For leaders, now is the time to reach into their toolbox for familiar tools. Staying true to established best practices will calm your content creation team. Keeping strategy on the horizon will buoy teams through these stormy times.
1. Continue to embrace microlearning.
While it is tempting to think of microlearning as a hot trend, its ability to make learning agile is hard to ignore. Now is not the time to ditch this strategy. By slicing content into bits, both publishers and schools gain. Providers are able to tag an educational standard to a smaller session. Publishers are able to author high-level courses. Then, providers are able to fill gaps by creating smaller sessions. For example, publishers author a general course on North American Native American peoples. Providers author micro lessons per North American regions. The micro lessons allow States to focus on regional specific topics.
Be open to alternate types of content.
eLearning courses are expensive and time consuming to develop. Traditional development happens in a linear fashion. Designers use pricey production tools. While traditional development models have their place, using non-conventional tools pays off. In these times of shifting educational standards, think about unusual content forms. Teachers and students may well be a trove of standard aligned content. While it may not be the best, if it meets the standard, think about using it as a micro lesson. Then make a note to hone it at a later date.
2. Ask for feedback.
More than ever, hearing from educational partners matters. Drive dialog between your content creators, educational partners, and students. Urge developers to ask for suggestions from those using the content. Encourage designers to set up follow-up meetings with clients. Be sure to add the suggestions to a future revision list.
Get a hold of the rogue content.
A danger of an evolving content creation landscape is rogue content in the stream. By encouraging an open exchange of ideas with users, your team is able to prevent the spread of incorrect content. They can also catch the innovative ideas which line up with educational standards. Incorporate these great ideas in the next round of revisions. What an occasion to applaud those contributions! Think about giving prizes to both in-house and field contributors. This event strengthens both your partnership and your content.
3. Tighten your revision process.
Reassess existing revision processes for ease of use. Give staff clear naming conventions and processes. As educational standards change, writers need to be able to locate outdated content. Then, they need to be able to keep it simple. Use an easy to navigate revision control process to make everyone’s job easier. Adopt processes yet keep an eye out for clunky time-wasting activities. Ask for suggestions to improve the turnaround time for content changes.
Lean into IT.
Start with what is there. What is being used? What tips work? What is underused? How can teams get up to speed on features? What constraints do they have? What do they need to make the job easier? Bandwidth? Server space? Faster units? Investing in new systems is tempting. Learning a new system in the sea of change is added stress for staff. Sharing best practices on an old system lets staff focus on the changing educational standards.
4. Invest in talent.
Now is the time to invest in talent. Effective microlearning content is more than an author slicing current content into bits. Asking content creators to tag content is more than complying to naming conventions. Invest in building a team of experts. Invest in training staff on skills to excel.
Train your staff.
Offer training. While most staff will keep up with the changing standards on their own, quick meetings will get more results. Take the time to update staff on the changes. Schedule regular meetings to address questions and concerns.
5. Partner with experts.
Know when to outsource. Expert content providers have resources to identify which courses meet the educational standards. Experience with educational standards results in the ability to meet deadlines. A partner, like A Pass Education, has a dedicated team of experts available to meet your needs.
In conclusion, using tried and true procedures will result in success. Publishers navigate the flood of changes by investing in process, people, and partners.
