What You Should Know About the 3 Levels of Custom eLearning Development

The term custom course development is widely used, but what does custom actually mean? Essentially, custom eLearning or instructor-led materials can mean anything that has had instructional design applied to create a unique course object. Instead of acquiring an out-of-the-box training product from a third party, you create your own (or outsource this to an eLearning consultant like me). 

Here are a few examples of custom strategies I’ve helped clients work through:

• Cost-benefit analysis of developing our own fleet vehicle training versus buying defensive driver eLearning and coaching from another provider. (They chose the latter, which turned out to be more efficient use of internal resources.)
• Whether to use a provincial government developed Data and Privacy compliance module, or develop their own. (They decided to develop their own, for greater impact, and outsourced this to me, their trusted eLearning contractor.)

Learner Engagement

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BASIC
​Limited engagement
​= Low impact

MID-RANGE
Intermediate engagement
​= Medium Impact

ADVANCED
​High levels of engagement
​= High Impact

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Levels of Interactivities

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BASIC
​A few interactivities in the course as a whole (e.g., matching, sorting, drag/drop)

​MID-RANGE

• Several interactivities per section
• Re-branded or adapted games/interactivities

ADVANCED

• Multiple interactivities in each section
• Animated
• Live-action videos
• Customized games

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Assessment Examples

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BASIC
Informal knowledge check questions (e.g., matching, select one/select many, graded quizzes etc.).

MID-RANGE
A combination of formative assessments (that give learners feedback as they learn) and summative assessments (to check their understanding and readiness for behavior change at the END of their learning) mixed with more complex questions touching on critical thinking, applying knowledge to case studies/use cases and simple assignments or projects where they can self-correct or review answers on their own.

ADVANCED
Facilitated assignments or projects (learners work as individuals or in small groups on critical thinking projects to apply learning and demonstrated understanding, usually requires an instructor or coach who provides custom feedback). Can also include custom Storyline assessments requiring complex actions.

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​Extras – Not included unless identified within scope requirements

• Development of content or materials in languages other than English
• Audio (especially professional voice work or including multiple actors)
• Additional edits that diverge from previously approved deliverables
• Custom photography, illustration, graphic design, animation, video production or redesign of any of your existing media assets (for some projects, depending on the scope)
• Custom development in Storyline
• Special design considerations for web accessibility (e.g., WCAG 2.0)
• Multiple versions of the course for different audiences (e.g., repurposing client-facing content for employees)
• Creating content specifically on/for tablets or mobile
• Uploading the course into your LMS, hosting the course, any admin around the course

​I love designing custom course content for my clients; it’s one of the many stimulating challenges of my work that help me continually evolve as a professional. It’s the perfect opportunity to try innovative instructional design techniques, incorporate findings from new studies on how adults learn, and clients and learners get a course that meets their needs. 

Do you have a custom course project in mind? 

Get in Touch!