How to prepare training materials with e-learning

The most important thing and that we must never forget is that the contents have to cover the training needs of our workers and provide them with the skills and abilities necessary to perform their work in a more optimal or efficient way. In the same way, the acquisition of new knowledge through consultation and work on the contents can also serve to promote and carry out new positions and functions.

Methodology for preparing training content

There are multiple methodologies for the design and development of training materials and we could write several manuals to explain some of them, but this is not our case.

For this reason, and in a direct way, we will try to list the most important aspects to take into account when tackling the arduous task of preparing training materials:

1.            Analysis of the needs of the group to be trained : This analysis will determine the topic to be addressed and will serve as a starting point to define the objectives to be achieved which, as we saw in previous sections, must be marked by the needs of the different profiles of defined position in the company.

2.            Analysis of the profile of the group to be trained: It will be essential to know the characteristics of the target audience of our trainings, since these will not only condition our methodologies, but also the type and level of content to be used.

3.            Selection and documentation on the subject to be treated : To carry out good training content, we must know the subject to be treated very well or, in the same way, hire an expert who has the knowledge and skills necessary to accompany us in the process of content production. In this section, we must document ourselves on the subject matter in order to gather as many references as possible.

4.            Writing the contents : Experts and pedagogues working hand in hand, have to develop the core manual from which the different sub-contents or sections will emerge. This will become the itinerary to follow in order to achieve the pre-set objectives. The role of the pedagogue or e-learning expert is crucial so that the expert in the field can contribute their full potential to the service of developing high-quality content that can be adapted to be taught through digital media. During this synergy, the author will be accompanied in a descriptive way, at all times, guiding him throughout the entire process.

5.            Prepare the Pedagogical Script and the Story Board : Through the Story Board , the training itinerary to be followed will be graphically reflected by consulting the contents. As a complement to this, or in parallel, the pedagogical script is usually made through which the methodological aspects associated with the content are detailed, as a tutor's manual.

6.            Develop or produce the content : In this phase, the digital production of the content is carried out. The productive possibilities are many and varied and even more so as technology advances. At this point, it is extremely important to highlight the importance of selecting the most suitable way to present the content so that its consultation and, above all, its assimilation are carried out in the most optimal way possible. Among the technologies most used today, we can speak of dynamic content developed in HTML5 and CSS3 and heavily supported by audiovisual content: videocasting and podcasting.

7.            Determine the evaluation systems and activities : Contrary to what may be thought, the evaluation activities of a manual or a course can form part of its own content, since they must not only serve to evaluate it but to reinforce it. Due to this statement, it is key to design constructive and practical evaluation activities that allow the student to put the acquired knowledge into action.

8.            Layout the deliverable of the core documentation : Once all the content has been developed and written, along with the multimedia that has been produced, a textual reference manual will be layout that, as a recommendation, should never be delivered before it has finished in progress; in this way we will avoid that the student studies only through the manual, for simple convenience, and does not make use of the rest of the dynamic, interactive and participatory materials that have been developed.

9.            Prepare complementary documentation : All training material must be accompanied by complementary or reference documentation such as bibliography or webgraphy.

10.         Design the Didactic Guide : Once the content has been produced, a Didactic Guide must be developed in which all the information that may be useful to the user of said content is explained: focus, scope, skills, skills, etc.

11.         Quality evaluation : After the course, it is highly recommended, almost mandatory, to survey the participants in a training action on the essential aspects that determine whether a content is of quality and has covered the needs for which it has been developed: clarity, specificity , level of depth, adjustment to the predetermined objectives, if it has been in accordance with the previous information provided and, above all, if the worker believes that their performance at work will improve after assimilation. In order for the analysis to be complete, it would be good to establish a series of subsequent surveys, a few months later, to see if the efficiency of the employee has really improved after carrying out the training action for which the contents under analysis were developed.

Tools for content design and development

We can define the author tool as a software that allows the creation of independent applications from the program that generated them and without having excessive technical knowledge, much less programming.

These tools are not only useful in online training, but also provide important support for face-to-face or blended classes that have technological support as a complement to the teaching-learning process.