Elearning is now happening everywhere due to the fact that it is accessible in every part of the world. It is a much better option than ILT, which requires so much time consumption from students. But, organizations today need elearning content faster because of the changes in regulations. They can’t wait for months to roll out a new course, which is the case with elearning.

However, Rapid elearning allows content creators to create lessons in a brief period rather than spending months like in Flash based elearning. But this does not mean that this kind of elearning does not adhere to quality standards. It also has a story boarding process, much like elearning.

Although rapid elearning is fast, it does not mean it skips on usability and has a tough navigation. Rapid elearning tools ensure that the course’s testing is done simultaneously so that it’s completely navigable.

Thus, this rapid elearning process is iterative, i.e. if anything’s wrong, it is corrected at the same time rather than waiting for the project to get completed for the review to happen. 

How is rapid elearning so fast?

Rapid elearning process achieves time-saving by ensuring that the SMEs are asked for in the early stages of the project so that they don’t have to spend much time afterwards. It sets up learning objectives to not cause any conundrum later. The SMEs decide learning objectives along with a company’s stakeholders before the preparation of course is started so that the learners don’t have any issues attaining the organization’s learning goals. The instructional designing theories are used just like traditional elearning keeping the adult learners in mind.

Before the development process is started, a prototype is given to the client after finishing the design process. If the client finds any problem with the prototype, then the design process happens again based on his inputs.

Why was elearning slow earlier?

Elearning was not rapid when this process started because it used PPT slides earlier, which don’t have much scope for customization. After all, HTML5 programming could not be done. These slides had very limited scope for animation, which isn’t the case with templates of authoring tools. Also, before the development of elearning authoring tools, there was the use of Flash to create videos which were then uploaded to LMSs. With the humongous use of mobile phones, Flash was no longer an option to create videos because the content created on it wasn’t mobile responsive, whereas the HTML5 content can adjust itself according to the screen size.

 Is rapid elearning good enough?

It also uses existing course materials like class notes and PPT slides, if any. But it definitely does not create any interactivity using complex programming; instead, it uses the built-in gaming templates present in the authoring tools. Although rapid elearning does not have intricate games, it does not mean it’s not interesting for the learner. The authoring tools have a lot of content based techniques, due to which rapid elearning creates thought-provoking courses for the user without including tedious games. These techniques include comic strips to explain the concept to the users through vivid storytelling incorporating talking characters with perfect facial expressions and hand movements. These courses can even be personalized to ensure that the first names are used for the learners, which can be found by creating forms for the user and asking them for their details. Rapid authoring tools have facilitated rapid elearning because they can help the content curators customize elearning templates rather than creating from scratch in HTML. They also have asset libraries which make it simpler to use vector characters in such courses.

What’s the need for rapid elearning?

Apart from the benefit of a faster turnaround time, another advantage of rapid elearning is that since it’s mobile responsive, it can fulfil the needs of a wide target audience which include Gen Z also, which uses their Smartphones to learn. These courses have all the ideal components to grab the attention of a distracted learner, including GIFs, infographics and Flash cards.

Rapid elearning is useful for organizations that have to train their employees by a certain deadline. In this case, elearning authoring tools are also used for question-based templates. Such tools can also be used to record and combine screencasts with animation-based videos.