As of 2022, there are at least 750+ different e-Learning vendors and suppliers vying for your attention. There are hundreds in Australia and UK alone. How will you select the right developer for your needs? We got you covered.
SCORM authoring. eLearning design. LMS implementation. Content curation. Gamification. We understand. Looking for a competent eLearning developer in 2022 can be pretty daunting. Think about it: eLearning projects essentially require a combination of skills and capabilities in content development, experience design, and technology stacking. It’s no wonder that a lot of RTOs, companies and academic institutions choose to outsource eLearning development to specialists because it allows them to focus on a ton of other things they do best.
Chances are you are thinking about outsourcing eLearning right now. But hold your horses, as there are valuable insights you need to have before making your choice. This is a list sourced through the insider knowledge of eLearning practitioners and years of ensuring clients get the best value for their spending.
Table of Contents
Adaptability And Scaling
What to Check:
Are they flexible enough to adjust to the varying nature of project scopes?
When outsourcing your eLearning development, you should have the complete flexibility to scale your team up or down when needed. This ensures that your investment is fully-utilised on project-related expenses and not just spent on general operating costs of your eLearning vendor.
Moreover, you should never be 100% dependent on one team member or a fixed set of talent. You will need an eLearning company that is agile and nimble enough to find the right people for the right job.
Key Takeaway:
Find an eLearning partner that will match your needs with bespoke, at-scale, and flexible solutions.
Beyond Tech: Expertise in eLearning Design
What to Check:
Are there education specialists in the team, or are they mostly tech?
Remember when we said that eLearning projects require a combination of skills and capabilities in content, experience, and tech? Well, here’s the principle: An eLearning course can be technically flashy, but educationally ineffective.
Don’t just look for an eLearning development partner that only understands the technology. They must have explicit knowledge and tested experience in defining business goals, learning preferences, eLearning tools, and the general needs of learners. In turn, they should be able to respond to these needs through sound pedagogy, instructional design, and experience mapping. In short, they need to be seasoned education professionals with a robust set of outputs to show for it.
Remember, eLearning development Involves several key elements:
- Instructional Designers
- Visual Designers
- Learning Experts
- Testing Experts
- Subject Experts
- Authoring Tool Experts
You must keep all this in mind when you are doing your research. There might be a lot of options, but only experienced eLearning companies will be able to deliver a cohesive team of professionals like this.
Key Takeaway:
Choose an eLearning partner that will not help you with the technical aspects of the project, but will also guide you through the appropriate learning design and content delivery.
Availability of eLearning Outputs
What to Check:
Does the e-Learning development vendor have samples of past work? Reviews or references?
Samples speak louder than copy. You don’t just want your eLearning developer to ‘claim’ to have expertise and experience. It would be in your best interest to see whether they have a portfolio that can demonstrate similar eLearning projects like yours.
Ask your prospective eLearning developer for:
- eLearning Demos
- Samples of work
- Reviews from trusted corporate brands
- References you can call and get direct feedback from their previous clients
Key Takeaway:
Selecting an eLearning partner requires you to look beyond the spiels. Check their actual work and decide for yourself.
Quality Guarantee
What to Check:
What milestones do they have to check the quality of the outputs? How do they define “done”?
Imagine settling with just any eLearning developer for your next course. You get your “finished course” after a long wait only to find bugs in the code, glitches in the video, and typographical errors in the content. The horror.
Your main concern is likely to be the quality of your output when dealing with your eLearning development partner. There are no genuine guarantees in life, but following the above list of things to ask for from your eLearning supplier should help to alleviate some of your concerns.
The following list below covers other aspects to consider when assessing the quality of your eLearning developer’s previous work:
- Linguistic Testing: no grammatical errors in text copy, subtitles, etc
- Technical Appropriateness: content is adaptable to different technical learning environments
- eLearning Content Quality: visuals, copy, interaction design, motion graphics, learning flow
There is so much to test. Luckily, we may already have knowledge of the most frequent eLearning issues tucked safely in our resources. Talk to us if you’re curious.
Key Takeaway:
You don’t just want your projects done. You want them done well. Check whether your eLearning partner guarantees quality work.
Project Management Practices
What to Check:
How often will they update you on the progress of projects? How will they assure you that work is being done?
Great! E-learning partner X appears to be an expert in technology and education. Just one thing: How easy will they be to work with? We’ll go out on a limb here and say that generally speaking, clients don’t want to be chasing their eLearning suppliers around. Competent account and project management should always be part of the package.
Your ideal eLearning developer should be able to utilise a vast range of well-established project management tools and processes. Their teams must be well-trained in using all these and should run like clockwork.
As a client, you can check the quality of their project management by:
- asking to see periodic reviews
- asking to see demos and status updates
- checking the eLearning vendor has the setup required to aid the project management processes in place.
Key Takeaway:
Avoid chasing your suppliers around. Find an eLearning partner that is transparent, professional, and reliable.
Legal and Regulatory Acumen
What to Check:
How much do they know (or try to know) about your industry and its regulations? How do they navigate copyright, data privacy, and other eLearning-related laws?
It’s been said that brand reputation is like a hardwood tree. It takes decades to nurture and grow, but it takes moments to cut down. Moral of the story: Partners can either be assets or risks to your brand reputation. You need people who care about your industry and the laws and regulations you’ve committed to following.
Small details can have significant legal ramifications. To make sure the eLearning development partner you are going to use is as careful as you are, you need to check whether:
- The vendor has licensed copies of all the eLearning tools and technology they use. No pirated copies should be in use.
- They have access to only licensed images. You don’t want them using free images. You want quality licensed image banks only.
- They manage the data they collect with privacy, security, and prudence.
- The Learning Management System (LMS) the eLearning vendor uses for checking and certifying course compliance is maintained.
Summary
At the end of the day, it all boils down to mutually beneficial relationships. You want an eLearning partner you can trust and relinquish control over while at the same time managing and directing whenever the project demands it. To recap, here are the 6 Points to check before deciding on an eLearning development supplier:
- Adaptability and scaling
- Expertise in eLearning design
- Availability of eLearning outputs
- Quality Guarantee
- Project management practices
- Legal and regulatory acumen
We are Strawberry Solutions
Our team of educational specialists are ready to create entertaining education experiences that engage and help you train new skills in your students and staff. As Australia’s leaders in eLearning design and implementation, we’ve worked with hundreds of organisations to enhance their courses. Our team is ready to transform your courses into creative and engaging online educational content.