Client eLearning Development FAQ

  1. What is elearning?

 eLearning is a modern approach to learning.  The content to be learned is not as important as how a person learns the content. elearning space ensures the learner is actively involved in the learning process. For example, a learner can select screen buttons to interact with the content, navigate a video, or view a course on a mobile device. If a person has access to a desktop or mobile device, they can access learning at any time, and anywhere.

  1. How is an elearning experience different from an elearning course?

An elearning experience is an activity or learning task a user must complete. For example, a user must watch a video and answer a question, or a user must rearrange information into the correct order. An elearning experience is any interaction a user must complete to learn a new concept. Often the SCORM or xAPI file will interact with an LMS to create an elearning experience.

An elearning course is made up of multiple elearning experiences. It is the elearning course that is saved as a SCORM or xAPI file and uploaded to an LMS. It is the elearning course that will send data to the LMS to track user progress.

  1. What is elearning development?

eLearning development is the process we undertake to create an elearning/LMS experience. There is much planning to be completed before an elearning experience can be built. If there are learning gaps in the existing resources we will build the elearning assets required.

  1. How do I get the elearning development process started?

To get the elearning development process started collect all existing electronic learning resources. We will use the existing electronic resources to begin the elearning development process. We have created 8 Simple Questions to help to get the process started.

  1. What is LMS development?

LMS development includes setting up an LMS according to client needs. Every LMS has similar features, but will need to be set up slightly differently. The LMS outline will need to be set up to reflect the elearning course topics. We will ensure our SCORM or xAPI files communicate with the chosen LMS. If needed, we will also set up the LMS to accept new enrolments, a payment gateway, blended learning, etc.

  1. What is rapid authoring?

Rapid authoring is a quick process to produce an elearning course using existing resources. The elearning development process is not needed because all learning assets already exist. We transfer all existing learning resources to an elearning development tool and create an elearning course. The process is “rapid” because there is no need to plan and develop elearning resources.

  1. How much time does it take to complete elearning development?

This will depend entirely on the client’s current learning resources and need, although expect a minimum of 4 weeks. Most of this time is communication. We must spend time understanding client needs, and the client has the opportunity to provide feedback.

  1. How much will the elearning development cost me?

This will depend entirely on the client’s learning resources and need. Contact us for an overview of our services.

  1. What elearning development tools do you use?

We are experts at using a variety of elearning development tools including Articulate Storyline / Rise 360, Adobe Captivate, and Evolve. We use additional video editing tools including Adobe Premiere Pro and Animate, and Camtasia.

  1. Do you offer elearning development training?

Yes. We offer a consultancy service which includes a training element. Our training is provided in the context of the project. We will create screencasts to follow your project development. These screencasts teach the required skills to complete a project task. This ensures only related skills are learned and no time is wasted. We also ensure regular communication via video conferencing to allow for follow-up questions.

  1. What are your communication processes?

Communication is important to us because we believe communication is the key to successful project completion. We use cloud collaboration tools for online communication. We use Google Workspaces that include Google/Microsoft documents and calendar collaboration, a shared drive, and Chat for quick messaging. We use Zoom, Teams, Skype, and Hangouts for our video conferencing software. We use ASANA to manage all project tasks because tasks can be distributed to any person in any location. Our team and our client’s team often collaborate on ASANA to work on individual tasks.

  1. What process do you have in place to communicate with international clients?

We use the same communication processes as in Question 10. We have a 14-hour time slot available for video conferencing. This ensures we can communicate via a live video conference within the client’s business hours no matter their location.

  1. Do I need an LMS?

Yes, this is highly recommended. To provide the best elearning experience for your users an LMS will be needed.

  1. What is an off-the-shelf LMS?

An off-the-shelf LMS is already set up with pre-determined functions and features, but can be branded according to the user’s need. These pre-determined functions and features will always be up-to-date and new features will be added automatically. These LMS’s are normally subscription-based. All user data and content are stored on their servers.

  1. What is a Bespoke LMS?

Bespoke is the same as custom-made. We can build a bespoke LMS by using the edX open-source code. Click here to view. We upload the open-source code onto a server of the client’s choice. Open-source LMS code saves cost dramatically as opposed to writing original code. We can still write some unique code needed to customize the LMS, but the majority of the LMS functions and features are already built if we use the edX open-source code as the framework.

  1. Is an off-the-shelf or open-sourced LMS better?

This will depend entirely on the number of users. As a rough guide, it would be cheaper to build a bespoke LMS if there are 5,000 plus users. A bespoke LMS is expensive to set up, the planning and build time is greater and the ongoing maintenance costs are high. A bespoke LMS will be installed onto a server of your choice. The off-the-shelf LMS option can be used from the day of purchase, there is no ongoing maintenance cost (except your subscription), and the LMS functions and features are continually updated.

  1. Do you have social enterprise business values?

Yes, we feel fortunate to have been involved in the Australian education and training sector for 20 years. With this knowledge, experience, and skill we hope to share this good education and training practice will the rest of the world.

  1. Do you have a review cycle?

Yes, client feedback is important to us to ensure the project is delivered according to client needs. Most of the feedback is unofficial during our collaboration and communication. However, formally we provide 2 review cycles once we have delivers the final elearning course.

  1. I have all my training in PowerPoint. Can you update this for me?

Yes. The information contained in a PowerPoint is already organized into headings, subheadings, and related text/images—the curriculum planning is already complete. We can transfer this content to an elearning experience by using a rapid authoring process. View elearning space’s rapid authoring process.

  1. How do I organize my content for an elearning course?

We create a shared folder to upload all current assets. We will review these assets and provide our advice for you to review. Our advice will include a review of the following:

  • learning sequence including heading, subheading, and associated text
  • the amount of content
  • the use of video and associated infographics
  • static/animated infographics
  • current images and if applicable the need for more
  • original graphic / video /audio files
  1. What are the minimum and ideal levels of equipment and bandwidth?

This will depend on the client’s target audience. If the users are office workers, then we can assume advanced desktop computers and a reliable, fast internet connection. This would also allow us to add more media to the elearning course, for example, videos. If the target audience is mobile, then elearning courses designed for mobile devices is the better option. We would plan the elearning course to operate on a mobile device at a low bandwidth.

  1. Could you operate a primary and secondary school such as in remote islands?

No, we would not be the organization to operate the remote school. We would help an organization operate a remote school. In this situation, elearning space would become the elearning and LMS consultant. We could also build elearning courses and design the LMS learning strategies according to the client’s needs.

  1. Will I need an LMS administrator?

Yes. The elearning and LMS industry is always changing as updates become available. An LMS administrator will be needed to ensure the LMS is always up to date and the elearning environment continues to operate. Also, users of the LMS often have many troubleshooting questions that will need an expert reply. An LMS administrator will ensure the elearning environment continues to operate smoothly. elearning space can provide the LMS Administrator service.

  1. Will I need an education and/or training expert to answer the learner’s questions about the content?

Yes, but unfortunately, elearning space cannot provide this service. We are the elearning development experts, we are not content experts. The client that needs the elearning development produced will already be the content expert. elearning space can support the client to ensure the correct content expert is available to support the elearners.

However, elearning space does have content writers available if the client needs original copy to be produced. Again, we are not the content experts, but we can collate the information and resources already available, research new information needed, and produce original copy.

  1. What are the principal sectors in the elearning industry?

The elearning industry involves three main sectors: Learning Management System providers, elearning developers, elearning course providers.

LMS providers provide an LMS software application or SaaS to organise elearning content and the learning experience. The elearning content is normally uploaded to an LMS via a SCORM or xAPI file. These files communicate user data with the LMS and the LMS reports this data. For example, a SCORM will send a command to the LMS to release a certificate once the elearning course is completed. The user interacts with an elearning course via an LMS.

eLearning developers build the elearning courses using an elearning development tool and various multimedia software applications.

The elearning course providers are the companies that sell the finished elearning courses, which are normally sold via an LMS.

  1. What industry sectors do elearning space work in?

We have already completed numerous jobs in the USA, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Caribbean. We have helped clients set up their LMS learning environment which total is over 30,000+ learners. We have built 50+ elearning modules in the past 6 months. We have serviced clients in education and training, non-for-profit, web development, real estate, UX/UI design, business brokering, and Limited Australian Stock Exchange companies.

  1. Why those sectors?

Reasons vary why a business needs an elearning course developed. For example, many of our clients need to update their current training material to reflect the 21st-century learner. Or our clients need to update their induction program to be more engaging. These sectors need elearning development because it is in their best interest to move their training and education material into a 21st-century learning format.

  1. What types of customers are your priority customers?

Our priority customers are any person, small to large business, university or training organization that requires elearning development.

  1. Do these organizations have in-house staffers or do they rely on outside firms or freelance individuals?

This will depend on the size of the company and if a Human Resource department exists. The smaller businesses without an HR department normally require us to implement the entire elearning development/LMS strategy. This would normally include planning and building the courses followed by organizing their LMS learning environment. For the larger companies with an HR department, our role becomes more of a consultant. Many HR departments do not have the time available, skills, or experience to build their elearning courses or implement an LMS learning strategy. Often, our elearning developers will create the courses using the company’s existing content, or train the HR to complete this task on their own. We almost certainly always provide advice on their LMS strategy. If a client already has an LMS we normally would not oversee uploading or changing the LMS settings to suit business needs. However, if they have no LMS we would sell them an off-the-shelf TalentLMS through our affiliate program or sell an open-source edX LMS solution that they can host on their server. If we sell a client an LMS we become their continuous LMS administrators.

  1. Do you sell off-the-shelf items or consultancy or a bespoke solution?

This depends entirely on the client’s needs. We do have off-the-shelf elearning development modules to sell, but currently, this is focused on the Australian accredited training industry. Although labeled as off-the-shelf we still edit these modules according to business needs and LMS strategy.

  1. Is it a one-off sale or a repeat business situation?

Generally, an elearning project is a one-off sale. However, there is always new content to be written to reflect the changing world, which eventually will need to be transferred to a new elearning environment. The first project is normally a one-off, but once we have created an elearning template, established an elearning development process, and built a positive business relationship, the client is more likely to request us to complete another project. There is also always ongoing maintenance, for example, new client questions to answer, new features to add, unforeseen issues, staff training, etc. Also, generally, LMS development and maintenance are ongoing. Under our TalentLMS affiliate program, we are paid monthly to support clients.

  1. Who owns the copyright of the material?

We have unique elearning development, business management, and collaborative processes that are owned by elearning space. All elearning courses created for clients are owned by the client. We even provide the raw elearning development files to the client. Often, we would request copyright material from the client to use for the elearning development. If this is not possible, we use royalty-free assets in our elearning development at a cost to the client.

  1. To what extent is the industry or your sectors COVID driven?

COVID has hastened the implementation of elearning. The move to elearning began to increase substantially 10 years ago. The increased number of companies selling their own LMS is evidence of this increased interest in elearning. With the advent of COVID, businesses, and people in general, saw the advantages of changing to an online work and education/training environment. This has resulted in a huge influx of requests for elearning space to develop elearning and provide an LMS.

  1. What have been the milestones in the elearning industry as it evolved?

Success in the elearning industry is measured by the number of students achieving successful learning outcomes via an elearning environment. Unfortunately, if not implemented correctly, elearning can have a detrimental effect on learning. Fortunately, elearning space has a well-advanced process in place to ensure the elearning environment we create produces positive learning outcomes.

  1. To what extent are personal go-to tutors involved?

elearning space provides a follow-up help desk service to fully guarantee our work that was agreed upon in our written agreement. elearning space is confident we produce a quality product and service. This also assures the client, that if anything was missed by them or us in the elearning development, we will fix it. elearning space also provides a consultancy service which is also a mentoring service. Often, we coach individuals or teams as they begin their elearning and LMS development journey.

  1. What are the languages involved?

Our elearning development is primarily in English. However, with the elearning development tools available it is easy to localize the content to any language. We do however need a translator to check that the English content is converted to the local language correctly.

  1. Do you build a course for groups or individual self-paced courses?

This depends entirely on the client’s needs. Both are relevant for today’s digital age. Synchronous learning is learning completed at the same time, eg a video conference with many participants learning together as a group. Synchronous learning is group learning. Asynchronous learning provides an opportunity for the user to work on an elearning course at their own pace. Asynchronous learning is self-paced learning. Or we can build a course that is a combination of both. A combination of both is blended learning. eLearning development is a combination of client needs, elearning design tools, and LMS functions.

  1. Is a certificate for successful course completion issued?

Designing certificates and issuing a certificate at course completion is a big part of the LMS strategy we offer to clients. The elearning course itself does not issue a certificate, but instead, the elearning course must communicate course completion with the LMS. The LMS will then issue the certificate. We achieve this by saving the elearning course in a SCORM or xAPI file. These files are designed to communicate with an LMS.

  1. Are you in competition with Human Resource departments?

Yes and No, because it will depend on the elearning expertise of the HR department’s elearning division. If an HR department does have an elearning division, it is likely to be small. A very specific skill set is needed for elearning development and LMS management. It is often easier, cheaper, and quicker for HR departments to outsource elearning development to companies such as elearning space. Also, many HR departments lack experience in the elearning industry, so with our consultancy service we provide valuable advice to help them navigate the elearning industry.

A larger education institution is more likely to have an elearning development team, so we would offer our elearning development, consultation, and training services. They are also more likely to have their own LMS or be searching for a new LMS. Therefore, we would provide LMS consultation for their exiting LMS, or offer to sell them our LMS solutions.

Smaller to medium businesses would not have an HR department, so we would complete the elearning and LMS development for them. Their budget would be smaller, so elearning space has to be creative to offer these clients affordable elearning and LMS solutions.

  1. Do you sell elearning courses?

Currently, elearning space does not sell any of our own courses. We are primarily an elearning development company. However, there are several courses in production outlining various elearning strategies and techniques for elearning development. Other courses planned are based on learning to use the different elearning development tools. The courses will be supported by value-added mentoring service.

 We also sell courses from the TalentLMS library. This is a collection of soft skill elearning courses that cover a range of trends in the modern workplace. More information can be found at the TalentLMS library.

  1. Do you have any competitors?

There are a few elearning development companies. As the need for elearning increases number of elearning companies will also increase. elearning space is well placed because we have been planning for this increased demand for 5 years. This prediction proved to be correct because there has recently been a large increase in demand for our services. Additional to this, the elearning space founder has been involved in the Australian Education and Training sector for 20 years. The Australian education and training sector has world-class management and learning processes/procedures. As a social enterprise business elearning space would like to offer this good practice to the world. Given that elearning space has planned for this increased demand for elearning and has instituted good Australian education and training practice, elearning space is well placed to service this increased demand for elearning.

  1. How do you engage the learner in the elearning process?

elearning space has an elearning toolbox from which we choose selected elearning strategies specific to the audience. For example, primary school students may require a game-based elearning strategy whereas a highly educated user may require a webpage to read before answering questions. We use learning strategies from the elearning toolbox and apply them to the elearning development process to ensure an engaging elearning environment is created.

  1. Does your elearning environment cater to both novice and expert learners?

Yes, but this will be determined by the elearning development process. If novice learners are the target audience, then an elearning experience with greater amounts of instructions and scaffolding will be required. If the target audience is expert learners, then a blended elearning approach is more suitable. elearning space has the knowledge, skills, and experience to cater to every type of learning ability.