Custom eLearning Development: Which Way Should You Go?

The answer to the question posed above about custom eLearning development will lead you to either reach out to an outfit like eLeaP or choose to work in-house. We can tell you there are many good reasons to develop in-house if you have the resources (time, money, expertise, etc.). After all, no one knows your brand, your customers, or your product/service range like you do.

As a matter of fact, we give classes on how to use the popular Articulate Storyline program. Not familiar with it? You can see an Articulate training outline here.

Of course, there are also equally compelling reasons to let folks like us, who enjoy doing this for a living, take care of the task of developing your custom eLearning course content. This is particularly true for startups and SMBs who lack the time, money, in-house expertise, and other resources necessary for custom eLearning development.

Besides, there may be some areas of custom eLearning development worth outsourcing, while others may be best suited to in-house design and creation. Below, we’ll discuss four areas where you need to carefully consider your options.

• Instructional: Instructional content is the foundation of the entire L&D effort. It’s absolutely critical to get this right. In many cases, instructional development is best done in-house, since your team is comprised of subject matter experts who know your company inside out. However, you may also decide to work with a professional development company to optimize, refine, and improve any content that you develop. It’s all about ensuring the instructional content supports positive outcomes for learners.

• Visual Content: Visuals help drive home the information being taught. They help to translate data into something more understandable and relatable for human beings. Visual content comes in a wide range of shapes, forms, and types. Think images, charts, graphs, and even animations. Then there are less obvious uses of visual content in your LMS, such as the overall user interface, the use of your company logo, and more. This is one of the most common areas to outsource custom eLearning development to take advantage of design expertise that your team might lack.
• Audio and Narration: Audio and narration help engage employees and ensure improved information retention. However, it’s difficult to get right. The wrong narrator could turn your content into a mind-numbing experience that leaves learners struggling to stay awake. Amateur audio can sound tinny and detract from both the learning experience and your brand value. For this reason, many organizations choose to outsource the creation of audio files and course narration.
• Technology: Let’s be clear here – the LMS you use, the entire system, represents advanced technology. For startups and SMBs, developing your own L&D technology is out of reach. Even for larger companies with significant budgets, it may not be possible. It’s also an important consideration as you must “get it right” the first time. The technology underpinning your L&D efforts should offer an outstanding user experience, allow learners to progress smoothly from module to module, and should be available not just on PCs in the HR department, but accessible through mobile devices for on-demand learning.

The Advantages of Outsourcing Custom eLearning Development

While we discussed areas that can be outsourced but may also be handled in-house in the section above, we need to touch on a few of the more critical advantages that outsourcing custom eLearning development can offer.

Expertise and Knowledge: How much expertise and knowledge does your team have when it comes to eLearning design and development? They might be subject matter experts, but are they experts in user experience? What about curriculum development? How many times have they created course content in the past? Are they familiar with ensuring that the content developed meets industry or government rules and regulations? These are just a few of the expertise and knowledge-related reasons that organizations opt to outsource eLearning development.

Time and Money Savings: Another critical reason to consider outsourcing custom eLearning development is that you’ll save a great deal of time and money. Your teams have other responsibilities, so tapping them to create content just adds to what they have on their plate. It also slows down mission-critical processes. After all, every minute that your team spends developing eLearning content is one more minute that they’re not focusing on their core responsibilities within your organization.

Of course, you might choose to build your team of content development specialists. That comes with its own time and cost constraints. It will take you time to recruit and onboard those individuals, and yet more time for them to get up to speed on your brand and training requirements. You’ll also be on the hook for things like payroll, taxes, and even physical space for the team to work. With an outsource provider, none of those are your responsibility. With a trusted outsource provider, your team can focus on what they do best, saving you time and money without sacrificing content quality.

Get the Quality Content You Deserve

Yes, it is possible to develop your content in house. Custom eLearning development is expensive and time-consuming, though. Does your business have the time and financial resources to handle those needs? Most companies don’t.

We are ready to help. Contact us today for a project plan and portfolio. Here’s how: call us at 1-877-624-7226 or email us at help@eleapsoftware.com.

Free Resources – Additional information?

• Course Management System
• LMS Definition