8 Key Players In eLearning Development

8 Key Players In eLearning Development
Summary: The eLearning industry has seen a steady growth over the last few years. A lot about how it will continue to expand and transform learning forever; but very little is talked about the heroes behind the development of eLearning. Who are the key players in eLearning development what do they do?

The Key Players In eLearning Development And Their Roles In The Development Process

The making of an eLearning course – the creative genius behind each course, its ideation, creation, and finally its deployment on a learning platform are all taken care of by a highly specialized team of people. Here’s a look at this team: Who are the key players in eLearning development, what are their job requirements, and what is the role they play in designing and creating eLearning?

1. Stakeholders

Stakeholders are the initiators of the eLearning project; they work at the company and would hold a position of authority – a training manager, the manager of a department, or even the CEO can be a stakeholder. They may also be the eLearning champions within the organization. Stakeholders are involved at every stage of the creation and development of an eLearning course. Their approval/disapproval is important during the course of the creation of the course and makes sure the project stays on track at all times.

Stakeholders must have a clear vision of the training program and requirements, and the ability to direct the team toward fulfilling those requirements.

2. Project Manager 

The project manager looks after the overall day-to-day operations of the team, and is responsible for the execution, monitoring, controlling, and the closure of the project.

Project managers must possess exemplary planning and execution skills, meet deadlines, and possess team management skills.

3. Trainers And Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) 

Subject Matter Experts and trainers are the content experts. With authority over the subject, they guide the Instructional Designer, explain and clear doubts regarding the content, check the flow of content, and help Instructional Designers with ideas on how the content can be presented.

Quite often, trainers and Subject Matter Experts fear that eLearning will make their jobs redundant. This is far from the truth. Trainers and Subject Matter Experts are very crucial in the creation of eLearning. So, these people must value eLearning and understand the importance of their role in the creation of a course.

4. Learning Design Experts 

Also known as Instructional Design experts or Instructional Designers, these are trained experts who have the ability to work on a variety of assets and have a multifaceted role. They work in tandem with Subject Matter Experts to design the storyboards and courses.

Learning design experts must have a thorough understanding of Instructional Design principles and adult learning principles. They must also have a thorough understanding of the learners the course is created for – without understanding the learners’ needs and course requirements for these learners, it would be impossible to create a course that will successful deliver what is really essential.

5. Authoring Tool Experts 

The courses are created using authoring tools, by the authoring tool experts. These are tools that are specially used to create eLearning courses. Audio and video editing for courses is done by these experts, as well.

Authoring tool experts must possess expertise in eLearning authoring tools and audio/video editing software tools.

6. Technology Experts 

Once designed and created, courses must be hosted onto the learning platform. Technology experts host the courses on the platform, in the required format. But that’s not all – once created, the courses must be made accessible to learners across geographies, locations, and on the required devices (the devices that the learners will access these courses) – this requires the expertise of these technicians.

Technology experts are Learning Management System experts and have the ability to convert existing courses to SCORM, AICC, and xAPI compliancy.

7. Translators 

Translators translate existing courses into a variety of languages and take immense care to make the translated courses meet the translation standards of the client. Having good knowledge of a particular language or languages is not enough for these people. When it comes to eLearning, a lot more is required from them. They must know the subject that they are translating, very well.

Translators must have domain-specific knowledge, as well as command over the language the course is to be translated into.

8. Narrators 

Narrators provide the audio narration to a course.

Good pronunciation, language expertise, and experience in recording are a must.

Without any doubt, each of these members plays a very critical role in the creation and development of eLearning courses. Often, one person may don more than one hat –which is absolutely fine, provided they can carry out all the duties– of all the roles they take on, judiciously.

When any one or more of these roles is not carried out impeccably, the course suffers and learning is affected.

These are the heroes of eLearning, and it is because of these key players in eLearning development that we have an industry that flourishes and makes for better learning.

Download the eBook titled, Instructional Design 101: A Handy Guide for eLearning Designers, for information on everything you need to know about Instructional Design.

eBook Release: EffectusLMS
EffectusLMS
EffectusLMS is designed by learning professionals for learning professionals, for seamless extended enterprise training. It is modern, learner-centric, and eliminates pain points associated with LMS usage to help organizations maximize ROI.