Companies that scale and encourage vertical development of their employees sooner or later conclude that they need to organize training for their specialists using internal resources, without resorting to the help of third-party educational organizations.
One of the most effective solutions to this problem today is the implementation of a custom rapid e learning platform. Below, we will explain the peculiarities of such software solutions and what components they consist of, as well as also share a particular case of such a solution implemented by our team.
What Is Rapid eLearning?
Rapid e-learning is an approach to providing users with knowledge through digital means, aimed at its rapid assimilation.
This concept is based on three main aspects:
- Content, which must be filtered before being presented to the user and include only what is directly related to the subject of study;
- Software, which must be adaptable to different learning tasks and areas of knowledge;
- Design, which is often based on the ADDIE paradigm (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation), a flexible approach that involves breaking down the rapid e-learning development process into short sub-stages.
In general, it differs from other types of e-learning by increased flexibility and constant optimization, which are aimed at ensuring that students acquire new knowledge as quickly and efficiently as possible – in practice, this is the main goal of any company implementing internal training for its employees.
The Role of Instructional Design in Rapid eLearning
The creation of rapid eLearning platforms imposes special requirements on their design: in particular, project teams often resort to using the above-described ADDIE paradigm, created by the Florida State University in the 70s of the last century and aimed at the consistent iterative implementation of five fundamental processes: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. Let's consider them in more detail.
Analysis
The rapid eLearning development process starts with the creation of user personas, which should include demographic data about students, as well as their behavioral patterns, goals, and pain points. Based on this, the project team formulates specific learning objectives, expected results, and the amount of knowledge provided to students. Also, they develop tools for monitoring, evaluating, and organizing the learning process within the business and technical constraints of the project, as well as possible risks associated with its implementation.
Design
This stage involves planning the practical implementation of the above-described platform attributes: course schedule, sequence of training material presentation, duration of the training process, teaching methods, and methods for assessing learning outcomes. In this regard, project teams usually build user flows to visualize possible student actions within the platform and accurately estimate the project budget and timeline.
Development
Now, everything is ready to create a course and implement it using digital tools and technologies. It is very important at this stage to also take care of the formation of a hint base or integrate any other tools that would allow correcting students' false conclusions directly in the learning process.
Implementation
At this stage, it’s everything ready to start recruiting students for the courses, assigning mentors for them, setting up the learning environment, etc. It is also worth thinking about how feedback from students will be collected and processed during the learning process.
Evaluation
Finally, after collecting a certain amount of feedback from students, an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the training program is carried out (for this purpose, certain evaluation criteria are selected in advance). Based on this, the rapid e learning software has to be optimized through an iterative approach.
Reasons for Using the ADDIE Model for Rapid eLearning Courses
Generally speaking, the main reason for choosing the ADDIE model is its versatility: on its basis, it is possible to create educational solutions for both the public sector and private institutions.
Also, unlike other models, it covers all stages of rapid e learning development and, what is important, takes into account real data obtained from specific students (instead of following hypotheses).
Benefits of Rapid eLearning Development
If implemented correctly, this approach to creating training courses can bring a lot of benefits to both organizations and students themselves. Let's learn more about these benefits.
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How Does Rapid eLearning Work?
All rapid eLearning solutions are based on the same three principles, which we will discuss now.
Content
Creating rapid eLearning platforms involves the joint use of time-tested educational materials with the most advanced digital rapid eLearning tools and approaches. The ultimate goal of such symbiosis is to present content approved by various educational authorities in an easy-to-perceive digital form.
4R Strategy
In the context of rapid eLearning, 4R stands for Record, Republish, Rebuild, and Redesign.
In practice, these rules are translated into using ready-made educational materials as a basis, publishing (or digitizing) them using the rapid eLearning development tools, then adapting them by breaking down large information chapters into smaller logically related information blocks and transforming them into videos, infographics, interactive PDFs, and, finally, redesigning them to reduce the training period and move away from the outdated educational format.
Rapid Creation Tools
In developing such solutions, project teams often use low-code tools that allow them to reduce the cost of their implementation without reducing the final quality. They are already deliberately adapted to meet the highest educational standards and productive interaction with students.
What Isn't Rapid eLearning?
The concept of rapid eLearning is often accompanied by myths that are far from reality in practice. In particular, we are talking about the following two most common ones:
- Rapid eLearning platforms reduce the effectiveness of the learning process. Rapid learning does not always mean its ineffectiveness. In particular, project teams base such platforms on time-tested standards and rules that allow students to get closer to their learning goals as quickly as possible, without reducing the quality of their knowledge. Since such rapid eLearning software is constantly optimized based on student feedback, the format of knowledge it provides at each iteration becomes more and more easily digestible and interesting.
- Rapid eLearning platforms are not designed for interaction with students and their constant involvement. Many believe that rapid eLearning platforms are a kind of set of static training materials demonstrated to students in a certain order. However, modern solutions can actively use personalization, gamification, and other approaches to increasing student engagement.
Ultimately, such digital solutions can use all the same teaching methods and approaches as their counterparts aimed at a longer learning process – it all depends on the budget and deadlines of a particular project.
When Should You Choose Rapid eLearning Development?
Rapid elearning development will be the best option in situations where you have a limited budget and time frame for its implementation. It also makes sense to launch such a learning platform if your educational content has a limited time relevance, or you are planning a one-time course for students.
Consider WEZOM as Your Reliable eLearning App Development Partner
The WEZOM team has been developing rapid eLearning solutions for both the educational sector and businesses for many years. Let's consider a particular case of implementing such a solution for the USA educational sector, which has recently undergone new reforms affecting graduates of secondary educational institutions.
As preparing for admission to a university has always been a challenge for any student, the client decided to choose our rapid eLearning services and approached us with a startup idea: to create a college entrance examination app to make the learning process more productive and exciting.
We had to create a flagship solution among other apps for competitive exams: it had to offer the students an outstanding game-based and personalized learning experience.
From a technical point of view, this meant performing the following:
- Implement a cross-platform mobile application for exam preparation;
- Build a unique UX based on gamified elements and interactive author's content;
- Create a learning planner and introduce adaptive algorithms for the students' task difficulty.
After several months of work, our team implemented a mobile app for competitive exam preparation aimed at becoming a full-fledged tutor on smartphones.
- Personalized learning experience. Thanks to the personalization we have implemented in this rapid eLearning software, students have the opportunity to independently choose the goals of their lessons and create schedules according to their individual needs. At the same time, the complexity of the tasks is automatically adapted by the application to the user's level of knowledge.
- Gamification. Since the applicants’ motivation to move forward in their studies can be challenging, we decided to implement "DRAGI tokens" that they receive for completing tasks. They also have the opportunity to compete with each other in a rating system, which can be an additional incentive for them.
- Reels format. Finally, WEZOM experts decided to present some of the lessons in the format of short videos, similar to those offered by TikTok. This way, students face the familiar experience, but with much greater benefit.
The DRAGI's release in the App Store and Google Play was successful. The new application for exam preparation attracted the attention of students and teachers. Now, the WEZOM team is working on DRAGI's new functionality and features not included in the release version: improving the rating system, integrating an AI-based chatbot, implementing a referral system, and the like.
You can read more about The Case here:
If you are also interested in implementing a customized digital solution for rapid elearning, feel free to contact us. We will assemble a team of specialists with relevant experience to build a platform that fully meets all necessary standards and requirements.
