Planning and Managing an eLearning Project

Planning and Managing an eLearning Project Related Information:

As is the case for the success of most things, the success of any eLearning project also depends on how it is planned and managed. Here are the various steps involved in the planning and management of an eLearning project, which will help you to make a huge success of it.

Planning an eLearning Project

Once you have identified the focus or goals of your eLearning project, you need to get down to planning its execution. Planning a project gives you an idea about how to go about the project and can also help to identify any problem areas. Any problems that do arise can be fixed in the planning stage itself, and you will not have to waste your time and money in fixing them during the course of the project.

While planning your eLearning project you need to:

Confirm your goals and objectives.

Ascertain the resources needed to complete the project. Do you have the right team? Are the people skilled and ready? Is the number of people enough to get the project done? Do you need outside help from other professionals? Do you have the proper infrastructure in place?

Gauge the risks, if any. Outline a plan to identify any risks, and then how you are going to evaluate, manage, and deal with the risks that may prevent your eLearning project from getting completed.

List down any assumptions that are being made and also spot any limits that could make your eLearning project difficult to complete.

Once you have identified all the above, you need to make the actual plan for your eLearning project. While making the plan, keep the following things in mind:

Divide the project into manageable stages and sections.

List the results that have to be achieved at every stage of the eLearning project.

Define milestones of the project. This will help to evaluate if the project is going according to plan and is also a good way to measure the success of the eLearning project.

List the order of the stages. Can any stage be completed before another, or do they have to be done in any particular sequence.

Make someone responsible for the work involved at each stage of the eLearning project, and list down the resources required at every level.

After your plan is completed, you need to put all this information in one place, so that you can refer to it while managing your eLearning project.

Managing an eLearning Project

The proper managing of your eLearning project is essential to ensure that all your hard work in the planning and execution stage does not go in vain. Here are some suggestions to help you in managing your eLearning project.

Ensure that the project is going as per the plan and keep an eye on the quality of the work.

Desist from making any unnecessary changes to the scope of the eLearning project.

Keep your team up to date with relevant information and provide moral support.

Talk with the people who are actually doing the work and not to someone talking on their behalf. This will help to know the exact state of the project. Always ask how much time is left to complete a particular work and not how much is completed (you’re likely to always get the answer – almost done)

Check all work done to ensure that it meets the quality criteria laid down in the plan. A good way of doing this is to show the work to a few people and ask for their comments and assessment of quality.

If anything needs to be changed, ensure that the change is as minimal as possible and does not interrupt the progress of the eLearning project. Remember to inform everybody who needs to know about the change.

Even with the most careful planning and managing of an eLearning project, there are bound to be things that go wrong with the project. In such cases, you need to immediately acknowledge the faults and then re-plan your strategy to provide a solution to the problem. This can be done by consulting your superiors and the people involved in the eLearning project. Once you have reached a viable solution, you have to implement it, and continue managing your eLearning project till its completion.