Organizations need rapid eLearning solutions and services for many reasons like:

• Deploying quick training programs

• Cost Saving

• Time Saving

• Save Efforts

However, one reason stands out. Rapid eLearning solutions or the rapid eLearning development is about quickly developing course content and train learners on matters that are urgent. As a result, training and development professionals usually prefer rapid eLearning development, however it is seldom spoken about.

It’s also a great option for organizations looking to develop custom eLearning courses on tighter budgets and shorter development periods. We assist such organizations in doing so. We know how rapid eLearning development works and we can recommend the best ways to build your eLearning training program in the quickest way possible.

However, we have put together a detailed article that outlines what rapid eLearning development is, the scenarios in which rapid eLearning development works best, best tools to quickly develop and publish courses, and how you can get started with us!

What is Rapid eLearning development, why choose rapid eLearning solutions, what are rapid eLearning development tools, and how to get started!

 What is rapid eLearning development?

According to the definition, rapid eLearning development is the process of building quick eLearning courses in an inexpensive and short duration. Instructional designers choose and place readily available learning objects or assets such as videos, slides, audio, images, and assessments, in a specific order to create an online course and deploy it for learners to access. As a result, simplified course development saves on costs of time, efforts, and money.

Rapid eLearning deployment delivers training to the intended audience when they need it most.

Another definition can be found in James Martin’s book on Rapid Application Development and RAD methodology where he describes rapid development as the best process for developing applications where user interface plays an important role, as is the case in eLearning. Also, graphical user interface building tools (eLearning authoring tools) are often called rapid application development tools.

What are rapid authoring tools?

Rapid authoring tools are design platforms which are locally or web-hosted. These tools allow you to design meaningful designs that include engaging content and multimedia. Thus providing an effective eLearning experience to your learners.

Here are seven benefits of using rapid authoring tools

Easier repurposing and editing of existing eLearning content

The online world is slave to constant change in content. In corporate organizations, eLearning courses need regular updates to meet the everchanging demands and needs of the learners. For any change in business requirements, learners need to be updated too. Rapid authoring tools assist course designers and developers in implementing these unplanned changes and amendments to the courses. These tools make the learning journey seamless. They help eLearning professionals develop courses for corporate companies which aim at delivering targeted knowledge to their learners and help them achieve their goals.

Accessible and available for all

Undoubtedly one of the best advantages of rapid authoring tools. Accessing these tools are easy. Once installed on your desktop or through the Web, these tools can be used by anyone at any point in time to create engaging and alluring eLearning content. Irrespective of whether you are thorough with designing or don’t have any experience, these tools are your saviors! They hold the power with which you can create unique courses, multimedia presentations, and interactive learning materials. On any subject/topic for your learners. These rapid authoring tools have easy-to-use features that can help you get your job done in no time. If you know what features you will need to create highly immersive eLearning material, picking the right rapid authoring tool will not be a tedious task anymore.

Swift packaging and deployment of eLearning content

Not only is creating eLearning material a time-consuming task, deployment of these courses to every individual becomes a hectic job too. However, rapid authoring tools ensure that after creating or making amendments to the courses, you can easily deliver and deploy these to every learner in your audience. It gives you control over deploying courses to the masses effortlessly, across platforms such as eLearning websites with the help of a Learning Management System and devices such as mobiles, tablets, and PCs.

Reduces eLearning development time

One of the most significant benefits of rapid authoring tools is speeding up the development process. Thereby saving both, time and cost. Everybody agrees that developing layouts consumes most time. The templates, themes, and predefined interactions in rapid authoring tools brings down the development time as these can be easily integrated into courses. This is of great benefit for building comprehensive courses for learners in corporate organizations.

Rapid authoring tools cut down eLearning development costs

As we all know, time is money and saving time saves cost. Apart from this, rapid authoring tools eliminate the need of additional software and media. LMS platforms that have rapid authoring tools integrated within, helps you with its built-in assets. If you think this is it to cut down your costs, read on.

Rapid authoring tools allow you to create eLearning courses that are short and easy to digest for the learners. Hence, the seat time of learners is reduced and they can dedicate more time to their work. This improves their productivity and efficiency at work.

No development from scratch. Update and upscale with ease

You may have to think twice before you plan to redesign your entire eLearning material. And develop multimedia activities without using rapid authoring tools. For growing organizations, these tools are useful in updating your existing compliance training courses. Wherein you can just add the most current information instead of developing a new compliance course from scratch.

Rapid authoring tools publish outputs to a wide range of eLearning platforms

Like the needs of learners have changed with time, so have the platforms to access information. Now, learners want to access their courses and information anywhere, anytime and rapid authoring tools have made this possible. Courses that are HTML5 based can be easily published across diverse platforms. Ranging from mobile devices and tablets to computers and laptops. What works in favour of rapid authoring tools is that they are updated based on the latest technology. And hence, are easy to keep up with the latest eLearning technology trends. And so your course is always up to date. That is in terms of content/information nor in terms of the technology required to publish your courses across the latest platforms.

While such tools are a great solution for eLearning professionals, choosing the right one as per the functionality and features you need is a crucial decision to make. So, before you fall for these benefits, ensure that you research well about eLearning platforms to have an in-depth understanding of which of these solutions will be a good fit for your learning and development needs.

Difference between rapid eLearning solutions and traditional eLearning solutions

1. Rapid learning courses are built faster to deliver rapid training while the learner’s needs are hot. Whereas, traditional eLearning development takes longer to plan and execute keeping in mind future needs.

2. Rapid learning is a solution for on-the-spot training situations. Traditional eLearning is built for prolonged training over a greater duration with larger goals in mind.

3. Rapid learning has a shorter learning curve associated with it. Traditional eLearning has a longer learning curve associated with it keeping in mind larger goals.

4. Rapid learning is cost-conscious. Traditional eLearning is comparatively cost-intensive.

Rapid eLearning solutions and traditional eLearning development both have their own use-case, advantages, and USPs. Make a decision on the basis of available budgets, resources, time, and needs.

Under no circumstance can either approach be termed as better than the other at a fundamental level since both are guided by their own principles.

Why choose rapid eLearning solutions and services?

Employing rapid eLearning solutions to solve your training needs is already proved to be advantageous. However, why do organizations employee rapid eLearning development?

Alongside the advantages of saving costs, efforts, and time, rapid eLearning solutions are employed to tackle real-world business challenges. Those challenges are:

1. Training sales professionals on rapidly evolving customer needs and product developments

2. Increasing the efficiency and output of employees working in highly dynamic work environments

3. Addressing new compliance guidelines to account for rapid audits and checks

How does rapid eLearning development assists businesses in real-time?

Rapid eLearning courses assist businesses in multiple real-time scenarios. Moreover, rapid eLearning solutions present real-world uses like training to develop models and collecting user feedback. Here are some more:

• Develop and publish quick product manuals and online courses in the form of guides.

• Deliver training on new complex subjects with relative ease.

• Create virtual tours of your organization for onboarding purposes.

• Develop cost-friendly game-based assessments.

• Deploy training modules on new software, its application, and proper usage.

• Educate learners about changing guidelines.

• Create case studies with every new experience or findings.

How do you get started with rapid eLearning development? Moreover, Who do you approach for rapid eLearning services?

Start by determining ‘who will build these courses?’ Is it an in-house project or do budgets permit the outsourcing of the development process to professionals?

eLearning projects can be complicated even if it is based on the RAD model. Rapid eLearning development relies on rapid prototyping and working model tests.

Rapid eLearning development is most suitable when the time to develop and train employees is very less, hence, it’s advisable to let professionals handle the development process so that you don’t spend excessive time on R&D as a first-time developer.

The best way to start with rapid eLearning development is by:

1. Assessing needs

2. Allocating resources

3. Introducing a degree of user involvement

4. Understanding the RAD approach

5. Creating an outline of eLearning content

6. Outsourcing to developer teams or building inside if experienced

Selecting the right vendor for rapid eLearning development based on their approach

 

It is not always possible to have both time and the right budgets to invest in custom eLearning development. Hence, if you need something quick and easy to update without losing the essence of the content, finding a vendor that has pre-built development frameworks is a great place to start.

Design frameworks customize your branding and reduce reduce the time-to-market by 40%-50%. Not only is it cost-effective, but it also slices development time. Hence, a great option when training needs to be built in a jiffy.

Can we help you with rapid eLearning development?

Our team of designers have designed such frameworks in Storyline for rapid eLearning development. These frameworks host a set of UI designs you can select from as well as non-interactive, interactive, and question templates. You can also select from a set of inbuilt icons which helps reduce your graphic design time!

Our aim is to develop an easy to use yet strong and comprehensive templatized framework for rapid development. With a variety of customization options, you can make your training engaging and impactful!

Get in touch with us for your rapid eLearning needs!

Email us or contact us via a web form.