Subject matter experts are an essential component of elearning courses. He is the best person to consult for designing elearning courses because he has all the technical information. He also has the information about the kind of knowledge learners require being on the job i.e. the real-world skills that can be useful for them. They can also supplement such knowledge with personal anecdotes to make sure that the learners can derive maximum utility from an elearning module.

How to make SME’s cooperate?

It’s important to be in a good relationship with your SME. It’s also important for an SME to help you with the project because it is their responsibility too. Therefore, to get the best results possible, it’s better to share a relationship based on camaraderie and trust.

There can be many problems faced while working with an SME.

Only mutual understanding can solve such problems:

Problem No:1 SME’S don’t have time

The biggest problem is that the SME’s might not have time to interact with you on the project. Sometimes, they are so busy with other projects that they don’t have time for your project.

The solution: The solution to this problem is that you need to talk to an SME to know about their schedule and when they are free for discussions. Then, you need to take out time out of your schedule to make time for them. You have to fix the duration of meetings in such a way that they have spare time for you.

Problem No:2 SME’s are unable to provide information

Some SME’s don’t have the patience to have face-to-face discussions.

The solution: You should know that what are the methods in which SME’s want to communicate. Sometimes, SMEs respond better when emails and messages are sent to them. You should communicate with them in their method of choice. You should also focus when SME’S talk to you in any manner possible. You should listen to them with a lot of interest. That kind of attention stimulates them to give their best.

Problem no:3 SME’S often want to take over the project

Now, this is not a keen desire of SME’s. But sometimes, they have certain inputs for the projects which ID’s might not like to implement.

The solution: It’s better to ask SME’s but their creative ideas. They might have ideas about why certain interactions should not be included in a project because it scatters the attention of the user. You can also explain to them certain instructional designing principles and why the course should be designed in your way.

Make sure SME’S don’t use ideas beyond the scope of the project. There can also be graphs to make sure that the content learners understand the scope of the project. The SME’s have complete knowledge of the project. With good authoring tools, the content provided by SME’s can be converted into an elearning project. You will also need to check whether you an SME with the same feelings and ideas about the project as you.

This is how you can easily work with an SME.