What Does It Mean To Be A Successful eLearning Developer?
As learning becomes a bigger part of our personal and professional lives, the profession of eLearning developer is growing in popularity. These experienced professionals are needed to create effective learning experiences that are not only engaging but also keep up with technological advancements. But how can you become an eLearning professional? What are the possible paths you can follow, and what will your responsibilities be? Many professionals think all you need to become successful in the field is technical knowledge. However, this is far from true, as you also need to be able to understand learners, their needs, and their preferred learning methods. Read on to discover more about the career of an eLearning developer and how you can achieve success.
Types Of eLearning Developers
Developer
Regular developers are typically highly trained experts in eLearning software. They use the tools provided to create basic or custom modules. They are also responsible for adding a variety of materials inside the courses, like storyboards, texts, videos, audio, scripts, and other multimedia elements. Also, they must understand learner needs and which elements best serve the learning objectives. Therefore, they create corresponding material using the appropriate web development tools. They are responsible for updating modules and making uploads to the LMS of an organization or company.
Creative Developer
These professionals do everything a regular developer does while also designing most of the creative elements. Many of them have degrees in fine arts and graphic design as well as multimedia development abilities. Therefore, they can develop the entire course look and curate graphic content, like banners, animation, and iconography, using not just coding but also design software. They make a course truly engaging by adding games and other interactive elements that make learner navigation feel effortless.
Full-Cycle Developer
These professionals work closely with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to build eLearning modules and templates from scratch according to learner needs. They decide on the outcome, curate the learning plan, and write the scripts and storyboards. After this stage, the full-cycle developer starts creating modules and working on all the technical aspects. They may have some experience in graphic design or collaborate with an expert to create multimedia and interactive elements. It's best if they are proficient in graphic design and corresponding software so they can fully take on the design of a course.
Main Responsibilities You Have When Becoming An eLearning Developer
Design And Develop Online Courses
A storyboard is the first major responsibility of an eLearning developer. It is a detailed outline of the information, actions, and multimedia that will be inserted into the course. The first step is to establish a scenario that informs learners what their goal is and how they can proceed from one step to the next. The storyboard should also mention any additional actions learners can take, such as supplemental links or hints to help them move forward. However, learners might require additional help along the way. That's why developers must provide an aid or mentor participants can contact when facing difficulties. Lastly, it's vital to show people how their choices translate to real life. Incorporating realistic branching scenarios can show learners the consequences of their actions in a risk-free way.
Create User Experience (UX)
Another key responsibility eLearning developers have is to curate a friction-free and flawless user experience. To achieve that, professionals must seek feedback from learners and modify course design based on their needs and preferences. A user-centric experience means that developers must add interactive elements, such as multimedia, as well as intuitive navigation. Consistency is another crucial part as it helps participants recognize the various elements of the course and know what to expect when they finish a sequence. As a result, developers must maintain the same colors, fonts, layouts, animation features, and navigation abilities. Additionally, they should keep the design and information clear and simple. A course must be clutter-free and focused on the essence. Finally, some participants may require accessibility features to understand the content. Therefore, compatibility with a variety of assistive technologies must be ensured.
Create Multimedia Content
Reading pages upon pages of written material can be exhausting and fruitless since retaining information this way is hard. That's why eLearning developers must jazz up courses with imagination and innovation. Multimedia can contain videos, audio, animations, images, games, and even simulations. All these elements transfer knowledge in an accurate and engaging manner that significantly improves retention rates. With simulations, specifically, learners are immersed in life-like scenarios where they must address problems and explore the consequences of their decisions. Multimedia elements can be utilized in courses of all types, including asynchronous, blended, instructor-led, and self-paced. Some of the most captivating examples of multimedia use in eLearning are animated tutorials, interactive games, online presentations, and podcasts.
Curate The Technical Aspects
With an increasing number of tech tools in their arsenal, eLearning developers are more equipped than ever to take on the development of a course's technical aspects. In fact, they don't even need to be experts in coding, although being familiar with HTML and JavaScript basics is recommended. This way, they can build websites, embed codes, and customize the material based on learning needs. Furthermore, eLearning developers have the responsibility of regularly monitoring metrics such as completion rate, error rate, time on task, learner satisfaction rate, feedback, etc. Lastly, developers often conduct quality assurance (QA) to check the accuracy, copyediting, instructional design, navigation, and accessibility of a course.
Design Assessments And Evaluations
Creating assessments is a great way to show participants their progress and underline their strengths and weaknesses. They come in different forms, including tests, quizzes, and assignments. If a course is divided into separate modules, each one may have its own assessment to check the learner's knowledge of the learning points. Alternatively, developers can add a comprehensive test at the end of the course. Self-assessment activities can also be utilized, where learners answer questions to gauge their knowledge acquisition level regarding a certain topic. All in all, assessments, in all their forms, help eLearning developers evaluate the effectiveness of their course and pinpoint areas for improvement or mistakes that must be corrected.
Conclusion
To sum up, it's easy to see that the responsibilities of an eLearning developer may differ depending on the specific career path you follow. However, the main goal that must be carved in your mind if you are determined to become an eLearning developer is that every step must be taken with user experience in mind. Turning dull texts into engaging and interactive elements makes people retain information and accomplish their learning objectives.
