Elearning courses have always been popular, and content has been delivered on a range of platforms with the first courses being delivered on laserdisc and then onto the more popular CD-Rom format.
CD-Rom’s were widely used in the education sector, allowing publishers to deliver content for multiple platforms including Apple Mac, PC and Acorn. The Acorn was a popular computer widely used in UK schools in the 90’s.
CD-Rom’s were restricted to 650mb with developers and designers needing to be creative to fit all of their content within the size available. As connectivity increased across schools and homes elearning courses started to be deployed across the internet. This provided a number of advantages for both users and publishers.
Cost Effective
Publishers no longer needed to publish physical media and ship it to individual customers. The internet allows content to be deployed quickly and easily with lower costs.
Publishers are able to update online constantly, this makes updates easy, allowing learners to review the latest content without having to receive the latest version of physical media. Updates can be done within minutes and be deployed to the entire learner community.
It is now quicker to get content out to users and any changes to content cab made almost instantly, publishers can also respond much quicker to the demands in the market. Fast internet combined with rapid development tools like Articulate 360 has allowed development team to get online elearning courses out to users quicker than ever.
Ease of use
Users of content can now access content immediately. There is a range of free online elearning courses available to learners and paid platforms also allows users to access content via a range of platforms and devices. Users don’t need physical media to get started and users are often set up very quickly via an email login process.
Content covers a range of subjects and sectors and often doesn’t require any specific technology to get started, users can get started with a table, PC or mobile are able to start using an online elearning course within minutes. When completing or working through the course the user can often access a user dashboard allowing them to manage their own progress, often allowing them to download certificates.
Elearning courses work as they are online and once set up users can access the content in their own time. This allows users to manage their own learning. They can access content from any device with any internet connection, from any location and access their work. This level of flexibility and independence has proved very popular with all types of learners.
Learners are now able to access their content, learning materials or content at any time and this allows them to manage their studies around their work and personal life. This flexibility has provided popular with large organisations and business who can allow their employees to manage their own learning. Content is often deployment via a Learning Management System of Learning Experience Platform, allowing the company to review the progress of their employees.
Self Paced Learning
Online Courses allow learners to work through content at their own pace. Often learners will receive a learning pathway, providing learners with a guide on how to navigate the range of online courses that are available to them.
It can be a huge advantage for learners that they can manage their own team and work through content at their own place, this allows learners to review content, revisit or re-start a course or piece of material if they have had to break half-way.
Different Content Types
Elearning Courses has allowed developers and publishers to provide a range of content to learners and users. This has proved to be very popular for their audience, often it can be the same content delivered in different ways.
Elearning courses can use a range of different delivery methods including interactive assessment, interactive quizzes, animations, video, audio and text. The courses may also have supporting materials like Closed Captions or a transcript that the learner can download for use as a later date.
The wide range of technology and content types makes it easier for learners and users to often engage with content. A good interactive or instructional designer will also use their skills and knowledge to use technology to bring a difficult subject to life, making it easier for a learner to understand a concept.
Online elearning courses also allow users to work through case studies or scenarios that may not be possible in real-world situations due to location or other restrictions. There are a range of technology solutions available that can further enhance the learning experience for users.
Accessibility
Developers and publishers are increasingly encouraged to ensure that content is accessible for all. Elearning courses are often compatible with accessibility tools like screen readers. The digital industry also provides a range of guidance on how developers and publishers can improve accessibility when developing digital products. Online content provides the opportunity to deliver content for everyone regardless of their location or physical abilities.
Translating Elearning Courses
Elearning courses and content can be deployed into multiple languages. You may have seen language switchers on websites that allow you to see content in a different language or have website content translated using Google Translate.
Online courses may require the services of a dedicated translation team to ensure that the context and meaning of your original content is translated correctly but you can still deliver your translated content quickly and effectively. Most companies will be thinking about multiple languages at the start of their project and this makes translation easier.
Having your content in multiple languages can be very helpful if you are working across multiple languages and elearning courses makes it very easy to translate your content and get your courses deployed in multiple languages at the same time.
Getting content out quickly
If you have a content gap and need to get content out to your learners quickly then elearning is ideal. An elearning course can be uploaded to your organisation system in minutes and distributed to learners equally as quickly. Your learners then have access to the course and you can let them know either via email or your internal message system.
An elearning course can help solve any content game that you. If you need to solve the content gap quickly, then an off the shelf course can be up and running within your organisation within hours if you know what you need!
You can check the course content
If you are buying elearning content the huge benefit of elearning courses is that you can check the course content before you buy. Allowing customers to review content before they buy provides a huge benefit to the customer. Organisations can check that the content is suitable for their learners and will work for their organisation. If a company is buying or developing custom content they can develop a trial and send out a test module for their learners to get feedback.
If you are interested to find out whether elearning courses might work in your organisation then get in touch with us at hello@realprojects.co.uk
