Anyone who has taken on an eLearning design and development project will tell you it’s not for the faint-hearted.
Creating effective custom eLearning content takes time and involves significant effort. Finding the internal resources needed to bring everything together can be challenging, too, even for bigger businesses.
Should I develop my eLearning in-house or use an external eLearning development company?
This is why bringing in an eLearning development company makes good sense. But it’s critical to find the right partner – someone who’s easy to work with, highly skilled, and experienced in delivering exceptional training outcomes. To set you up for resounding success, here are five things you should do when you’re considering collaborating with a new eLearning development company.
1. Be certain your eLearning development company really understands and can meet your requirements
While this tip sounds obvious, we often hear client stories of eLearning design and development projects that have missed the mark simply because their requirements were not properly understood from the start.
A prospective partner’s understanding of exactly what you need should extend beyond the standard information required to prepare your quote.
Ask questions of prospective providers to determine whether they fully understand the learning outcomes you need to achieve, along with any learning and development challenges you need them to help you overcome.
What do I need to know before getting a quote for eLearning development?
It’s important to check that an eLearning development company genuinely understands your learning focus and can cater to your target learner groups. For example, make sure they can deliver your eLearning content at an appropriate literacy level if you’re training people from non-English speaking backgrounds.
Developing effective eLearning content requires more than expert production and technical skills. You should consider whether a company offers all the eLearning development services you need, such as instructional design, learning design, and storyboarding.
2. Verify their custom eLearning development track record
Many companies will claim to have a ‘proven track record’. Make it your mission to find out what makes a company’s past performance remarkable and distinguishable from other providers, and relevant to your needs.
Review their client list and credentials in detail, looking for experience in successfully delivering large-scale corporate eLearning design and development projects and complex projects with multiple moving parts like media elements.
See our eLearning examples in various project formats here!
If the eLearning development company can deliver large, multi-layered projects, they’ll be well-placed to take on a project of any size. Look for companies that have worked with reputable brands similar to yours but be open and flexible. Experience in your industry can be beneficial, but it’s not essential if the eLearning development company can demonstrate transferable skills.
Request case studies detailing what they’ve delivered, how they’ve done it, and the improved outcomes achieved to demonstrate their abilities and successes.
Ask for examples of past projects similar to yours and the learnings that can be applied.
3. Ask to see their existing custom eLearning development portfolio
An experienced eLearning development company will have an extensive portfolio showcasing a diverse range of custom eLearning content. Reviewing their portfolio will give you a clear picture of their full capability and expertise.
In our experience, people learn best and effectively absorb the information presented when they’re truly engaged and captivated by eLearning content. So make sure your prospective provider can demonstrate they use a range of captivating media elements like animations and interactive environments, 3D visualisations, games, and simulations to create enjoyable, memorable, and effective eLearning experiences.
Request a hands-on demonstration to really get a feel for their skills.
See samples of Poncho Elearning’s Work!
4. Make sure they have a proven eLearning content development process
Developing eLearning content is complex and involves many moving parts. Your project’s success will depend on whether your eLearning development company offers a structured and well-defined production process.
Ask your prospective provider how they’ll manage your eLearning project, ensuring they break their production process into stages for instructional design, storyboarding, development and reviews.
Have them walk you through each stage, its associated tasks, and indicative timings for clarity. Ask questions to make sure you understand your responsibilities and how often you can expect updates, including when and how you’ll need to undertake reviews and provide feedback.
To be confident you can rely on their production process, ask about their history of delivering projects on time and within budget – a surefire way of confirming they have a proven approach that keeps projects on track.
5. Check for social proof of completed custom eLearning projects
Researching your prospective eLearning development company’s online reputation using Google Reviews and feedback on social media pages is incredibly valuable. There are also several third-party websites offering independent ratings and reviews, so check those out too.
Take note of feedback provided as well as ratings. These comments offer genuine insight into what it will be like to work with the company and are more likely to reveal potential pain points – things that can be missed when a happy client has been nominated to provide feedback.
The good news is there is a host of brilliant eLearning content development companies in Australia to choose from, not least of which is Poncho eLearning!
See our 5-star ratings on Google!
Following our tips will make sure you choose the one that’s the best fit for you and your eLearning design and development project.
Book a call with the friendly Poncho team to learn more about how we can help with your project.
