From sculpting a curriculum that provides a concise learning path to combining current learning technology with cognitive learning practices, highly skilled instructional designers are key assets to a successful eLearning programme.
Reasons to Outsource eLearning Content Development
In this article, we list nine ways eLearning outsourcing can benefit your organisation.
Unburden your core staff and SMEs
Your staff and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are often not experts at instructional design. Allow instructional designers to take the knowledge your staff and SMEs have and translate it into elevated course content. Taking away the pressure of design from staff and SMEs will allow them to do their jobs properly and be ready to market, administrate, and strategise a stronger training programme.
Reduced costs
First thoughts might be that it would actually cost more to pay an external team to create course content for your organisation. Why not just let your own staff do the work at no extra cost? The issue here is the necessary time, expertise, and resources needed for developing effective training materials. In fact, 52% of CEOs already cite labour costs rising more than expected in relation to their talent lacking key skills that impact growth.
Since instructional designers specialise in creating course content, they are much more efficient at the task. The content they create is designed to be easily updated as well, so you can look forward to even bigger savings when new skills and information have to be taught.
Outsourced instructional designers taking on the job also frees up your own team to focus on other important matters.
Related reading: Want to create a training programme but have a limited budget – Here’s how
Course content expertise on-demand
There are times when your organisation needs a different and fresh perspective on the training programme you have developed. It also may not be working as effectively as desired. It’s also possible that your organisation lacks the expertise to create courses that account for the varying ways your learners might absorb information.
An outsourced team of instructional designers has the expertise to rethink how your organisation does training. eLearning outsourcing instantly provides you with access to a wealth of knowledge along with the ability to implement that knowledge directly into training.
Faster turnaround time
It doesn’t matter what industry your organisation might be in; speed is always essential to stay competitive. The faster you can get processes done without sacrificing the quality of work, the better, and course development is no exception.
Instructional designers have plenty of experience creating training programmes. They employ best practices to speed up course development. Whether it’s a new technology or law that changes how you work within your field, having a team of outsourced instructional designers allows you to get new courses up and running as soon as possible.
Prepared for scaling
Organisations have to be prepared to scale at a moment’s notice, and that includes the need for training. Whether it’s prepping your programme for fluctuations in learner numbers or preparing for global reach, you have to be prepared to scale quickly.
Outsourcing your course content development to instructional designers lets you do both without much hassle. These experts future-proof training courses during the creation process, anticipating your organisation’s need to modify modules whenever necessary. You also won’t have to make the difficult decision to either downsize a dedicated L&D department or drastically increase your labour costs to hire more training staff when your organisation grows.
Incorporate innovative strategies
The very nature of learning and development means the field is constantly finding new strategies and tactics to better train learners. Innovation is baked into the whole concept of L&D. Failure to innovate with training can quickly make organisations irrelevant.
By partnering with an external team of instructional designers, your organisation is always exposed to the latest L&D techniques and thought processes. Your own training staff can pick up on the most advanced methods in course creation and delivery from working alongside outsourced instructional design experts.
Boost learner engagement
Increasing learner engagement continues to be a priority in workplace learning environments, ranking in the top 3 challenges for companies in 2020. Employees can already find it difficult to manage their primary workload, so taking the time to undergo training courses on top of that may prove to be too much. The current paradigm of online remote work has also isolated learners, removing the crucial aspect of socialisation that makes learning more engaging.
Your learners do not have to suffer the same fate of being disengaged from training. Instructional designers know exactly how to create courses that influence learner behaviour positively. Their involvement in course design has also shown to have a concrete effect on improving student-to-student interaction in online courses.
Maximise your LMS
An easy-to-use, feature-rich learning management system (LMS) is a must for any training programme. It’s the all-in-one platform for delivering content, assessing learners, tracking progression, creating reports, and more. There has never been a greater need for a centralised learning channel than the days that follow the pandemic, with most organisations transitioning to work-from-home setups.
However, it’s highly likely that your own organisation isn’t using your chosen LMS to its fullest capabilities. The good news is that you can get the most out of it when you have an outsourced instructional design team. Through their experience in a wide variety of industries, instructional designers are well-versed in the different learning platforms being used and how you can maximise them for your organisation’s benefit.
Make your training programme stand out
Training your external audiences, such as partners or franchisees, can offer a huge advantage over competitors. Businesses will be more willing to partner with organisations that offer comprehensive, dynamic and easy-to-access training courses that offer value and don’t interrupt other core activities. Up-to-date, engaging training is a fantastic vehicle for delivering key information, from introductions to regular company updates. Allow your training to stand out by offering small bite-sized modules that can be completed from home or during short, dedicated learning time.
Third-party instructional designers who have worked with numerous organisations know how the average training programme is made. As such, they can craft one that is distinct from what most companies tend to offer, incorporating the unique properties and demands of your own company.
Related reading: How to successfully implement training for external partners
Enjoy the Benefits of eLearning Outsourcing
Your organisation doesn’t have to expend any more resources than necessary to develop a strong training programme. It’s possible to simply use eLearning outsourcing services and still reap tremendous benefits with greater ROI in the long run compared to forcing your in-house training staff to do all the work.
You can enjoy these benefits and more when you enlist the help of Wahoo Learning for the development of your training programme. Our managed LMS solution includes expert instructional designers that can take your existing information base and shape it into engaging and effective learning materials. Schedule a demo with us today to see how it works.
