Lionbridge Content Development

Developing Good LMS Content

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Today Wendy is blogging about how to evaluate LMS content, when developing content for either instructional or informational purposes...

One of my colleagues asked me this interesting question the other day, "What makes good LMS content?" He wanted to make sure that the content offered to his audience is effective, valuable, and that he's not posting a lot of content which no one will ever use. 

My initial thought was - I can answer this in 2 seconds. And it's a great question, because in our universe, there is a lot of bad content out there (I think of every search result I've ever seen - there's always some useless content on the list).

But actually, the more I thought about it, the more questions I had. Do I concentrate on what makes good e-learning? But what about the instructor-led classes? What about the times when we need to make sure everyone sees and understands some content (like an annual code of conduct or Sarbanes Oxley requirement, which must be tracked)?

Of course, the intent and purpose of the content plays a big role in how you evaluate its worth. Is the content for information purposes only? Or do you really want to teach people something, so they can demonstrate a new skill? Or do we even care about the quality of content on the LMS? Does it matter what gets posted?  In my mind, I say yes. I relate it to moderating a blog, making sure that appropriate comments get posted.

So I decided to think about quality instructional content first, but that's still a broad category. I have my own ideas, but I'd love to hear what you think. So, I offer you these questions:

• What makes good instructional content?  How do you know you've got good instruction (in any format)?
• Is it all about the objectives, and matching content to objectives?
• Or is it about the presentation - how creative and interesting you make it, with novel learning activities?
• Is practice or testing required for good instruction (some people have very definite opinions on practice and testing)?
• Do you need collaboration or communication?

I remembered some principles of good instruction that my ID mentor, Dr. Steve Yelon, taught his Instructional Design classes at Michigan State University. He wrote a great book, "Powerful Principles of Instruction," which really captures the essence of what makes good instruction, including these principles:

• Make your content meaningful and relevant to the audience.
• Your content should be essential to the task at hand, well-organized, and consistent.
• Include learning aids to help people learn, and also to act as a performance support tool.
• Provide clear communication to students in the form of agendas, objectives, and feedback.
• Include novel presentation methods which grab attention, build interest and encourage understanding.
• Include appropriate practice (I touched on this a little in my last post!)
• Model appropriate behaviors and consequences.

I've paraphrased from Dr. Yelon, and I could probably spend at least one blog post on each of these principles. But I think these principles are still good criteria for evaluating instruction, regardless of the delivery method, objectives, or target audience. And for the most part, I think they apply to informational content, too.

Whether you agree with my initial principles or not, I invite you to share your criteria for evaluating content. What do you think makes good content (either instructional or informational)? Is it even necessary to care about what gets posted to an LMS? Is more content better? Let me know!