5 Problems with Developing E-Learning (that don’t actually work)
Solution #2: Okay, then, all you need is a great, efficient developer
As we learned from yesterday’s post, having a great authoring tool is not the key to solving issues with eLearning development. In fact, it creates a whole host of other problems on its own, including the need for additional tools and the cost of finding someone who knows how to use them properly. Ah yes, someone who knows how to use them properly, that’s the key to all of this. With a great developer in charge of your eLearning course development, you don’t need to worry about the features or tools that are needed to build them. All your problems are solved in the form of one efficient eLearning guru!
If it almost sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is. To be clear, we are not saying that you shouldn’t utilize the services of an individual eLearning developer when you need courseware built. Far from it! Individual eLearning developers are experienced professionals who know exactly what it takes to create excellent courses that ensure your employees are being properly trained. An individual eLearning developer is a great resource if you need a few courses or a small eLearning project completed in a hand-coded fashion.
But remember how we said that two of the biggest problems with developing eLearning are the expense and the amount of time it takes? Well, depending on the ability of the developer and the complexity of the course, the money, time, and headaches that were saved by hiring an individual developer can disappear if a course takes a long time to be built. For instance, hiring a single construction worker to tile your bathroom floor saves both time and money, but hiring that same construction worker to tile your whole house will be a long, expensive, frustrating experience for both of you.
“Word of Wisdom for Day 1,098: Man should not build a house alone”
Not only does hiring a single developer for a large eLearning project add to the greater cost of building the course, it also means greater difficulty when it comes to maintaining the course later. All in all, this seemingly simple solution is an expensive bust.
So what solution should I choose?
We thought you’d never ask! As you have no doubt gathered from the title of this series, the best solution to all your eLearning development problems is utilizing a platform. After all, why would you purchase a variety of tools and rely on individual developers when you could find everything you need for great eLearning in one place. With the CourseAvenue platform you can build, deliver, and track online learning from the same place and utilize people of different technical capabilities to do it, making it the ultimate solution for your eLearning development problems.
Join us for the next part of our platform series, “Why the CourseAvenue Platform is the Ultimate Solution,” as we dive into greater detail regarding what the term platform means.
5 Problems with Developing E-Learning and How a Platform Solves Them
Part II: Proposed Solutions to the 5 Problems with Developing E-Learning (that don’t actually work)
Solution #1: All you need is a great authoring tool
On the surface, this seems like a great solution. If the tools you are using to develop eLearning aren’t cutting it, it seems logical to invest in a great authoring tool, and it will save you time and money. Authoring tools are a great way to allow you to take part in the creation of a course. E-Learning development problems solved, right?
Not quite. While an authoring tool is very important in its time and place, it is only one piece of the equation. Sure, it will help you develop the overall structure of your course, but what if your course needs to be 508 compliant? What if you are looking for mobile delivery? What is you need tracking and reporting functionality for your course? You’re going to need another tool for that, and likely more tools for the other features that you want to include in your course as well.
And probably some aspirin for the massive migraine you’re going to have by that point.
Furthermore, authoring tools tend to be project-centric, making the development of multiple courses or courses for many users nearly impossible in a time efficient manner. If you plan on creating more than a few courses for more than a limited number of people, then the emphasis on individual courses that is characteristic of authoring tools will not suit your eLearning development needs.
Lastly, the workflow within a course created with an authoring tool requires a lot of different support processes. If this sounds like it’s getting really complicated really quickly, that’s because it is. It’s not just the tools you need to worry about but also the expense of finding people who know how to use them properly and efficiently. The more complicated the course is, the longer that will take.
This leads to the next solution, which we will look at in tomorrow’s post!
5 Problems with Developing E-Learning and How a Platform Solves Them
Part II: Proposed Solutions to the 5 Problems with Developing E-Learning (that don’t actually work)
As we discussed in our last post (which you can find here), developing eLearning is not always a walk in the park. While numerous problems can arise during the process of developing eLearning courses, we identified five key problems that we hear most often: that eLearning development is expensive, time consuming, difficult to understand for those who are new to it, hopeless without the right tools, and that even if a course is completed properly, you as the client don’t always know what you’re getting.
Whew, that sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Thankfully, these have been recognized as common issues with eLearning development, and as such, the eLearning community has come up with its fair share of solutions. Yet, when solving any problem, there will be many solutions that don’t work along the way to finding the right solution.
Don’t believe us? Just ask Thomas Edison.
Thankfully, there are not 10,000 failed solutions to problems with developing eLearning out there. Let’s take a look at a couple of the solutions that we’ve seen and break down for you why they just don’t work.
While we can’t promise it will be easy, we promise you it will be a whole lot easier than inventing the light bulb. Our ultimate goal is to reach a solution that we believe does lead to greater efficiencies in eLearning development.
Discussion Question of the Week
What makes you hesitant to switch to utilizing a Platform for your eLearning courseware needs?
We totally get it, change is hard. In fact, without change, most of us would still be carrying around that token from our childhood that we never went anywhere without.
Yeah, you should probably call your Mom and thank her for sparing you a lifetime of embarrassment and spontaneous tantrums at grocery stores.
Yet as we all know, change is an important part of life if you want to grow and improve. The same can be said for eLearning – if you want to grow and improve your courses, you will probably need to change the way they are built and managed. In our 10 years of eLearning experience here at CourseAvenue, we have found using a platform to develop eLearning courses is not only time and cost-effective, but also allows your company to truly understand what’s going into your eLearning.
So what’s holding you back from switching from some other traditional ways of developing eLearning courses (which we discussed here) to using a platform? You tell us!
As we move into the next part of our “5 Problems with Developing eLearning and How a Platform Solves Them” Series, we would love to hear your thoughts when it comes to using a platform for your eLearning development. Worried about the amount of customization you’ll have for your course or how it will look? Not sure a platform is right for your company? Wondering what the benefits are? We are ready to answer any questions you have!
Jump in and comment below!
5 Problems with Developing E-Learning and How a Platform Solves Them
#1: The finished product isn’t a “start to finish solution”
Often when an organization starts out building eLearning, they begin building a course, and somewhere in that process, might then start asking some further questions…What about mobile delivery? What if we need it to be 508 compliant? How are we going to track it? Are we going to sell it? The answers to these questions can drastically change the way you are building your eLearning courses, and often the answers require additional products or services to add in all the functionality you are seeking. For example, often if you want to create courses that work on mobile devices, you may need to rebuild the course in another software. If you want the course to be 508 compliant, you may need to create a workaround in the current software you are using.
If you see this sign, you’ve probably gone too far.
When it comes to your eLearning course, you should have no doubts what you’re getting, and you should not have to use multiple products to get the functionality you need. You need an end-to-end solution that you can understand without having a head-scratching talk with your developer. When questions come up regarding courseware development, methods of delivery, tracking and bookmarking ability, 508 compliance, and mobile delivery, you should be able to find all these answers in one platform. CourseAvenue offers a start to finish solution that can provide this functionality on a whole or in the pieces needed for your organization for development, delivery, and distribution.
Whether your organization has a large number of people involved in the course development process or if the people creating the courses are working on different technical skill levels, CourseAvenue’s solution is a collaborative and user-friendly platform to make eLearning development, delivery, and distribution efficient and effective.
Next in this series we will look at some of the solutions people have proposed to solve these problems with eLearning development and whether or not they actually work.
5 Problems with Developing E-Learning and How a Platform Solves Them
#4: Have a big project? Expect a long wait.
Let’s say that you find what you believe to be a shortcut on the expense highway – paring down your developers to the bare minimum. Instead of using forty developers to develop forty courses, you hire ten developers to get those forty courses done. This may seem like an excellent solution. Less developers equals less cost, makes sense.
Well, not quite. Reducing the number of developers you’re using won’t actually cut the costs. Not only will it still be expensive, it will be time-consuming as well, prolonging course implementation and costing more in the long run. Now there are two phrases you never want to hear in conjunction to your eLearning project: expensive and time-consuming. I mean, it’s not like you’ve got money to burn.
Unless you do, in which case, carry on…
In the end, using this method to cut expenses only adds to the problem while slowing down your development. Furthermore, even if you pay for a larger staff of developers to do the job quicker, there is still a hefty bill at the end.
What you need is a more cost and time efficient way to develop courses. Consider a solution that makes course development a quicker and more efficient process without relying on hand-coded solutions. Join us for our next post tomorrow, as we move closer to why an eLearning platform can provide this solution.
