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coNTENTMODERN IZATION:

WHY, WHAT AND HOW

LEARN ING

BY SONIA WADHWA, CPLP

ost mid- and large-sized companies have invested considerably in creating training content over the years. They have spent lots of time, money and resources to create the training content in different formats, whether it’s instructor-led trainings, online trainings, or documents that have been created as job aids for their teams.

This legacy content was created using the best of instructional strategies, design elements and technology at the company’s disposal at that time. But most importantly, the material contains valuable knowledge garnered from the company’s own subject matter experts, thought leaders, and the people that have the real, practical insights into the business.

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IS IT BEING FULLY UTILIZED?

However, companies are beginning to realize that this legacy content is not really being utilized to its full potential. While it is natural for some content to become dated over time as products, processes and business needs change, what is more alarming is that content that should have been very much relevant to the business is becoming “scrap.”

So, what are the reasons that so much content is not being utilized? Content that was tailored to traditional modalities such as instructor-led training and on-the-job training face the challenges of reliance on expert trainers, cost and logistics of delivery, and long-term sustainability. On the other hand, online content has not kept pace with expectations of increased interactivity, nor is it ready for delivery on a multitude of devices for today’s mobile learner.

Another very common reason is that the content library has grown sporadically and is spread in multiple formats, multiple templates and with a lot of duplication. Content that is trapped in proprietary formats or is plug-in dependent has suddenly become unusable.

But the biggest problem is that most of this content does not allow you to support modern learning and development best practices: bite-sized learning, experiential simulations, on-the-job performance support tools, and collaborative, informal learning. (See case study for example.)

WHAT COMPANIES ARE DOING TO TAKE

CARE OF THESE ISSUES

Most dynamic learning and development teams are gearing up to modernize their content. But, a successful modernization strategy requires some key questions to be answered before the game plan is finalized. Having answers to these questions helps streamline the modernization process and also ensure the right return on investment.

Here are some questions:

should be modernized vs. retired vs. merged?

led training, videos, job aids, etc. in the modernized portfolio?

design improvements need to be made?

content assets support? Why?development

tool? If so, which one?

cater to? Should mobile delivery be part of the strategy? Why?

suited for publishing into the desired delivery formats?

your existing LMS and other delivery systems?

the new technology and content?

up?

How about accessibility compliance?

This list of questions may seem overwhelming at first and you may not have answers to all, which is perfectly understandable. But, keeping this on your radar as you embark on modernization projects is important.

STAGES IN A MODERNIZATION PROJECT

Keeping your modernization initiatives structured requires focusing on the three stages that any such project is likely to go through (see sidebar to the left):

Content and instructional strategy that form the heart of effective and engaging programs that ensure long-term retention and impact on business outcomes

ONEContent &

Instructional Strategy

and chunking

sizing for reusability

localization

compliance

performance support and learner engagement

TWOMedia Assets Enhancement

Contemporary design

enhanced interactivity

amenable to multiple delivery formats

of video

THREETechnology

Modernization

technology for:

- Mobile readiness - Cross browser

availability - Device independence

tool(s)

technology standards

implementation

A DOCUMENTED AND PLANNED

APPROACH HELPS YOU NAVIGATE

THROUGH A TRANSFORMATION

WITH EASE AND MAXIMIZE

EFFICIENCIES DURING THE

PROCESS.

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Media assets and visual design that make your learning content appealing and boost retention

Technology that forms the backbone of learning interventions and allows for effective facilitation and delivery of learning

MODERNIZATION PROCESS

A documented and planned approach to content modernization helps you navigate through a transformation with ease and maximize efficiencies during the process. A recommended six-step process that you may consider includes these stages that are to some extent borrowed from the traditional ADDIE model for learning, but with a content transformation tweak to it.

STEP 1: ANALYZE

This stage involves auditing the existing content to understand the current state of training and working with key stakeholders to arrive at a vision for the desired state. You need to audit the existing learning assets to understand the relevance of content, levels of modularity, use of multimedia, and interactivity/learner engagement mechanisms. It is also useful to analyze patterns and components amenable to reuse.

The output of this stage would typically be a set of recommendations for your stakeholders and business around content organization and chunking, interactivity, visual design, use of media, and delivery modalities. You should also be able to shortlist development tools and technologies at this stage.

This is the time to come up with a first

draft of your rollout plan and the budget for the business stakeholders to review. If you are also able to recommend content chunking and meta-tagging to enable long-term reuse and higher levels of discoverability, it may be the ROI your stakeholders need to have their skin in the game.

STEP 2: PROTOTYPE

This is an optional stage that allows creation of a prototype that brings to life the recommendations that are still on paper. Doing a prototype also helps you clarify requirements for templatization and standardization, especially if your project is large.

STEP 3: DESIGN

Once the prototype has been critiqued, fixed, approved, it is time to get into action and start detailing out asset level strategies, including media and design elements. The subject matter experts are a key to the success of this stage.

STEP4: DEVELOP

As you get into the thick of development, tools, technologies and platforms become key, especially in the case of technology-based learning. Testing across platforms /browsers/devices is essential to the success of this step.

STEP 5: DEPLOY

Deployment of your new learning assets on the learning management system (LMS), conducting train-the-trainer sessions, piloting your virtual training technologies are the challenges of this step. A streamlined deployment plan

focusing on people and technology is your best bet here.

STEP 6: EVALUATE

Similar to any learning program, a modernized curriculum should go through the evaluation and feedback process that allows you to gauge its effectiveness as well as plan your resources and time for future maintenance and improvements.

SUCCESS CRITERIA

Apart from the usual success criteria of completing a modernization initiative in time and within budgets, here are some criteria for goals you should set:

Future reuse: How much future reuse potential have you been able to identify?Modularity: Is your content modular enough to become amenable to reuse across training programs, users, and businesses?

Searchability: How easy is it to search the content to reuse it? How deep and relevant is the tagging of content assets?

A modernization project does not only make your content better to look at and interact with, it can open up several possibilities that provide a true return on investment and a win-win situation for learning and development, business and your learners.

Sonia Wadhwa, CPLP, is the chief learning strategist at InfoPro Learning. Email Sonia.

CASE STUDY: DEVELOPING MODERN SOLUTIONS

A company that acquired an application for use by its remote contractors and freelancing staff received a more than 200-page PDF manual and presentation slides that were used in a three-day training program for its staff. All was well during the training but within a week of people returning to their jobs, the help desk was inundated with calls about the application.

What was lacking: Content was not in a format that could be used to provide task-based support to users.

Solution: Create short (bite-sized) modules that can either be used in a complete training program or pushed to learners as task-focused simulations.

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