Best Practices: DevBlogs and eLearning Content Development | eLearning under $1000

Looking at the questions of eLearning collaboration I can’t help but use an example given earlier this year during Silke Fleischer’s analysis of her April eLearning Guild Conference.

Silke Fleischer: April 2007 Archives

For me it seems less a discussion between rapid eLearning that SMEs develop content or not, it’s rather rapid eLearning developed by IDs (Instructional Designer) with the SMEs (SMEs start by capturing the knowledge, IDs add the ID) versus the informal learning SMEs like most of my coworkers produce using rapid eLearning tools - they don’t call what they do “rapid development” nor “rapid eLearning”. They create demos or tutorials.

DevBlog Collaboration | eLearning Project Management

Here is a perfect example of what a DevBlog can work with. While doing ID work, I need frequent input from a SME. When the SME is able to see the work I’m accomplishing, the usual method of communication is through email. The challenge is in revisions of the work, with replied email strings becoming longer and longer some crucial details may be missed.

It is much quicker to open two browser windows side by side and view the work, stop the slide progress, and jot off a quick ‘Comment’ within the second browser window, noting the frame of the slide and their thoughts about how to improve it.This works quite well.

To recap the steps:

1. Host the Captivate .swf output file on an accessible and secure location.
2. Within your DevBlog start a Post and include the Captivate file’s hyperlink set to open in a new window.
3. Send an email to the SME with the DevBlog’s web address.
4. Ask the SME to Comment below your work description while they review the Captivate file.

Best Bang For Your eLearning Buck | eLearning under $1k

This is the best and easiest to use package for SOHO businesses, startups, and Technical Communicators that I can think of. If you don’t want to know HTML and get your blogs done right, Contribute works (most of the time). Adobe doesn’t know what a gem they have with this combination.

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