eLearning & Content Management: One Can Help the Other
by Bret Freeman

If your organization is thinking about implementing an eLearning initiative and you already have a content management system, you might be surprised by how well the two can complement each other.

eLearning programs are designed to deliver quality learning materials to employees, customers, suppliers, and partners, with the goal of reducing training time while increasing learner development and productivity.

A key component of eLearning is the learning object. A learning object is a “chunk” of instructional material, typically made up of three components:
- A performance goal;
- The necessary learning content to reach that goal (such as text, video, illustrations, presentations, demos, task simulation, etc.); and
- Some form of evaluation to measure whether or not the goal was achieved.

One of the major challenges of eLearning is figuring out how to organize large amounts of content (usually in the form of learning objects), how to keep it updated, and how to deliver it in multiple ways. For example, say you have a new protocol to communicate to your organization. You’ll probably need to communicate that information through a presentation, an online reference manual, and maybe an employee memo. How do you share that learning object with all of the necessary tools? The “Shareable Courseware Object Reference Model,” or SCORM as most people refer to it, was created as a standard to enable the sharing and reuse of learning objects across channels. SCORM is the XML aspect of eLearning; it allows sharing and reuse across tools.

This is where your content management system will come in handy. Single-source, XML compliant content management systems are especially well suited for helping with eLearning for four reasons. First, because single-source content management systems store information in “chunks”, they are ideal for working with learning objects. Granularity is particularly important for eLearning. Developers need to be able to reuse and organize learning objects to create new training materials, and that can be difficult if the learning objects are not stored in a useful way (i.e. if the chunks of information are too big).

Second, content management systems that are XML-aware can help eLearning developers by making it easy to deliver content in multiple formats. Single-source content management systems allow users to store content as a single instance and then deliver it to any media as needed, including PowerPoint, training templates, Web sites, etc. If you would attempt to do this without a single-source content management system, you would end up with multiple versions of each learning object, which would be difficult to manage and risk inaccuracies in your content. A single-source system allows you to work in multiple formats without duplicating your efforts.

Third, good content management systems typically have robust automated workflow capabilities. The workflow can be set up so that when manufacturing develops the technical specs for a new product, the system automatically sends the eLearning department an email to let them know that they need to start producing new training materials. When the writers have created new text for a lesson, the system can also automatically send it to their editors letting them know it is ready for review. Automated workflow can greatly speed up the process of creating new content and ensure that no review and approval step is missed in the process.

Finally, the most compelling way that a single-source content management system can help with eLearning is through enterprise-wide content reuse. Because the system stores all content one time in a centralized repository, an eLearning developer can access content that is created by any part of the enterprise. Examples might include technical information from product developers, marketing materials, previously created training materials – any content that is created within the enterprise and stored in the repository of the content management system. This capability truly puts the full wealth of your organization’s information at your eLearning developers’ fingertips. Without a content management system, it would be virtually impossible to truly take advantage of all of the information that exists across an entire enterprise.

Whether or not a content management system will meet all of your eLearning needs depends on the size of your initiative. There are two other types of eLearning solutions on the market that may or may not be applicable to your situation. The first is a learning management system. A learning management system is a strategic solution for planning, delivering, and managing all the learning events within an organization – including online, virtual classroom, and instructor-led classrooms. The second is a learning content management system. These systems focus on learning content, giving content developers the means to create new content more efficiently. Like a content management system, a learning content management system allows instructional designers to create reusable chunks of content and makes them available for the creation of new learning experiences. This is much more useful than developing entire courses of very similar material and adapting it to various audiences. Not all learning content management systems are created the same, however. The most useful are structured XML systems because they enjoy the flexibility and compatibility of XML.

It is very possible for a content management system to work in conjunction with both learning management and learning content management systems. Some organizations have found it useful to store and organize their content in the repository of a content management system, but use a learning management system to help manage an eLearning initiative. It is important to note that learning content management systems are designed to only be used with in a department; they do not have access to content from other areas of the organization and they cannot share content throughout the enterprise. Content management systems as we have discussed here enable users to share and reuse content enterprise-wide. If your instructional designers are constantly requiring content from other areas of your organization, then using a content management system alone or a content management system in conjunction with a learning management and/or learning content management system is something that you should consider. The only way to know what is best for your organization is by knowing your needs and talking with vendors about how their system can address them. For example, make sure that the vendor you choose has experience with SCORM. With a little extra research, you may be able to take advantage of a system that you already have!

Bret Freeman is Vasont Systems’ Sales Engineer for Vasont® Content Management Solutions. Bret has more than ten years of experience in the information management and publishing industry and has delivered numerous presentations and training courses to various groups in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He has extensive knowledge in content management strategies and complex multilingual outputs.

Reprinted by Permission from Content-Wire.