How do you scope an e-learning project?

Analyzing the training needs should be one of the most important and effort-intensive parts of creating training. It helps organize the content and keeps only the "need-to-know" information, getting rid of things that are "good-to-know". There are different ways to do this. For skill-based training, I usually ask myself: 'If I'm interviewing someone for this job, and they've only studied my training, will they pass the interview?' This question helps me know who I'm teaching, what they need to learn, and what I want them to achieve.

Needs analysis is crucial in scoping an e-learning project as it identifies the specific skills and knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. Understand the organisational goals and define clear learning objectives, this ensures the content is relevant and engaging for the target audience. It is important to gather information on the target audience too so that the content can be tailored to maximize effectiveness and impact. Eg: is the audience sales professionals or are they practitioners, or business analysts or other roles. This analysis provides a strong foundation for developing targeted, efficient, and purpose-driven e-learning solutions.

Needs analysis is often neglected. People skip it all the time citing the time constraints, but you NEED to do your due diligence for analysis to make sure your eLearnings good! This means folks shouldn't shy away from spending time with their intended audience. Don't just float ideas about what the work is like in a stuffy meeting room with a manager who sees the target audience only once a quarter. Don't just huddle up with the higher-ups! Spend a shift or two with someone in that audience! And actually, schedule time to do focus groups! A common challenge is getting hourly employees to take the time to give insights. Tip: make it easy as possible. Short and sweet surveys. No logins. Pass around a fish bowl and paper in the office.

Conducting a needs analysis is a critical first step. I create eLearning for my company's customers. As an instructional designer, I need to know "who" I'm creating this training for, how much time they have to devote to training, what their motivations and goals are, and how they will use our product. Having this information helps me decide what content to include and when I need to include branching scenarios to provide a more customized experience for different personas. If you want an effective learning experience, you have to do it. It's actually a fun experience, and one of my favorite aspects of learning design!

Start with the end in mind. From a creative perspective, understanding the overall objectives of the project helps design an e-learning experience with content relevant to the learner. So ask from the beginning, who are you developing the course for? Having this clear will help the visual design align with their interests.

Want to avoid nightmare projects that never end? Make sure to get specific! One simple way to do this is to use an action map. Once you go through that exercise with your working group (maybe in a savvy start meeting using SAM), it will show you every piece of content you need to create: the activities that the learners will engage to practice the behavior you're looking to make happen as well as the knowledge content to provide the learners with the "minimum amount of knowledge they need to know to do the task." Document the resulting spokes from that exercise in a design and development document, and make sure your SMEs and business partners know that those are the deliverables.

Budget is a big determinant of scope. Will you use freeware or something proprietary? Will you do it yourself or hire a partnering professional? The same project can be delivered for pennies or millions. You have to determine how much you're willing to spend for the results you want to achieve.

Budgeting a video project can be tricky. However, some questions and elements will help you start planning your production budget. For example, - Will it be ''go at your own pace'', or will you produce weekly live sessions? This will have a direct impact on the overall production time and speed. - Are you planning to have an on-screen instructor, screen capture, voice overs, original footage, stock content, music, motion graphics, and or static slides? - Will it be a traditional format, or will you include some interactivity such as gamification or quizzes? - What's your marketing plan to promote the course? These are some of the main elements that can help you kick-start your budget plan.

Budgeting is always tricky, but what works for Skill Mammoth is tiered project pricing that scales up by complexity. This helps give our clients transparent info on how much things will cost so there are no surprises, and also makes sure that we're getting enough income to pay what we need to our team as well as any additional talent we need to bring in for videography, voiceovers, etc. If the project calls for additional needs, we have a la carte pricing to accommodate that. (Think LMS hosting, AI tokens, etc.) The caveat here is that you NEED to know how much things cost you! Take the time to math out how much your time costs and know market rates for things you need to hire out.

The RACI matrix can help you there to define roles and responsibilities. R = responsible A = accountable C = consulted I = informed Just create a table with all the tasks that need to be done and the people involved and for each task decide who is responsible, who need to be consulted etc. It helps to keep everyone on the same page.

Before the course is launched it is essential the course is thoroughly reviewed from diverse teams who can provide their valuable insights in enhancing the quality of the course. This not only improves the quality of the course but also checks for accuracy in various aspects be it technical, writing style, branding etc. Gather feedback and address them as well. Have a pilot launch before the course is rolled out to everyone. This further helps in refining the course. Gather feedback from learners too in the form of feedback survey and address them in the next iteration.