Content creation is critical because it will define the success of the eLearning course that you want to produce. If you fail at it, you will not reach your elearning goals. You would have wasted your time and money on creating the course.
It is important to understand that placing content in an online course is not as easy as writing it. You have to deliver it in such a way that will engage and motivate your learners to ask questions and pursue the answers. You want to be able to get their thought processes working – and not just be a passive learner. When you instill the love of learning in those who will access the course, you can encourage them to learn more and improve themselves and their output in the process.
The question is, are you capable of doing high-quality content? Because if not, you have no choice but to outsource your content creation requirements.
There are certain signs that will tell you if you can do this task on your own.
- You have no budget to outsource. Probably the most obvious reason to do the content yourself is when you do not have the money to pay the third party company who will do it. Depending on the length and how you want to course to turn out, this can be more costly than necessary. If your budget cannot afford it, then you have no choice but to do it yourself.
- You have low standards for the course. If the course does not have to be sophisticated and can be very simple, then you do not have to spend too much on it. For instance, if the course is intended to make the learners understand something and not implement it, then you can do it yourself. If you want the learners to be more productive and earn revenue, then the goal of the course is more complicated. You can justify the investment to outsource the content creation.
- Your content is unique and very specific. If the content that you are going to use in the course is very specific to the company, then hiring someone who knows nothing about it will just waste your time and effort. They will end up relying on you for guidance during the creation of the content. It might be faster if you just did it yourself.
On the other hand, you need to outsource content creation if the following signs are true.
- You do not have the skills to do it on your own. This is a no-brainer. If you know that you do not have the technical expertise to meet your goals for the course, then you know that outsourcing it is a necessity.
- You intend to profit from the course. If you want to earn from the course, then you need to invest in it to ensure that it will be effective. You want a clear, clean and well-constructed course to show potential learners. If the course appears to be done by an amateur, you might lose credibility in selling the information in the course – even if the subject is within your expertise.
- You will spend more if you try to do it on your own. Companies who make content creation a business is already equipped with the tools and software that can easily complete the job. If you will try to do it on your own and you need to invest in these tools and equipment, then outsourcing may prove to be more cost-efficient.
Consider these signs carefully when you are trying to decide if you will outsource the content creation or not. Sometimes, it is more practical to outsource the job even if you will end up spending on the professional who will work on it.
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