I’ve been thinking a lot about slide-to-eLearning this week. At some point in an eLearning developer’s career, they’re inevitably asked to take a slide deck, add some “interaction” and then publish and upload it to the LMS. While this seems to be the way most corporate training is made, it’s usually dismissed in L&D circles as low quality by default. Slides are often poorly structured in the first place and the whole thing usually ends up in a content library without thought. But I think this reaction overlooks how learning actually happens in the workplace. In real workplaces people don’t seek out online training with excitement, setting aside time hoping for a fantastic learning experience. Instead, they look for online training when they’re in the middle of a task, trying to figure out what to do next. In that more realistic moment, easy-to-access training becomes more valuable than polish. A simple, slide based session, without engaging scenarios or interactions, just clearly explaining the right action can be the difference between getting a task right or wrong. This is where I think we lose balance in L&D. There’s a focus on delivering quality eLearning, which matters, but not enough focus on availability. A single well-designed course can have less impact than a dozen small, unremarkable courses. The blanket assumption that slide-to-eLearning, or eLearning that doesn't fit ideal design standards, has no value ignores the role it can play as easy to create, just-in-time support. This doesn't mean efficiency and production time should be favoured over quality. My point is that we shouldn't wholesale ignore a style of eLearning production if it has value. In the same way that not all training has to be a video or scenario, some training can just be slide-to-eLearning, and that’s ok. Availability is part of performance improvement, and we should be using the right types of eLearning when it’s needed. Another way to see it is this, whether an eLearning session started out as a fully-fledged storyboard or as slides doesn't matter. What counts is whether the training helped someone do their job better when it mattered. If it did, even if it’s simple and boring, then it has its place at the table.
The Value of Simple Slide-to-eLearning in the Workplace
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I agree about the value of simplicity and performance support, but where you say, "ignores the role it can play as easy to create, just-in-time support. " I'm not sure a slide deck is the best format for this (in fact I rarely think it would be). I think slide decks tend to put you in 'presentational mode' (even when not presenting) and might tempt you to add decorative graphics, etc ---> I think a document format would be more efficient or even better checklists or even an AI-enabled tool that could simply give this quick information when directly asked about a specific task or need.