HARNESSING THE POWER

A SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT OF

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SO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT MEETS AN INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER?

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You  get  a  carefully  designed    program  with  a  specific  outline  of  the  course.

AND YOU KNOW IT’S A SUCCESS BEFORE IT HITS

THE SHELVES!

This  is  because  the  material  is  both  learner    and  organization  centered,  stemming    

from  core  objectives.

LOOK...

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

WITHOUT SME, THE ELEARNING CONTENT IS JUST INCOMPLETE.

It  takes  the  work  with  an  expert  to  really  spin  the  program  towards  an  effective  and  cost-­‐saving  

direction.

SMEs  are  your  content  providers  and  we  all  know  

that  content  is

K-I-N-G!

With  SME  you  gain  greater  learner  performance,  learning  satisfaction  and  credibility  in  your  organization!

Subject  Matter  Experts  and  Instructional  Designers    have  an  equal  role  to  play  in  the  eLearning  program  design.

THEY COMBINE FORCES TO CREATE INNOVATIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCES

FOR THE LEARNER!

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SMEs  on  their  hand  have  a  wealth  of  deep  knowledge    in  their  subject  and  they  are  happy  to  share  it!

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And  then  the  instructional  designers  have  accomplished    the  optimum  mix  of  all  learning  and  teaching  strategies    in  order  to  develop  a  best  seller  eLearning  program.

It’s  not  just  about  creating  the  greatest  eLearning  program.  It’s  about  creating  it  for  a  

specific  customer.  

AND DOING IT IN A BEST WAY POSSIBLE!

UNFORTUNATELY, USUALLY IT’S NOT THAT SIMPLE.

The  surplus  and  the  overzealous  content  received  from  the  SME  needs  to  be  edited  

with  great  care  and  precision.

THE EDITING PROCESS INVOLVES SEVERAL FACTORS:

THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY AND GOALS

The  Subject  Matter  Expert  will  pick  the  content  that  is  “highly  important”  according  to  them.  

Your  job  is  to  select  from  it  the  information  that  is  most  relevant  to  the  particular  business.

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THINK ABOUT THE LEARNER.

Analyze  their  past  experiences  and  trainings  and  exclude  the  content  they  already  know.  Increase    the  challenge  and  scope    of  the  course!  

Ask  yourself:  do  they  prefer  online,  mobile  or  Instructor-­‐Led  training?

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DETERMINE LENGTH AS WELL AS DEPTH OF THE COURSE.

An  SME  will  be  the  best  judge  to  determine  how  long  it  will  take  to  cover  the  topic  and  can  provide  you  with  the  great  data.

Your  job  will  then  be  to  determine  how  the  project  will  be  developed  and  delivered,  using  what  tools  and  systems.

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SHIFT “ESSENTIAL TO KNOW”, “IMPORTANT TO KNOW” AND “NICE TO KNOW” INFORMATION WITH THE SME.

These  headings  help  to  decide  the  delivery  format  for  particular  topics  in  the  online  environment.  

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The  SME  will  also  help    in  summarizing  and  presenting  the  problem  in  bullet  forms.  

AND AS AN ID, YOU CAN FOCUS ON THE DELIVERY FORMAT, INSTEAD OF LEARNING ANOTHER NEW SUBJECT FROM SCRATCH!

REMEMBER THESE TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH SMES TO AVOID CREATING AN INFORMATION DUMP FOR THE LEARNER.

And  ask  yourself  few  questions  about  your  eLearning  course….

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Does  the  content  speak  to  the  heart  of  the  topic  and  add  value  to  the  learner?  

Is  it  critical  to  learn  to  perform  the  task  at  hand  and  how  it  will  be  assessed?  

Does  it  link  to  essential  understanding  foundations  and  make  links  to  other  concepts?

As  you  can  see  a  Subject  Matter  expert    is  crucial  in  the  eLearning  development  process.

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BUT YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOUT ORGANIZATIONAL AND LEARNER NEEDS TOO!

With  all  the  strategies  we  mentioned  determine  the  scope  of  the  project  and  finally  use  our  checklist  to  evaluate  it  with  the  SME!

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