Check out this infographic for an overview of steps you need to take and continue reading the article for more details.<\/p>\n
![\"Ifographic](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/how-to-launch-an-elearning-project-s.jpg\" "\\"Ifographic")
<\/div>\nStep 1. Define the Learning Objective<\/h2>\n
A rocket might be launched into space for various reasons: to explore a new planet, to put a satellite into orbit, or to deliver a payload to astronauts, for example. There must always be a goal. It\u2019s the same with digital learning \u2014 there\u2019s no sense in using it just because it is fashionable. If you\u2019ve opened this page, it means that you already realize \u200b\u200bwhy your company needs online training. Just try to transform your idea into a clear objective.<\/p>\n
What do you want to achieve with eLearning? The more specific the goal, the more likely you are to make it happen.<\/p>\n
![\"Good](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/editor\/2019\/05\/ispring-blog-image-1557145053.png\" "\\"eLearning")
<\/div>\nAfter your goal is set, think about what other benefits you hope to get from online training. That\u2019ll better prepare you for the next step, which is choosing eLearning tools.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/editor\/2019\/05\/ispring-blog-image-1557145230.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nLeslie Cutter, global digital marketing manager at Moxa Inc.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe mission of our Global Digital Marketing Department is to build marketing automation capability at Moxa on a global scale. We set a goal to simultaneously train marketing teams from different countries on the basics of content marketing and social media marketing. Before moving forward, we also identified our key training needs:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Outcomes of Step 1:<\/strong> You\u2019ve set your learning objectives and identified your training needs.<\/p>\n How is a spacecraft made? Experienced rocket scientists would say something like this: \u201cVarious rockets are constructed in different ways. It all depends on the task.\u201d For example, the American Space Shuttle has starter boosters, a fuel tank, and an orbital module. This is enough to achieve a low Earth orbit. But if you want to get to Mars, you need a spaceship of a different construction.<\/p>\n The eLearning arsenal also depends on the goals. As a rule, companies use one of these two types of tools, or the entire set at once:<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a closer look at each of these.<\/p>\n An LMS is a virtual school where you can teach your staff from anywhere in the world: assign courses and tests to learners, track their performance, and analyze their results.<\/p>\n With an LMS you can:<\/p>\n When it comes to selecting an LMS<\/a>, choose between a locally hosted or a cloud-based system.<\/p>\n Jeff Dalto, Senior L&D Specialist at Convergence Training<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe first consideration is speed and effort: you\u2019re going to find setup and implementation of a cloud-based platform to be faster and easier than you would with a locally hosted LMS. Employees will generally find it more user-friendly, meaning they\u2019ll spend less time learning how to use the system and more time using the LMS to acquire valuable work skills. Updates will also be faster and easier, as your LMS provider can simply push updates to the web-based system.<\/em><\/p>\n The second set of benefits revolves around your IT department and, most specifically, not having to make requests of them. The LMS provider will set up, update, monitor, and maintain the LMS for you, meaning you won\u2019t have to bother the IT staff for this. And IT will appreciate being able to save bandwidth on your internal servers for other mission-critical tasks.<\/em><\/p>\n If these benefits aren\u2019t sufficient, there are still other reasons to go with a cloud-based solution, including increased mobile friendliness; faster delivery of training, better data security, and more effective disaster recovery. See our <\/span>benefits of a cloud-based LMS article<\/a> for more on all of these points.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n In addition to an LMS, you\u2019ll need software for building courses. You can buy an easy-to-use tool with all the necessary modules for rapid authoring or a powerful solution with a software simulation editor and even capabilities for creating VR projects. It all depends on your learning objectives and the time and energy you\u2019re ready to spend on training how to use the tool.<\/p>\n To choose the right software, you need to focus on the demands that will be made on the tool.<\/p>\n David Patterson, Director of Learning Light<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHow quick and intuitive should the learning development suite or tool be? Should it have an option for embedding video and other assets? Can you start with simple PowerPoints and build from that? What about gamification? Ideally, you should build a features checklist for the content creation capabilities you need.<\/em><\/p>\n Please keep in mind that assessments and quizzes are important features that support learning and play a huge part in learning and knowledge transfer. Creating meaningful questions in an engaging manner is a real skill that is too often neglected, in my view.<\/em><\/p>\n Don\u2019t overlook the need to understand learning standards and learning analytics. Make sure the tool you choose is flexible enough to cover your demands for the eLearning modules to work in your LMS.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Here, you can see an example of an e-course created in the <\/span>iSpring Suite<\/a> toolkit.<\/span><\/p>\n Here is the way an e-course is created in the iSpring Suite toolkit.<\/p>\n After you\u2019ve installed iSpring Suite<\/a> on your computer, you\u2019ll see a special toolbar in PowerPoint.<\/p>\n Right from the iSpring Suite toolbar,\u00a0you can enhance your presentation with tests, interactions, images, audio, video, and dialogue simulations. Then, you can publish it to your LMS and assign it to your team members.<\/p>\n Your employees can view the content at any time and from any device: a desktop, a tablet, or a smartphone.<\/p>\n Jill Brown, quality management coordinator at Villa St. Vincent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWith iSpring, our company creates online courses for new employees to become Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs).<\/em><\/p>\n Our training program consists of 15 units, and within each unit are modules. All in all, there are 58 actual modules \u2014 or PowerPoints.<\/em><\/p>\n I use iSpring Suite to enhance the modules with a variety of teaching methods: lectures, simulations, videos from the web, instructor-led video teaching, web links for additional references, essays, and quizzes. Each unit also includes handouts, practice quizzes, etc. In addition, iSpring Suite provides many design features to keep the content interesting.<\/em><\/p>\n Depending on the length and detail of the materials, it takes me approximately 4-8 hours to complete a working module, including simulations, videos, and tests. The other authoring tools I tried took at least twice the time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n This is an example of a Villa St. Vincent e-course created with iSpring Suite:<\/span><\/p>\n Outcomes of Step 2:<\/strong> You\u2019ve defined what kind of eLearning tools<\/a> you need, analyzed the eLearning market, and selected the solutions that meet your requirements.<\/p>\n How much does it cost to launch a spacecraft? For example, the average cost to launch a Falcon 9 rocket is about $62 million per mission, and the NASA SLS system costs around $500 million to launch each time. The cost depends on the objectives and resources that you use.<\/p>\n After you\u2019ve set a goal and selected the tools, it\u2019s much easier to estimate your future eLearning investments. The expense sheets should include not only the cost of eLearning software,<\/span>\u00a0but also the salary for your team, investments in course development and, in some cases, buying new computers for your employees.<\/p>\n After your budget is established, it\u2019s time to create an action plan. Break down your current goal (launching eLearning) into clear, actionable steps and set deadlines for each step.<\/p>\n Example:<\/strong> A vendor needs two days to implement an LMS; it\u2019ll take you five days to create a course and five days to run the pilot project.<\/p>\n The next step is to present the plan to your senior managers. You need to explain to them what eLearning is, how it can drive the business, and what resources are required. The information should be brief and carefully worded.<\/p>\n You need to present the following information:<\/p>\n Outcomes of Step 3:<\/strong> You know the approximate cost of your eLearning project, your management has approved the budget, you have an action plan, and you know the eLearning launch date. Now it\u2019s time to buy training tools and get to work.<\/p>\n An LMS without content is like a spacecraft without fuel and flight plan. After the system is installed, you need to upload the learning content to your platform: presentations, books, instruction manuals, videos, and online courses.<\/p>\n Ideally, you should have an eLearning development plan for a year or two in advance and a list of training materials that your learners should view. But initially, it\u2019s enough to create one e-course to test the learning experience and conduct a technical run-through.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re planning to build new courses regularly, you\u2019ll need at least one instructional designer<\/a> who will decide what type of learning materials to develop, and how a course should look, and then create the course using an authoring tool. You\u2019ll also need a coach and one or more SME who will provide the instructional designer with relevant learning content.<\/p>\n Shanavaz SF<\/a>, Senior L&D Manager at Mycoach Learning <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIf you have content that is proprietary\/confidential by nature (pharmacy, personal finance) or requires frequent updates (compliance), you\u2019re likely to decide to build an eLearning team internally.<\/em><\/p>\n If your organization\u2019s learning content doesn\u2019t change much over a considerable period of time, you\u2019ll probably outsource eLearning content creation. It may also be due to delivering generic content to your employees (soft skills, technology) which is not confidential and poses no threat if\/when shared with outsiders. Also, you may opt for such avenues when you feel the learning content on the required topics is available off the shelf from eLearning service providers.<\/em><\/p>\n But when you select this channel, take care to select the right vendor to entrust the task, as changing service providers in the middle of a project is quite cumbersome and you don\u2019t want to take that route in any given situation. So evaluate before committing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Outcomes of Step 4:<\/strong> You\u2019ve uploaded one or two e-courses to your LMS for a pilot project.<\/p>\n Before launching a rocket, engineers do a dry run. They let the craft follow a ballistic trajectory without putting it into orbit. This helps them identify any potential errors before the actual flight.<\/p>\n Instead of assigning a course to all your employees, ask a small group to take it. This pilot course will help you define the constraints and difficulties in using your LMS and know if your course is effective.<\/p>\n Brian Simms<\/a>, Director of Digital Content and Learning Services at Learning Tree International<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201c<\/em>When kick-starting your eLearning project, you need to form a steering committee of decision makers in the organization, course authors, and some employees with instructional design and eLearning experience. This can be a group consisting of about 10 people. That feels a bit large when there\u2019s disagreement, but since you have a good mix of those directing and doing the work, it helps to propel you forward once an agreement is reached.<\/em><\/p>\n While learners are taking a pilot e-course, it\u2019s important to survey them on how they feel about eLearning to rate their confidence in what they\u2019re studying and describe things that are still not clear to them. After the course, it would be good to present this information again and verify that the students are leaving the course satisfied.<\/em><\/p>\n This data can serve the creator as a gauge for the effectiveness of the specific modules within the course. This insight also provides validation for the student\u2019s organization that investing in learning for their employees is a worthwhile effort. Most importantly, it offers proof to the student that they haven\u2019t wasted their time if they can sit back and say, \u2018I really have learned something here.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Outcomes of Step 5:\u00a0<\/strong>You\u2019ve run the pilot eLearning project, received a list of valuable comments from the focus group, and gone through the error correction process. Now, you\u2019re ready to launch your full-fledged eLearning project.<\/p>\n Once online training is underway, motivate and engage your employees to access eLearning so they feel enthusiastic about your corporate training and strive to learn even more.<\/p>\n You can do this using the following techniques:<\/p>\n Barbara Davis Robinson<\/a>, Director of Organizational Development and Learning at\u00a0WellDyneRX<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Outcomes of Step 6:<\/strong> The employees support eLearning and actively take courses.<\/p>\n The craft known as eLearning has now achieved lift-off. You\u2019re at the helm. Your main task now is to stay the course.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how you can understand that you\u2019re going in the right direction:<\/p>\n To learn more about how to measure eLearning effectiveness, read our blog post about training metrics<\/a>.<\/p>\n Outcomes of Step 6:<\/strong> You can see how well your employees understand the learning material and if they can apply their new knowledge in practice.<\/p>\n When running an eLearning project, it is essential that you face some challenges that prevent you from attaining orbit: budget, deadlines, and employee sabotage, to name a few. But one of the most damaging issues is not understanding whether you\u2019ve really finished the project successfully.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at five factors and related questions that allow you to measure its success:<\/p>\n These are all things that will help you define how successfully you implemented your eLearning project, what still needs to be fixed, and in what direction you still need to go. But you can be confident that you\u2019ve finally put eLearning into orbit only when the training process goes smoothly and helps you solve your actual business needs.<\/p>\n To learn how to evaluate what online training brings your company in terms of numbers, read our article on how to measure eLearning ROI<\/a>.<\/p>\n Even if you\u2019ve designed the best eLearning program on the planet, it won\u2019t matter if none of your employees care. Throughout every step of your launch, the goal is to simultaneously raise awareness of your program and pique your employees\u2019 interest. We\u2019ve already explained how to engage employees once online training is underway, but this is how to \u201cadvertise\u201d and present the idea of corporate eLearning to your team members in the initial stage.<\/p>\n\n
Step 2. Choose the Right Training Tools<\/h2>\n
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Learning Management System (LMS)<\/h3>\n
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![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/editor\/2019\/05\/ispring-blog-image-1557145353.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ispring-blog-flat-bootstrap\/images\/product-inside-article\/ispring-learn.png.webp\")
<\/a>\n<\/div>\neLearning Course Authoring Tool<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/editor\/2019\/05\/ispring-blog-image-1557295385.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/editor\/2019\/05\/ispring-blog-image-1557145993.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"iSpring](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/editor\/2020\/11\/ispring-blog-image-1605516541.png\" "\\"iSpring")
<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/editor\/2019\/05\/ispring-blog-image-1557146048.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/editor\/2019\/05\/ispring-blog-image-1557146481.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\nToo much to read? Get a summary from AI<\/h3>\n \n
Step 3. Produce a Budget and Action Plan<\/h2>\n
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Step 4. Prepare the Learning Content<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/editor\/2019\/05\/ispring-blog-image-1557146608.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nStep 5. Run a Pilot eLearning Project<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/editor\/2019\/05\/ispring-blog-image-1557146794.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nStep 6. Motivate and Support Employees to Access eLearning<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/editor\/2019\/05\/ispring-blog-image-1557146907.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n\n
Step 7. Evaluate eLearning Effectiveness<\/h2>\n
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Key Factors of Successful eLearning Implementation<\/h2>\n
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Best Practices for Implementing eLearning<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/editor\/2020\/11\/ispring-blog-image-1605510536.png\" "\\"\\"")
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