Four Things to Consider Before You Build That E-Learning Course

Why not every training request should become a course

I experience this all the time. The company wants to do something or fix something that isn’t working, and the first statement is “We need a training course on this.”

Before you open your authoring tool, it’s worth asking whether a course is actually the right answer despite what the organization thinks. That’s where performance consulting comes in.

But let’s assume there is a training need.

Use your resources wisely

Not every piece of learning content deserves the same treatment. Some content is complex and benefits from interactivity. Some is just reference material that people look up when they need it. Knowing what type of course you’re building and which authoring tool or format fits the content is a decision worth making before you start. Spending hours building a course for content that belongs in a job aid serves no one.

Consider moving some content offline

A lot of course content is text that already exists somewhere else. If a course is mostly screens of reading, ask whether a PDF or a reference guide would serve learners better. People can search, scan, and bookmark a document. They can’t do that as easily inside an e-learning course. Build the e-learning course as an abstract, with activities that teach learners to use the full resources available outside of the course and offline.

Teach learners to find and use resources

Much of what gets packaged into e-learning courses already lives somewhere else. Policy documents, job aids, and reference guides are often available, just hard to find.

Instead of copying that content into course screens, teach people where to find it. Build activities around using those resources to solve a real problem.

Knowing where information lives is often more useful than memorizing what’s in it.

Make your courses smaller

The reflex to put everything into one big course is an old one. Learners today expect shorter, more focused content.

A microlearning or single objective per module is a better target than cramming in everything that’s loosely related. Smaller courses also make it easier to update one piece without rebuilding the whole thing.

A learning path of short modules can add up to the same coverage with far less friction.

Key takeaways

Every course starts with a question, and the most important one is whether a course is the right answer. Asking “does this need to be a course?” before anything else separates efficient teams from overwhelmed ones. As authoring tools get faster, the temptation to build everything as a course will keep growing. These four questions work as a filter, not a formula.