The eLearning Brothers recently earned a 2015 Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Learning Bronze Award for Best Use of Games and Simulations. Even better—they used Lectora® to create the award-winning course! It featured a time travel theme, cool cars, and solid instructional design supporting the client’s needs. (The color car you choose doesn’t matter for the course, but it’s fun to have an option! I chose purple, in case anyone was wondering.) The eLearning Brothers team for this project consisted of Bruce Adams, Deb Bowden, and Adam Leibler. The course is called Ally F&I History and takes learners back in time to see the history of Ally through the decades using a time traveling car. We asked Adam to share with us a couple insights into how the course creation went down. Instructional design was key. Adam said there was a clear and open communication with the client throughout the entire pre-development instructional design stage. "We went back over several iterations with the client over ‘okay, what is really important decade to decade,’ and we stayed focused on those learning objectives." Using the right tool. I asked Adam why the eLearning Brothers chose to use Lectora for this project. The choice was partly client-driven. Ally had used Lectora before and knew they would be able to make edits on their own in the future if the course needed updating. The second reason? "We wanted to do things in Lectora that haven’t been done before," said Adam. The final course is packed with interactive elements, videos, music, and knowledge checks cleverly wrapped up in games. (Quiz #1… pretty cool looking!) Our Community Manager, Jennifer Valley, took a look under the hood at the specific instructional design decisions that made this course so great. Check out her thoughts in this post at the Trivantis® Community. The post Creating Award Winning Learning with Lectora appeared first on .

Do you have a spare minute to check out some tips for being more productive? I bet you do—if you read the first installment of Productivity Secrets from the Trivantis Pros. That post focused mainly on general work productivity, but I also promised you more secrets for being more productive in Lectora®. Here they are! Stay Organized "In the Title Explorer, name your objects, variables, and actions so they are clear and meaningful to you. Expand and collapse chapters, sections, and pages so they’re tucked away when you’re not focusing on them. Turn on the ‘Show buttons for hiding objects in the Title Explorer’ option in Preferences so you can collapse title and chapter level objects as well. Watch my webinar on Conquering the Title Explorer." -Laura Silver, Director of Product Management "I think one of the biggest overlooked tools is the ‘My Library’ area. I keep all of my most used media elements there, as well as a few library objects that are frequently used. It’s easy to access—and always present—so it makes things faster than searching for that image you always use somewhere on your hard drive." -John Blackmon, Chief Technology Officer Sneaky Shortcuts = Speed "Set your own Editors in Preferences. If you prefer to use your favorite image, audio, or text editing software, you can set that up in Lectora. Then when you select ‘Edit’ for an object, it will open right up directly in your editor of choice." -Laura Silver, Director of Product Management "In Lectora® Online you can drag images from your desktop or file system and drop them right into your courses.  You can also copy images from image editors or preview applications and then paste them into Lectora Online using the new Paste from Operating System feature. These are things that everyone should try!" -Joe Wieloch, Director of Development - Lectora Online Of course, we all know that an eLearning project doesn’t end with development. There’s still that pesky review and approval process to contend with. Don’t worry—our experts have some tips for that too! Stay tuned for Productivity Secrets Part 3: The Review Process. The post Productivity Secrets from the Trivantis Pros: Pt 2 appeared first on .

If you haven’t read the first post in this new graphic design for eLearning series, be sure to catch up. Our Trivantis designers, Tony Cavalier and Anthony LaQuatra shared some great tips in Design Dos & Don’ts: Images and More. This next post focuses more on fonts and typography with some helpful tips for using text in your eLearning course.  Consider these graphic design dos and don’ts for eLearning: Do: Make the right font choices. "Match headline, subhead, and body font selections with each other," Trivantis designer Anthony LaQuatra says. Choose a few fonts to use per project, rather than going crazy with a new font on every page of your course. In a recent post on the Everything eLearning Blog, Stephanie Ivec asks this question: "What if you limited yourself to three fonts and four colors per project?" That’s a good way to ensure you make the right font choices. Read the whole article here: Define Your eLearning Style with Capsule Fonts. Do: Use the tools you have. Art Director Tony Cavalier suggests that Lectora® users take advantage of the eLearning Brothers assets built into the authoring tool and says they "can make designing easy." Tools like these are especially helpful if you need to save time but still want to create a cohesive design. For example, templates can provide a starting point for fonts and other design elements that will be used in your course to make it look professional. (Try out the eLearning Brothers templates in Lectora® Inspire for free.) Don’t: Use Comic Sans or Papyrus or the like. This tip is from Anthony (and I think most designers would agree). Fonts such as Comic Sans or Papyrus have a few problems—being overused and chosen for the wrong situations—and designers have strong opinions about them. Avoid using them in your eLearning course to keep it professional and effective. To learn more about fonts and typography, check out this article: The Essentials of Typography. Don’t: Let text dictate design. Tony explains, "Too much text can be a bad thing. Keep the text short and sweet to get the point across clearly and with more style." He also says that your focus should be to "drive engagement and keep the design simple and clean." The course design should give a positive first impression, so don’t overwhelm the learner with huge paragraphs of text. Get more tips for making a good first impression with your training in this article: The Halo Effect: First Impressions for e-Learning. Have some more dos and don’ts for using fonts and text? Share them in the comments below. And don’t forget to read the first post in this series: Design Dos & Don’ts: Images and More. The post Design Dos & Don’ts: Fonts and Text appeared first on .

We’re in the home stretch now. First, I brought you productivity secrets for general work, including email organization tips and the classic "work from home" tip. Next, I shared a slew of Lectora® development tips from our Trivantis® pros. And now? It’s time for the final stage of eLearning development—the review and revise stage. Create a Post-development Checklist "I keep this handy as I build courses so I remember to go back and check specific items, like consistency of buttons and hyperlinks, or making sure I remembered to use the proper Text Headings." -Laura Silver, Director of Product Management Jump from Section to Section "I like to use a course developer map page. I create a page that is in a chapter at the end of the course and put a Table of Contents object on it. I then make a hidden way to get to this page, such as right click on the course title which would set a variable, then based on the value in that variable a left click on the copyright notice will take you to the secret page. Once there you can get anywhere in the course via the table of contents object. This is very helpful when you are QA-ing your course after publishing it." -Joe Wieloch, Director of Development - Lectora Online Collaborate on the Review If you’re using Lectora® Inspire or Lectora® Publisher, "Publish to ReviewLink™—this will save you hours normally spent collecting reviewer feedback via email and spreadsheets." You can even use ReviewLink with courses created in Adobe® Captivate or Articulate® Storyline now! -Laura Silver, Director of Product Management If you’re using Lectora® Online, try this tip to speed up your review process: "I use Lectora Online’s export to Microsoft Word feature if I want to spell check my entire course, or check the grammar. This feature will also identify correct answers and can be used to produce an ‘answer key’ for subject matter experts to review." -Joe Wieloch, Director of Development - Lectora Online Well now you know all—or at least most—of the secrets to how we are so productive here at Trivantis! What are you going to do with all your free time after you implement these time-saving tricks? The post Productivity Secrets from the Trivantis Pros: Pt. 3 appeared first on .

Quite often, we get questions from our Lectora® users wondering how they can provide some kind of customized behavior based on a learner’s response to a question, such as showing a checkmark or an X next to each option of a drag and drop or matching question. And most often, the answer involves querying the contents of the question object’s associated variable. Every time you create a question object, an associated reserved variable is automatically created. You can see these on the Properties ribbon for the question and on the Reserved tab of the Variable Manager. But how can you tell what is inside of those variables at any given time? The easiest way to see the contents of a variable is to run the page containing the question in Debug Mode. You will find this on the View ribbon. When you run a page in Debug Mode, an external pop-up window appears that tells you what is happening behind the scenes. The Debug window will display every READ and every SAVE that happens with the variables on the current page, and also shows the current value of those variables within [brackets]. The initial value for all question types is null or empty, meaning the learner has not yet attempted to answer the question. But once the learner has interacted with the question, the value of its associated variable will change. The format of the value varies by question type. The table below explains the formats for the 12 different question types available in Lectora. Question Type Variable Value Example True or False The contents of the text field associated with the radio button that was clicked True Multiple Choice - text options only The contents of the text field associated with the radio button that was clicked Choice One Multiple Choice - image options only The name of the image as shown in the Title Explorer that is associated with the radio button that was clicked. By default, the images are named "Choice 1 image," "Choice 2 image," etc. But you can rename them. Choice 1 Image Multiple Choice - both text and image options The contents of the text field associated with the radio button that was clicked. With a mix of options, image only options will be substituted with a text string representing the option number. Choice Three Multiple Response - text options only The contents of all of the text fields associated with the check boxes that were checked, separated by commas Choice One,Choice Two,Choice Three,Choice Four Multiple Response - image options only The names of the images as shown in the Title Explorer that are associated with the check boxes that were checked. By default, the images are named "Choice 1 image," "Choice 2 image," etc. But you can rename them. Choice 1 image,Choice 2 image, Choice 3 image Multiple Response - both text and image options The contents of all of the text fields associated with the check boxes that were checked, or the names of the associated images as shown in the Title Explorer. By default, the images are named "Choice 1 image," "Choice 2 image," etc. But you can rename them. Choice 1,Choice two,Choice 3 image Fill in the Blank The current contents of the text entry field. This changes every time the user types a character. My answer Number Entry The current contents of the text entry field. This changes every time the user types a number. 1234 Matching The names of all of the Left and Right pairs that have been matched, separated by commas. The name for each pair component is up to you. You can rename these in the Question Creator. The default values would look something like this example. 1L-3R,2L-1R,3L-2R Rank and Sequence The contents of all of the text fields associated with each drop list for which a selection has been made, separated by commas. Choice One,Choice Two,Choice Three,Choice Four Drag and Drop All of the Item Names paired with the Drop Zone Names they have been matched with. The Item Names and Drop Zone Names can be changed by you. By default, they are simply numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. If an Item Name has not yet been paired with a Drop Zone, the drop zone part of the pair is represented as (na) in the variable. See example. 1-1,2-3,3-(na) Hot Spot The name or names of the hot spots that have been clicked, separated by commas .You can rename the hotspots. By default they are numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. A Hot Spot question can behave like a Multiple Choice question or a Multiple Response question if the "Correct Answer Includes More Than One Choice" option is checked. 1,2,3,4 Short Answer (Ungraded) The current contents of the text entry field. This changes every time the user types a character. My short answer Essay (Ungraded) The current contents of the text entry field.  This changes every time the user types a character. This is my essay. Likert (Ungraded) The contents of the text field associated with the radio button that was clicked Agree   Now that you know what to expect to find inside of the question variables and how to see the contents of them for yourself running under Debug Mode, you can set up actions with conditions that query the contents of a question’s variable to trigger some desired behavior. In the example below, the action is set up to show a check mark if Question_0002 contains 1L-1R for an option of a Matching question if the condition is true. If the condition is false, the action shows an X instead. You can find a downloadable example of this on the Trivantis® Community site here: http://community.trivantis.com/shared-content/visual-feedback-question-examples/ Lectora Basics is your intro to eLearning authoring with Lectora. In this blog series, Wendy Miller, Lead Content Developer here at Trivantis, will introduce you to fundamental concepts in Lectora. Wendy is a visual designer and computer programmer with extensive experience developing software, courseware, web sites, games, and multimedia. Other Lectora Basics articles: • Lectora Basics: What Is a Variable? • Lectora Basics: Using User-Defined Variables The post Lectora Basics: About Question Variables appeared first on .

It’s almost the end of October, which means two things: It’s almost Halloween! It’s time for the Best of eLearning in October! I know you’ve been waiting all month for our wrap-up of the best eLearning info out there. Or maybe you’ve been waiting all month for Halloween—I must confess I have. Either way, I have five great articles to share with you this month. Check them out and be sure to share your top articles in the comments. Trivantis Announces Responsive Course Design for Its Desktop Authoring Tool, Lectora I think this quote from John Blackmon, Chief Technology Officer at Trivantis, sums Responsive Course Design™ in Lectora® up nicely: "It’s a multi-device world we live in, and Trivantis is bringing you the tools you need to produce eLearning content for all of them. With Lectora, you can truly publish once and distribute everywhere." Design Dos & Don’ts: Fonts and Text Instructional designers are often expected to be graphic designers too, even if they don’t have any design experience. Christie Wroten interviewed our Trivantis designers for the Everything eLearning Blog and got some tips for eLearning developers. What’s in Your eLearning Style Guide? This guest post on the eLearning Brothers Blog fills my heart with joy. It’s all about consistent style and branding in your eLearning courses. Those little details really do make your course look more professional and can influence how your learners feel about your course. 7 Golden Rules Of Learning Connie Malamed, the eLearning Coach, created this list for a client "to teach SMEs a few basics about instruction and learning as they design their lessons." It’s a very handy resource to have when working with subject matter experts.  Everyday Workplace Learning: A quick primer Jane Hart shares some thoughts on everyday learning—the learning that takes place every day while individuals are carrying out their jobs. And in the spirit of Halloween, I have one last bonus treat for you… If you’re making a desktop eLearning course that can use Flash, this free ghost game from the eLearning Brothers is adorable! Get the game here: Freebie Friday: Ghost Chaser Flash Game. The post The Best of eLearning in October 2015 appeared first on .

We had a user tweet at Lectora recently, asking how he could become better at using variables. This is one of the biggest questions we get from new Lectora® users, so for this month’s Thursday’s Trending Topic, I’m pulling together a bunch of variable resources for you. You may have noticed that Wendy Miller, our Lead Content Developer, has been sharing an ongoing series of blog articles—and they’re all about variables! Lectora Basics: What Is a Variable? Lectora Basics: Using User-Defined Variables Lectora Basics: About Question Variables There will be more great posts coming up from Wendy—be sure to subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog, so you don’t miss any. Here are a few more articles from the blog on variables. (These are a little older, so you may notice some interface differences between these screenshots and your current version of Lectora—you’re on the latest version, right???—but the concept of variables is the same.) Just for You! Using Variables in Lectora eLearning Software Create an Interactive e-Learning Game Using Actions and Variables in Lectora Lectora e-Learning Lesson: Keep Score in Your e-Learning Course Using Variables Wendy has also shared some examples in the Trivantis® Community of ways to use variables. These include downloadable Lectora files, so you can open them up and look at how she did things. Displaying Variable Values Examples - Simple Displaying Variable Values Examples - Complex Entry Field Validation Example If you’re not a member of the Trivantis Community yet… What are you waiting for? This is such a great resource to learn more about how to use Lectora and see what others are creating. The post Thursday’s Trending eLearning Topic: Variables appeared first on .

We’re pleased to announce that Lectora® Online 3 with Responsive Course Design™ (RCD) is now available. In addition to the benefits of collaborative, cloud-based authoring, you can now enjoy the timesaving features of RCD. Our unique RCD methodology allows you to design once, in the desktop layout. Content will be automatically sized and positioned on other views—phone portrait and landscape and tablet portrait and landscape. Each layout can then be tailored as necessary to accommodate the unique needs of that orientation and view, and changes in each look will be propagated using Lectora’s inheritance model. It’s a multi-device world we live in, and Trivantis® is proud to bring you the tools you need to produce eLearning content for all of them.  Beta testers have praised RCD and the benefits it provides those creating mobile training. "Trivantis once again has delivered a high caliber product that offers all the robust capabilities of Lectora desktop, now in a mobile centric format that is easy to use and makes responsive mobile for multiple devices much, much, easier for developers," said Jason Guest, IBM Learning Sales Manager. Read the Responsive Course Design whitepaper to learn more about how it works. In addition to the RCD option, Lectora Online 3 contains other great features, including: Automated Status Tracking: Status Indicator objects Use Status as an action condition Set Completion Status action New Menu Creator One-click Table-of-Contents based menu Live menu preview Enhanced Progress Bar Functionality Easily link a Custom progress bar to a variable Step a progress bar forward or backwards Publish to ReviewLink™ Already using Lectora Online? Sit back and relax. All these great new features will be waiting for you the next time you log in. Want to try before you buy? We offer free 30-day trials! Sign up and get started right away. You can upgrade your free trial to a full license at any time. Lectora Online starts at just $159/month. Lectora desktop user? Don’t worry—RCD is coming to desktop next. Stay tuned for more information. The post Announcing Lectora Online 3 with Responsive Course Design appeared first on .

Just like humans need a common language to communicate with each other, eLearning courses and learning management systems (LMS) need a common language so that courses can send information back to the LMS from students taking those courses. To accomplish this, the industry has come up with several eLearning standards that allow courses created by any vendor to "talk" with an LMS created by any other vendor. In this article we’re going to look at the history of those standards, and where we are today. AICC It all started with the Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee (AICC), which was formed in 1988. The aircraft industry has always had a high need for training and certification, and prior to 1988, this led to a variety of incompatible and closed system training programs that had unique hardware and software requirements. The major aircraft manufacturers of the time, Boeing, Airbus, and McDonnell Douglas, got together and formed the AICC to come up with a standard way for courses to communicate results to an LMS. The first standard for training media was published in 1989, and was based on a PC platform. In 1993, the AICC created the CMI specification—still in use today—which specified the communications between a course and an LMS. The specification was originally intended for CD-ROM or local file based content, and was updated in 1998 and 1999 to use a protocol known as HACP (HTTP-based AICC/CMI Protocol) to allow it to operate in a Web-based environment. The AICC was dissolved in 2014, and all of its efforts have been transferred to the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) group. SCORM In 1997, the DOD established the ADL Initiative to standardize and modernize training. In 2001, the first production version of the new standard was released, and was known as the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) 1.1. Later that year, this was replaced by SCORM 1.2, which is perhaps the most prevalent eLearning standard used today. Much of the SCORM standard was taken from the groundwork laid by the AICC, and updated to use a JavaScript framework. This required the LMS to wrap the course in a frame and use a JavaScript API to communicate between the course and the LMS. SCORM has since evolved to a newer version, known as SCORM 2004, and its most recent release is known as SCORM 2004 4th Edition, which was released in 2009. SCORM 2004 added the concept of sequencing course objects, as well as the ability for the LMS to manage navigation of the content. Although SCORM was more modern than AICC, it was designed to work in a desktop/laptop environment, requiring a user to be online and logged in to an LMS in order to record information. In today’s mobile first, BYOD world, that is not always the case. SCORM is also very restricted in the information it can record from a course—its language only supports scores, completion/pass/fail, and answers to questions. In 2010, the ADL began research into a new eLearning standard that would allow much more flexibility, and it was given the codename Tin Can API. xAPI In April 2013 the specification for Tin Can API 1.0 was officially released, and the project name was changed to "Experience API" or xAPI. The name Tin Can API, or just Tin Can, is still a popularly used name for xAPI. xAPI is a simple, flexible standard that allows data to be collected on a wide range of information, rather than just strictly course information. It also allows for data to be sent in a completely platform agnostic way, so that xAPI statements can be sent from anything—from actions in a course running in a web browser to a physical button being pressed on a device. xAPI statements are phrased as an actor-verb object sentence, much like "I did this," and allow for great flexibility when composing a statement, so that just about any information can be transmitted. For all of the good things about xAPI, it really just defines a language for transmitting data, and how that data should be stored. An eLearning standard to replace SCORM will need to not only define this, but also specify what data needs to be transmitted in order for a course to be taken, scored, and completed. Along comes the next generation of eLearning standards, cmi5. cmi5 Before the AICC was dissolved, work had begun on creating a new eLearning standard meant to replace SCORM. The standard is known as cmi5, and is actually a "profile" of xAPI, meaning that it is a standard set of xAPI statements that a course must use to communicate to a cmi5 conformant LMS. The work on this standard has been passed to the ADL, and is actively being developed today. In addition to the standard set of statements that a course must send, cmi5 also allows for the LMS to capture all xAPI-based statements sent from the course to be stored and reported on, giving both the standard structure that SCORM has always provided, and the flexibility that xAPI provides. These are exciting times for eLearning standards today, as advances in xAPI and cmi5 will enable training managers to understand more and more about learner progress and continue to improve their training programs. For more information on how Lectora® eLearning authoring tool works with xAPI, read this article: Thursday’s Trending eLearning Topic: xAPI. The post eLearning Standards—What They Are and Why They Matter appeared first on .

In recent and ongoing arguments in the eLearning industry, the question "Are models like ADDIE still up to the challenges of modern day development?" keeps appearing. (ADDIE is an instructional design model that stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.) While parts of ADDIE are helpful, the model on its own lacks efficiency and sustainability. ADDIE is expected to be completed in a waterfall method, which means each step is dependent on the previous one. This can prevent teams from being rapid and working on multiple elements of the course at once. With the sheer number of steps (primarily the expectation of repeated formal reviews), the process can get quite lengthy. Many argue that it no longer fits the need of corporate initiatives and project time frames. Instead, it’s a model based only on the ideals of perfect circumstance (quick and easy conversations, personnel being available for long periods of time and frequently, highly talented and willing individuals, etc.). Some may also argue that ADDIE is not repeatable (and therefore not sustainable) because you’re expected to take a fresh approach and never reuse content. Reusable content like worksheets and templates are not provided, so it’s up to the individual using the model to create material. It also assumes your desired intent is an eLearning course only instead of one that can be applied to eLearning, instructor led training (ILT or vILT), and blended approaches. The delivery methods are so vastly different that the expectation of being a universal application is a far reach. The following process is a hybrid model that I used to combine the best aspects of ADDIE, Rapid Development, Project Management, and SAM to achieve a repeatable (and therefore quicker) process. By also including the step of recycling content, the process also becomes sustainable. Kick Off A kick off is a series of conversations that ensure a project is defined. This is where you have the opportunity to share basic project information like why the course should be built, who will be playing the various roles, and establishing a timeline. Topics can be curated using a template or presentation, but conversation should flow freely and openly until everyone is comfortable with the basic information. This should not be a conversation where the instructional designer or course developer meet with the subject matter expert (SME) to "dump" knowledge or teach the subject. There are six people (at minimum) who should be involved in the whole process: an instructional designer, eLearning developer, graphic designer, SME, stakeholder and pilot participant. In some cases, the instructional designer, eLearning developer, and graphic designer may be combined into one or two people’s responsibilities. Analyze The first step is to analyze any existing information and issues and come to an educated conclusion on how to continue. Having a worksheet or presentation ready with these questions and additional considerations will help speed along the process. During this step, it’s important to ask yourself Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Specifically: Who is the audience? What is your objective and how will it be quantified? When will content be delivered and for how long? Where will training be conducted? Why was the training created? How does the training resolve an issue or help to achieve an initiative? Design The design phase is when you combine the information gathered from analysis and place it into a systematic and specific manner. This is where the instructional designer will apply instructional strategies, the graphic designer will create a visual design, and the eLearning developer will determine a technical design. The most common application of these strategies is for the instructional designer to create a storyboard or prototype with the help of the graphic designer and eLearning developer. A prototype is a roughly constructed course which includes placeholders for tentative content but still gives everyone an idea of how the course will look or behave. By developing in an authoring tool right away, you can save time and efforts when transferring content from one medium to another. If this isn’t a possibility, then having a storyboard template and design sheet helps to decrease the amount of time necessary to collect information. The stakeholder, SME, and pilot participant will act as advisors while completing the process. Revise During the process, it’s important to continuously revise content until it perfectly meets your objective (determined during the analysis phase). However, there are two key areas during the process where dedicated time should be set aside to take a step back from your project and reconsider anything discussed. The first is after the design and analysis phase. During this revision, you should focus on answering your key questions and reviewing content created during the design phase. Develop The development phase is when the eLearning developer will use the storyboard to create a course or expand on the prototype. Using a developer with knowledge of the tool will help to make sure content is created within a timely fashion. The graphic designer acts as a working partner providing additional material as needed. The instructional designer is available to provide advice or answer questions during the process regarding instructional strategies. The SME is also available to answer questions about the specific topic or process. Revise (Again) Once content has been constructed the whole team will meet to review the content together. At this time consideration should be taken for less than optimal viewing settings and situations like multiple browsers or devices. Feedback is then gathered and implemented.  It’s also important that at this time you enlarge your group of reviewers. After the initial group review it’s important to open the course to a new group, which could include team members of the pilot participant, people within the same department as the SME, and other stakeholders. The course should be placed into a testing environment to ensure there are no problems that arise during implementation. Once again feedback is gathered, discussed, and implemented. Implement The implementation phase is when the content officially becomes available to anyone within the curriculum focus or audience. The eLearning developer places the course where it will be accessible to all who need to view it, such as a learning management system (LMS). Knowing the requirements and being familiar with the LMS will help make sure upload is seamless. The course is monitored for a short time to ensure no problems arise. All relevant documents and copies of the course are placed into a location for safekeeping. Evaluate The evaluation phase is when the material is evaluated for its effectiveness on the overall objective that was determined during the analysis phase. This can be done in multiple ways but the most common is looking at key pieces of data. In the case of a sales course, this could be reviewing the previous quarter to see if numbers have increased or decreased. It’s important to determine these benchmarks during the analysis phase, so data can easily be extracted. You can also provide a self-evaluation to the learners in the form of a survey to see how impactful the course was. Recycle The recycle phase is when you’ll revisit the content after a certain amount of time or when a member of the project team feels the content is no longer relevant. Reusing content is a cheaper and easier alternative to creating new content. It’s also a sustainable process that ensures you consider the reuse of content instead of creating something from scratch each and every time a course needs to be developed. Do you use an adaptation of ADDIE for your eLearning process, or something different? Share your ideas in the comments below. Editor’s note: Jennifer Valley is Community Manager at Trivantis and an instructional designer with five years of experience in learning. She loves sharing and conversing on social media, blogging, and spending time with her family. You can read her blog here, as well as follow her on Facebook and Twitter. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of Trivantis Corporation. The post Adapting ADDIE into a Quicker and Sustainable Process appeared first on .