Friday 13 April 2007

Re-using SCOs

We have recently completed the pre-audio work on our latest module ('SS7 Fundamentals') - which is a technical module on telecom signaling. This was one of the first times we have tried re-using graphics, text and audio from our new content repository.

Up till now we built each new module from scratch. Obviously that took lots of work - but we could customize the content around the subject-matter. Now, having built nearly 500 tutorials, we have a great collection of artwork and re-useable text. We also have a huge repository of test questions that can be randomized for assessment purposes.

So what's the advantage of this new approach ? Well the first thing is we built our latest module in 50% of the time (and probably 25% of the cost). Secondly, we know the existing materials have been pre-tested and peer-reviewed - so that means the Q/A effort is much less. Thirdly, we now have visibility into our entire content repository as a library of re-usable SCOs - and that means we can roll our new (or custom) modules quite easily.

Anyone else got experience of this approach to technical eLearning ?

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