Content Conversion

The greatest e-learning engine in the world is useless without good content to run on it.

There are three options for getting content to your audience on the Cognitivity platform:

• Off The Shelf - Since Cognitivity uses the IMS standards, any third-party content meeting the standard will play on our engine.
• Build Your Own - Use Cognitivity's Authoring Suite to build your own course by uploading existing files or author new content and questions directly on our server.
• Custom Content Development - Cognitivity has extensive experience converting existing documents and courses and creating new material to create engaging, compelling instruction.

Developing good content is critical to a successful e-learning initiative. Simply having an expert, or an expert's writings, available is only half the solution. It must be structured, with the right combination of text, figures, and multimedia, to give your trainees the "aha" moment - when they finally can assimilate the new information so it can be applied on the job.

The flash exercise below is an example of how a simple interactive demonstration can be clearer than a thousand words:

Cognitivity's approach to content authoring and conversion is based on many years of experience from the company founders. Our approach is the compilation of the best practices discovered in working in vendor, consulting, and support roles with a large number of client companies.

Rule 1: Subject Matter Experts should concentrate on what they know best.

As tempting as it may be to assign one person, the "subject matter expert", to the task of creating the course in its entirety, this practice is seldom the most efficient one.

The experts familiar with the material to be taught are seldom experienced computer users; instead (by definition) they are experts within their own field of study. Rather than expecting these individuals to fully author online courseware themselves, it is usually much more practical and efficient to pair a content expert with a dedicated online author whose task is to convert the text, sketches, and other materials developed by the expert into an attractive, online form.

Cognitivity's staff can generally input the course material far more rapidly than the content expert could accomplish herself. By working as a team, the subject matter experts and online authors can produce courseware that is markedly more engaging than a content expert can produce on his own, and can do so much more rapidly and efficiently.

Rule 2: Set attainable and measurable goals.

Cognitivity can work with you and your experts to develop clear objectives for your course: what topics should be taught, in what order; what skills can be measured and tested; and what style should be used in conveying the information.

Rule 3: Select the right balance of multimedia to text.

A fully text-based course may superficially meet the training requirements, but in some cases multimedia examples can make the learning more understandable, more relevant, and thus more lasting. Even subjects without obvious multimedia ties can be brightened with a case study or interactive forms to help contextualize the information.

However, multimedia is more expensive to develop. Scattering some carefully selected examples within the text can be a good compromise in some instances.

Cognitivity understands the importance of balancing cost and features, and will work with you to build training that maximizes the return on your budget.