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WHY OUTSOURCE CUSTOM E-LEARNING CONTENT DEVELOPMENT?

Understanding benefits through examples

E-learning industry has experienced enormous growth since the beginning of twenty-first century. As organizations become aware of e-learning, they are looking at creating custom content for their specific needs. In many scenarios, outsourcing of custom content development offers a flexible option and provides several benefits. Let us understand some of these benefits through real life examples.

Case #1 – To achieve a reduction in development time and cost

Outsourcing of e-learning content development can result in significant reduction in time and cost. An organization providing training for hospitality professionals needed custom e-learning content for their training purposes. The organization was an established name and had tie-ups with several large hotel chains, human resource agencies as well as colleges.

They had a large pool of talent for training in hospitality. However, development of e-learning content required different set of skills, which the existing resources did not provide. In addition, it also required significant investment in terms of time and efforts. Building a new team to do the job would have required insane amount of investment in terms of time and finance. The management did not consider it feasible at the time, whereas meeting the need for e-learning content was need of the hour.

In such a scenario, outsourcing e-learning content development proved to be the right solution. The content development team coordinated with their in-house hospitality experts to provide the content that was a thoughtful mix of plain text, infographics, visuals and animation. The institute not only saved on time and cost, but also benefitted from excellent quality, which newly built team perhaps would not have been able to deliver.

Case #2 – To have greater tlexibility with human resource pool

Every year, an e-learning company would see an upsurge in the volume of work during specific months. While it was important to meet the occasionally rising demands of existing clients, hiring additional resources would have added to the cost even during the times of lesser volumes of work.

Therefore, it was a strategic business decision to enter into a multi-year contract with another
e-learning organization, which would collaborate with the in-house team to fill in the occasional gap of resources. With outsourcing, the e-learning company could have the necessary flexibility with resource pool and also benefitted from the access to a different set of content development practices, which resulted in optimization of their own practices.

Case #3 – Get innovative solutions from e-learning experts

A multinational organization providing financial services required each of their associates to complete the training on Global Employee Policies. As it was a fundamental part of work, every employee, irrespective of their designation, had to go through the training. The content, which was heavy with several legalities, would find almost everybody struggling to stay awake. So this multinational tasked an e-learning company to make the content engaging for its employees.

The solution that was delivered by e-learning experts contained audio-video stories where the global employee policies were applicable. Similarity of the situations would make employees relate to the stories and help them understand the policies in relevant context. As realism was the key here, the video featured professional actors bringing the action alive at a real-life workplace.

As a result of engaging content, the client needed fewer training facilitators to achieve maximum participation and adherence to policies considerably increased. In this case, content development outsourcing enabled the client to create engaging content as e-learning experts came up with an innovative solution and also took care of its meticulous execution.

Case #4 – To maintain singular focus on core business

One of the largest medical distributors in a country was planning to provide online educational resources for medical professionals. This would add value to their products as educational resources would make it easier for medical professionals to use their products accurately and would also promote their brand.

The medical distributor entered into a contract with an e-learning company to deliver content for their online educational resources. The e-learning company deployed a highly customized LMS that helped improve product awareness and user experience. In a latter phase, the two companies also collaborated to create a series of online courses to educate medical professionals to follow proper processes while using their products.

As a result, the number of registered users grew six-fold within the span of a year. Subsequently, it led to greater user engagement and improved site performance and eventually became an integral part of the brand promotion and marketing activities of the medical distribution company.

By outsourcing e-learning content development, the medical distributor was able to maintain its focus on core business activities of manufacturing and distributing medical products and equipment. Simultaneously, it could also reap the benefits of value that was added by e-learning resources to their strategic activities.

What you need is the right partner!

The benefits of outsourcing eLearning content development are many. The right partner will understand your specific needs. They will collaborate with you to create bespoke or custom e-learning content that will engage your audience and drive them to their goals. Ultimately, this will also enable your organization to reach the goals more efficiently and cost-effectively.

Multiversity can be your right partner for development of custom e-learning content. For more information, get in touch with us at elearning@multiversity.co.in

According to a report by market research firm Evaluate Pharma, global growth rate for the pharma industry is expected to reach 6.3% CAGR through 2022, up from the 5% CAGR it predicted last year for the 2014-2020 period, and according to a report by IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics 2012 the world market for medical products is expected to reach nearly 1.17 trillion by 2017. (Source)

This growing industry employs millions of people across the world, and they play a key role in the success of the Pharma companies. It is important that these employees (direct and indirect) are trained in compliances, product knowledge, culture, and other areas to address dynamic business needs of the companies and contribute to success of the organization.

Before we look at how L&D department of Pharma companies can advantage of eLearning, let us look at some of the challenges faced by them currently. Some of the key challenges are a) Footprint of the companies across the globe b) Rapid launch of new drugs c) Rapidly changing regulatory compliances d) Budgetary controls for training organization wide e) Availability of face to face trainer f) High employee turnover ratio.

Elearning is able to deftly handle all these challenges and yet provide a more suitable alternative to classroom training in an affordable manner. The online courses take training to a next level but it ensures ethos of the training are kept intact. New technologies allow to create innovative and engaging courses and ensures no learner is left behind.

The most significant impact of elearning for the pharmaceutical industry is the amount of time saved: It takes fewer hours to train people online. That is especially critical when large numbers of medical represetatives must be trained simultaneously to launch a new product.

Here are some benefits that pharmaceutical companies can derive by using E-learning courses for training their employees:

Ease of access:

First and foremost, in-lab training is expensive and requires excessive precaution when it comes to handling hazardous material. Elearning courses eliminate the need of a brick and mortar training room and allow for a safer virtual environment. These courses replace the need for instructors and provide consistent training at any point and place of the user’s choice. Today’s technology driven workforce prefers using their mobiles, ipads, etc to gain knowledge. Companies can leverage on this trait and allow employees to learn as per their preferred time and place making a highly flexible and dynamic learning process

Handle change in requirements:

Product requirements evolve and change from time to time as newer markets are being tapped into at a rapid pace. For example, certain compositions in a drug may need to vary to suit regional compliances and norms. Instead of educating trainers who may then impart this knowledge to the employees, Elearning courses can be easily modified to incorporate these changes. They can also be designed to adapt to suit regional norms and linguistics.

Presentation and demo made easy:

Elearning courses can help medical representatives to a great extent. Being always on the run to pitch new products and/or drugs to a growing clientele, they have limited time to consume information. Yet they have to keep up with the newest products, their features as well as knowledge about whether these products have been created after following necessary regulations. These modules can be created in small chunks that can be easily accessible and digested whenever required. If the situation demands that the end customer be demonstrated how the product works, the med rep can show these videos in the absence of said product.
For example, it may not be feasible to carry huge equipments such as ultrasound and MRI machines. Sales persons can demonstrate how machines work using videos on their laptops with minimal hassles.
Elearning has transformed classroom training to a more collaborative training and development process. It is not only more interactive but also allows the users to discuss their progress and difficulties as per their own convenience. Pharmaceutical companies now find sales personnel training alongside training of factory workers can be done more efficiently.

The phenomenal growth of the elearning industry in recent years is a testament to its increasing popularity. For learning and development initiatives, it has become one of the top preferred choices of a large number of companies. What separates elearning from traditional learning is its ability to maintain consistency no matter how, when or who is going to consume the information. Additionally, the course content can be modified at any point of time to integrate new data with ease.

We have seen in our previous blog how companies are now leveraging video based elearning to ensure that employees are learning faster and in a more efficient manner, resulting in higher productivity. AR and VR are the latest buzzwords that are said to further enrich the experience of video based elearning by providing a highly interactive and immersive experience of learners. A recent study predicts that by 2020 the AR industry has potential of $120B whereas VR will be around $30B.

Typically, the terms AR – Augmented Reality and VR – Virtual Reality are spoken in the same breath. Though they are both built on the same types of technology, there is a significant difference between the two. First let us understand each of these and then determine how it can be beneficial for the elearning industry.

What is Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality is a computer technology that uses headsets to create an artificial 3-dimensional environment that can be primarily experienced by the user’s 2 senses viz. sight and sound. Virtual reality is quite popular among gamers as it gives them almost a life-like experience of actually being in the game.

Uses of VR in Elearning industry

The level of immersion that VR provides is the reason that makes it a game changer for the future of eLearning. It enables the learners to become fully engaged with the content that they need to learn thus increasing their capacity to retain optimum information.

When it comes to creating elearning content for industries that have a certain amount of risk involved, virtual reality in elearning based training can reduce this risk in its entirety. Here the learners need to be extremely cautious of how they operate heavy machinery, for example. Instead of actually using live models for training, it is wiser to recreate a simulated environment to provide the learner with the exact same experience. It ensures that the training is equally effective and yet the element of risk or damage to either the learner or the machines can be completely avoided.

VR headset or headgears is also inexpensive and can be easily integrated with most training modules. It also eliminates the need for instructional designers to create complex CAD and 3D models for 2D screens. These cannot be easily interpreted by learners if they are studied on computer screens. Instead they can use platforms that support Virtual Reality and allow for better design manipulations.

What is Augmented Reality?

AR or Augmented reality takes the experience created by Virtual Reality to a whole new level. While VR creates an entirely new life-like environment, AR makes use of our existing reality and ‘augments’ it further. Basically it allows more freedom to the users by combining real life experience with 3D environments in real time.

One of the most well known examples of AR is the ultra popular game of 2016, Pokemon Go. Developed by Niantic for both iOS and Android, the game became an instant hit worldwide and went to break 5 Guinness world records!

Another example is Google Glass which is basically a computer that can worn like glasses. Apple too is not far behind.

“I’m excited about Augmented Reality because unlike Virtual Reality which closes the world out, AR allows individuals to be present in the world but hopefully allows an improvement on what’s happening presently. Most people don’t want to lock themselves out from the world for a long period of time and today you can’t do that because you get sick from it. With AR you can, not be engrossed in something, but have it be a part of your world, of your conversation. That has resonance.”

Tim Cook – CEO of Apple Inc. (Source)

Uses of Augmented Reality in Elearning industry

AR will be used more as a point of need training i.e. instead of using standard classrooms or training environments, AR can be directly used on actual locations. For example, for as simple a procedure as changing the nuts of a transformer, the machine can be damaged if the right tools are not used. In this case, an AR tool, preferably a smartphone owing to its ubiquitous nature can be used to simply point to the nut and the application will identify which tools should be used to correctly complete the procedure without causing damage to the unit.

In similar ways, Augmented Reality in Elearning can be used for training of innumerable complicated products.

To summarize, one technology is not better than the other. There are many cases where both Augmented and Virtual Reality  can be used together to enhance the entire Elearning experience.

Elearning has gained tremendous popularity in recent years. Since 2000, the industry has grown by approximately 900%! It has already been proven to be more effective than classroom training as it allows users to learn at their own pace. Depending on the technology used, elearning can be classified into podcasts, mobile elearning, virtual training rooms, simulation modules, learning CMS as well as video based learning. Of late, video based learning is the preferred choice of most companies for training their employees.

In the past 10 years, consumption of videos has increased quite significantly. Today not just Millennials but the Baby Boomers and Generation X too prefer videos over any other medium. By 2020, videos are said to represent more than 80% of all internet traffic. (Source: Inc.com) Elearning videos are a perfect medium for instructional designers to present both visual and auditory information interactively. Video based elearning is able to engage the learners on a higher scale as compared to any printed training guide. Studies show that we endure more cognitive pressure while reading a text as compared to videos. Whereas watching a video requires lesser efforts and energy and the information is assimilated much faster. They are also better at stimulating knowledge gain, aid in memory retention, explain and demonstrate complicated processes in an easy manner.

Elearning videos are compatible with all platforms. However instead of creating lengthy videos that take forever to load, create smaller videos. Using technologies like SCORM, their size can be reduced while maintaining their effectiveness. Users should be able to access these videos on their mobile phones, tablets or any portable device irrespective of net connectivity.

How to leverage video based Elearning?

1. Installation and Setup videos

The most common problem that many customers face with industrial machines or appliances are caused by either incorrect installation or faulty setup. The on site technical representatives may not be fully trained to carry out these processes. Combined with lack of proper installation guides, they are bound to make mistakes during installation. Using video based elearning courses, these individuals can be quickly trained to handle all operations in the most efficient manner. They can even access these videos on site so that there are no errors that prohibit the units from functioning to their full capacity. Valuable time can be saved that would otherwise have been wasted by going back and forth to the office to collect setup manuals. Thus it works well both for the manufacturer as well as the customers saving both time and expenses.

2. Product Demonstration

Every salesperson should know the most intricate details about the products he sells. It’s what makes them successful. End users are more likely to trust salespeople who are confident and
can explain/demonstrate complex product features in an easy manner. They are the ones who are going to use it and thus need to be assured that the product can be handled with minimal efforts. Elearning videos are a powerful medium to educate everyone on what-to- do and what- not-to- do in the most engaging manner. Using elearning videos for product demonstration is an effective way of replicating typical brick and mortar experience. It saves cost and efforts of actually operating the product. These videos can be used infinite number of times by viewers till they understand how the product works. Instead of carrying all the equipment to the client site, sales personnel can simply show these videos and explain how the products function and what can be the end results. A simple pen drive or a compact disc can suffice if the material is not already available on any cloud platform.

3. Safety and Security guide

Videos are great way to eliminate any risk that could occur due to incorrect handling of complex products. By using tutorials to educate employees about the safety and security procedures,
actually carrying out the entire procedure can be avoided. In some cases, quick tests or exams can be conducted to test how aware an individual is about the standard safety and security norms in his or her company. Only upon achieving a certain score, should he or she be made eligible to proceed further with actual use of product.

4. Troubleshooting videos

In case of complaints or service requests, technical reps need to go on site to fix the customer’s units. Having a handy troubleshooting video guide can help these individuals gauge what the
actual problem is and how to solve it. These videos can be created in such a way that even those with minimal technical expertise should be able to handle the problem and provide appropriate solutions to it.
By leveraging on video based learning, companies can be assured of faster learning, lesser mistakes and higher productivity from their employees. Additionally, they are able to provide better services to their customers before, during as well as after the sales process takes place.

For the things, we must learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
― Aristotle.

Almost two decades ago, there were plenty of trained software engineers, a significant boom in the IT industry, which led to the construction of IT Parks in India. However, on the other side of this spectrum were people who still had no access to education to help them achieve success then.
The government of Maharashtra believed education was essential. Not just primary, but higher education was the key to a literate nation. Dr Bhatkar, a keen proponent of higher education, a college degree, believed making education available to areas with little or no learning opportunities was the key to progress.

Though urban development was rapid, and India was quickly becoming an IT hub, yet, those living near these parks were not literate. Software engineers trained in India were moving to other countries. The question was “Who would train those residing in India?” Literacy was a vision that would take decades to become a reality.

The Eureka Moment

Computers. Everyone could become literate digitally.

Dr Vijay Bhatkar, Prof. Ram G. Takwale and Vivek Sawant came up with the idea to promote “Digital Literacy”. They believed the macro goal literacy connected to the nation’s policies; digital literacy could be the short-cut to fulfil the goal quickly. The program would need to be taught using computers and by computers -to ensure the quality of e learning in higher education and offer standard certified courses for 21st-century skills across all training centres to make this idea a reality. Providing training on the latest tools and technologies through their medium of language to 15-22-year old’s, whether it was Hindi, English or Marathi was critical.

To give a boost to this idea, the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited(MKCL) was introduced on 20th August 2001. The idea was to promote a universalization and integration of Information technology in teaching, learning and educational management especially systems and the transformative socio-economic developments as well.

The idea was to offer training through eLearning content that could be pre-packaged in CD’s and sent across to each training centre in Maharashtra at first. To implement this idea, Multiversity was roped to develop eLearning content in 2003.

The Plan of Action

Digital literacy was the mission and to fulfil the goal; we set up a small team of educational content experts, graphic artists and multimedia developers in 2003. The programs were designed to teach the learners everything from switching on a computer to advanced office applications.

The Challenges

eLearning in India had just begun, and customized learning was not even an idea then. The first issue – would a Learner in the village learn from a computer-based tutorial? Another problem was converting classroom training through computer tutorials that were easy to assimilate. Another question that plagued us was a dearth of good trainers, especially in the rural areas.

The Solution

To make sure that the Learner was enticed to learn from the tutorial, we consulted the best teachers to help us convert classroom teaching principles to eLearning programs. We also decided to localize the content to cater to a diverse audience. To make up for the absence of trained teachers, we hired artists from nearby arts colleges, taught them for six months on tools like Adobe Suite, Sound Editing Tools, Microsoft Office, Open Office, etc. and then got them to develop live tutorials. Of course, as an added measure our courses and programs we designed to self-play offering plenty of assignments for learners, assessments, and knowledge checks to ascertain the student’s progress in a language they understood quickly.

The Impact of Implementation

MKCL eLearning programs offer more than 500 skills today in different industries like IT Concepts and Awareness, Job skills needed today, cyber security skills and more. Multiversity’s eLearning programs are today offered not only in Maharashtra but are also available in Rajasthan, Odisha, Haryana, Bihar, Saudi Arabia and others. Moreover, customized programs and pilots are now run in Malaysia, Sri-Lanka, and Egypt.

The Industry Scenario

eLearning has now become omnipresent. People are more mindful of the marvels it can perform for both instructors and students. While it’s helping to cut down costs and efforts invested for instructors, it is also aiding in the development of quality learning content across the globe. A recent study found eLearning decreases the use of additional frills in learning by 25-55% as compared to standard classroom training.

All the progress achieved in the last few decades has motivated the Maharashtra Government to make MS-CIT programs compulsory and a part of their new syllabi. The growth-rate of self-paced eLearning indicates the revenue opportunities in each country. According to the International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) report, India is at the top with 55 percent growth-rate, while China, Malaysia, Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic follow.

With new technologies like cloud computation, video training, augmented reality-based programs, gamification and more, eLearning in India will advance rapidly making India one of the leading service providers for eLearning content. New initiatives, proactive measures, and increased investments will make customized learning quite popular in the next few years.

Face-to- face classes, last minute studying and appearing for exams is what the traditional mode of education entails. Though many questioned this method of instruction, very few are ready to look for a change. The Economist identified three changes in higher education, i.e. the rising costs of education, an evolving agreement that universities were meant to educate students after they graduated and the technological advances in learning methods were the leading causes why traditional methods were questioned on their efficiency.

Forces driving the change in Education today

Consumer Actions: Consumers, in this case, students and professionals, are often searching for information, which they acquire quickly through an online search. Most millennials between the ages of 18-34 are adept at using the Internet today. Also known as digital natives, they spend close to 53 hours a week online. Therefore, they expect the digital world to carry over to their universities as they spend more time in classrooms each week. Students now consider colleges as the chief means of getting employment, instead of just a self-development tool.

Current Technology: Internet technology is multiplying leading to a rise in the proliferation of smartphones in the world. According to a Gartner 2017 report, the first quarter of 2017 saw 380 million mobile devices purchased, an increase of 9.1 percent for the same period in 2016. This proliferation along with reliable internet connectivity explains how social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube have millions of visits daily. These platforms encourage eLearning in different ways at no extra cost, anywhere, anytime.

Fiscal Burden: College and university tuition fees are continually increasing more so if you would like to study at a reputed public university abroad. The average costs for the 2016-17 academic year rose by USD 860 as compared to the 2015-16 academic year. At private institutions, the price rise in tuition was almost USD 8550, and it did not include textbooks and other study materials.

The Rise of Online Learning: Stanford University first introduced MOOCs in 2011 by, which proved to be a big hit among students paving the way for open-access online courses. At the end of 2016, 58 million students opted for 6850 MOOCs offered by nearly 700 universities transforming global education completely.

The Rise Of eLearning Providers: New-age technology and its efficacy have changed consumer needs for education while creating several business opportunities for private customised learning solutions. There are several players for eLearning in India; Multiversity being one of the first to offer such courses.

Now that you get an idea why a shift to e learning in education is imperative. Here are a few Tips on how best to go about making the shift. Read 5 Tips for Colleges to Make the Shift To eLearning.
Sources:
Gartner. (2017, May 23). Gartner Says Worldwide Sales of Smartphones Grew 9 Percent in the First Quarter of 2017.
The Economist. (2014, June 27). The Digital Degree: The Future of Universities.

Voice processes are one of the most critical parts of the salesforce BPO solutions even today. It is as much critical to train the process executives on accent and knowledge management measures. At Multiversity we work closely with our telecom partners to develop online training module for their SMEs and process executives. Following are the few aspects of online training for developing the front end sales force.

Check Out the Salesforce Infographic Below

Rapid change in technology has enabled organisations to move beyond their geographical boundaries and setup successful Multi-National companies with a culturally diverse staff.

E-Learning has proven to be an essential component to help in the proliferation of teams across globe. With a changing need to adapt training modules to truly make an impact, translation of training content gained prevalence in the past decade.

In recent times, the need for providing experiential learning has become critical in helping teams connect with the training content and help them implement this knowledge in real-life situations.

At Multiversity, we are aware of this change in training demands and pursue a holistic approach to localising training content.

So whats’s different?

Localisation of content goes beyond the stereotypical approach of translating content to another language. It’s more than just a copy-paste job from the several online translation softwares that are present on the internet, that use SMT based tools to translate content! At every stage of the process, we look at various aspects of content localisation. Here’s an insight in to our process :

• Estimation
• Pre-Planning
• Development
• Integration

Estimation

During this phase, our team works with L&D managers, subject matter experts & company executives to understand the scope of work and consult on solutions that would be effective and easy to integrate.

We offer localisation in the 7 most widely spoken languages across the globe and 9 Indian languages

The deliverables can vary from developing pure content to audio & video transcription and production

True localisation through development of characters & animations that are in sync with a varied set of cultures and traditions of a team

Pre-Planning

In this phase, our Instructional designer creates a design approach that is simple, flexible and localisation friendly

The ID at Multiversity, dwells in to use of signages & colours used that can affect cultural aspects of planning the training material as well. For example: A Thumbs Up sign in western culture is perceived as a sign of approval while in the Middle East it’s construed as an offensive sign

We also select the style of narration based on the culture of the teams we are building the training content for. There have been marked differences in studies carried out between Asian & Western professionals

Designing to make content easily readable & navigable is of importance as well. Our design team works with our language experts to carve out a clean & well designed interface

Development

Our team uses unicode characters that are compliant with various LMS tools

Use of idioms in the English content developed is not the best way to pursue localising content to another language

We use advanced localisation softwares for a quick turnaround without comprising on the quality of the content. This is possible because of our expertise in using tools like Articulate Storyline to best of its capabilities

Integration

Our developers understand that every country uses the internet in vary different ways. And even the platforms through which they consume information are different.

We develop the content in formats that are most easily accessible and most widely consumed. For example: Countries like India & Nigeria have lower bandwidths of internet than the Middle East or certain south-east asian countries like Singapore. Hence content is optimised to suit these discrepancies

Usage of devices & browsers have also been known to vary from region to region. During the final stages, our team conducts extensive testing to deliver glitch-free training modules

Hence, localisation goes beyond the most common understanding of translation content from one language to another. Translation might just bridge the language barrier but localisation uses techniques to employ regional specificity. At Multiversity, our team understands the nuances of corporate training across cultures. Get to know more, visit our office or contact us, today!

Customer service is critical for any organization striving to make profits and survive. At Multiversity, we integrate with our partners to develop customised mobile learning solutions for the work-force to use on the go! Below are the ways we make a difference.