General philosophy Sana EG explained

The answer is hybrid content development. A hybrid is something that has two different types of components performing essentially the same function, such as a power plant, electronic circuit or a vehicle. If we take the example of a car with a solely battery powered engine, the advantages are energy efficiency and environmentally friendly charging possibilities. But the downsides are poor or no charging facilities and, even worse, an optimum range that doesn’t get you further than 100 miles. The hybrid car combines the environmentally friendly electronic battery (utilising the car’s own energy to recharge itself) with the strength of a petrol energy. This neutralises the downsides and brings the best of both technologies. If we can make a hybrid car, why not have hybrid content development in e-learning?

“the development of a course becomes a joint effort between the customer and supplier”

Imagine it: the development of a course becomes a joint effort between the customer (who has the subject matter knowledge and wishes to distribute it via e-learning) and supplier (who has the capability and experience to deliver design, interaction and instruction). A central online repository for storing information and carrying out development work means that people can join the project team at any time from anywhere and make use of online tools in a shared environment and that decisions and changes can be made at any moment.
Furthermore, today’s software products mean it is no longer necessary to be a Flash developer to create engaging e-learning. Most of the variables in a Flash course, including the more interactive parts, can be modified by non technical people thanks to user-friendly editors – good news for the SMEs. This model means that the professional course developers can add value by designing the initial Flash elements and making them available to the team, and that the SMEs can add value by easily adding to or editing the content. Everyone’s efforts are combined to create a final product, with everybody doing what they do best within the team. This is certainly a more efficient solution than the old model of those different contributors working separately from one another.

For professional course developers one of the downsides of developing e-learning with (for example) Flash used to be that the behaviour of the learner could not be tracked within using SCORM (the accepted standard in the e-learning industry for tracking and tracing results). The fourth edition of SCORM 2004 includes developments that allow the tracking of these results. Brilliant idea, but it does not solve the problem of developing and maintaining the Flash elements. In my experience, the best way to address this is to create a universal language that understands both Flash and SCORM and can take care of the translation process between the two. In this way, it becomes possible to leave out Flash and use another technology (like game-engine), or leave out SCORM and publish to HTML. This is another example in which the use of a hybrid gives the user the best of both worlds.

“everyone can focus on their area of expertise simultaneously, thereby increasing the value of the product”

I believe that the use of hybrid content development will be a growing trend because of these benefits: everyone can focus on their area of expertise simultaneously, thereby increasing the value of the product. At the same time, the technology will become easier to use and more cost effective. These facts, together with the growing demand of companies to have creative control, will catch the industry’s attention and will ensure that this technology is developed in the future. It will not be necessary to reinvent the wheel to get magnificent results from this system.
The next step in the evolution of content development is community driven content development, as demonstrated at a group of hospitals in the Netherlands. Their subject matter experts create courses in their own central environment, but they also look at what the other hospitals are creating and, most importantly, pick useful courses out to use themselves. The concept doesn’t have to apply across organisations; it can also be used within a single company among different subsidiaries.
Is this something new? It seems so obvious In the past, we observed the same trend in web content management – this was just a few years ago. At first there was no content management system and websites were hardcoded but, as time passed, it became easier to do the editing. Today, internet specialists add value through search engine optimisation and special requirements, but the extent of non technical editing today is much higher than with the earliest content management systems. Likewise, the possibility of combining efforts for a cost effective process within e-learning was first seen with the use of early authoring tools, but was made more prevalent thanks to new technological possibilities (new tools, higher internet speeds and so on) and also the recent economical changes.

“the next step in the evolution of content development is community driven content development”

So what for the future? All these processes make sense and it seems logical that technology providers and professional course developers should adapt their technology and ways of working to what the customers want and will pay for. But the contradictions in what the stakeholders expect mean that this is, and always will be, a challenge to solve through technology and processes. e-Learning service providers will definitely keep delivering value to their customers. However, it will be increasingly a joint effort between the professional course developers and the subject matter experts. The focus will be more on the content and its purpose instead of the technology and tools, while still delivering an outstanding product. Making it possible to share information in one place means that developing e-learning will be done not only swiftly but also more efficiently. It will become a more strategic process and everybody who is willing or needed will be involved. It will now be possible to create e-learning without a bureaucratic process. And this approach fits like a glove in these fast paced, ‘get great results now’ times.