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Rapid eLearning Solutions: After Action Review

  • Sydney Hamilton
  • Aug 12, 2020
  • 3 min read

What was expected?

I find the concept of Rapid eLearning (Rel) is brilliant and highly relevant in today's complex workplace. I feel that it formalizes a process that people were likely moving towards in the appropriate context, but instead of the resulting learning being a product of “cutting corners” from a traditional model, it is learning created based on sound methodology. I think that this is especially relevant in small organizations where the learning and development team is often very small, or perhaps comprises of one individual.


The ability to create templates and frameworks and use your SMEs as the authors of the training creates an opportunity for effective and accurate content and learning delivery. I also think the idea of reusability is important in most rapidly growing organizations as things are ever changing and ReL can be a great way to bring everyone together on the same page. The applied skills focus of this course was a key driver to seek MET approval to take OPWL523: Rapid eLearning through Boise State University as an elective course.


What was the reality?

As this course is designed as part of a graduate program that is specialized in workplace learning, I found one of the greatest opportunities for learning in this course came from the experience of my peers and my ability to relate to their experiences. For this reason, the discussion forums in this course were particularly insightful as we discussed topics around knowledge types and corresponding instructional strategies, managing cognitive load and review of design principles for effective eLearning.


I think the interest in and application of ReL will continue to grow as timelines and budgets continue to shrink. I don’t think they are a replacement for traditional models, but they certainly have their place in workplace learning. In my case, I feel the traditional approach is suited to the bigger projects I have going and these act as the foundation for smaller, more targeted projects; for these, I would likely choose an ReL approach based on the ability to build on existing content and turn the project around quickly.


Another key takeway from this course was a designing with accessibility compliance in mind. While the focus was on WACG 2.1 compliance, the POUR principles (content that is perceivable, operable, understandable and robust), are equally applicable to our compliance requirements in Canada.


What went well and why? How did it support my goals?

One of the concepts that was most impactful for me was the unit on cognitive load. I have always tried to be weary of overloading learners with too much content in a face-to-face training session, but I had never really thought about the impact of this in an online learning setting. The factors that result in extraneous load were not something I consciously thought about in developing trainings, and since then I have already started to put some of these concepts to test in my training materials. I also found the consideration for knowledge type, procedural, declarative or situational, to be very valuable in deciding how I approach a training program, and my choice of technologies and learning activities.


The practical application of skills to learning design were especially valuable learning experiences for me as I have since been using some of the tools I was introduced to in this course. The use of Adobe Spark and Articulate Storyline have been essential technologies in my instructional design toolkit. Since taking this course, I have also introduced Rise in my organization, as responsive authoring tool for converting long online training courses into interactive lessons that are easy to consume.



What can be improved, and how?

One area I felt was lacking in this course was the collaborative element with peers. While we consistently took part in discussions throughout the term, I felt there was limited interaction with my peers; something I felt was extremely valuable after the work I had completed on the MET Hub.


This course also lacked a group work component; while this can pose some challenges, it does foster a different way of thinking and collaborative efforts that I feel results in deeper and more meaningful learning experiences. While I benefited greatly from both theoretical and hands-on component of this course, a group component would have pushed me to explore other areas of workplace learning more deeply.

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© 2020 by Sydney Hamilton

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