eLearning is an efficient way to broaden your knowledge and improve your skills in a safe online environment. It was established as a supportive form of learning in the past, but it has achieved the leading role at present. It has even more supporters now since the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives and made us think about how we can function better online. The demand for online courses has increased significantly. Research and Markets forecast that the online eLearning market will reach $350 billion by 2025. The media popularizes this type of learning as even more open and closer to the general user. Forbes discusses the rise of online learning with a focus on its significant growth as a result of the pandemic.
Now more than ever, it is important to focus on custom eLearning content rather than on promoting standard eLearning modules. The next step after developing such content is to make it available to users all over the world by properly translating and localizing it.
What is custom eLearning content?
Each eLearning module is created to serve a specific purpose. However, most of the courses have general usage and target a large group of learners. They can be used by different age groups, people of different backgrounds, and various levels of previous knowledge and skills. While this type of content creation has its advantages, it is more valuable to create a tailor-made course that is intended for a specific target group and certain goals. Here we speak about creating custom eLearning content. That is a specific process to develop eLearning content that suits your learning style.
Custom eLearning content can be developed for educational institutions, government bodies, business entities, and private persons. It is especially recommended for company training since each company has its own specific policies. Employee training is an essential part of the overall business development and when properly lead will achieve the desired results. Custom eLearning content can take into account various types of eLearning in order to suit the needs of the customer. Some of the modules can be based on gamification or use microlearning as a tool. Quite often different techniques can be combined in order to meet the needs of the given customer. When the content developer is familiar with the specific needs and requirements of the client, the custom course will be efficient.
Aspects associated with custom eLearning content and its translation
In order to create custom eLearning content, the developer needs to use certain authoring tools and be familiar with the needs of the contractor. Some of the important aspects to take into account when creating custom content for a business are the following:
- Knowledge of the industry the company operates in
- Specific details about the certain branch of operation
- Business jargon used in the industry, the branch, and in the company itself
- Target audience
- Learning goals and objectives
- Overall goals of the company
- Company brand, main ideas, slogans
- Company-specific colors, symbols, and images that are to be included in the eLearning content
There might be other important aspects to be considered depending on the customer who needs eLearning content. It is also necessary to determine a deadline for the implementation of the project. It is also very important to create content that is translation-friendly, even if the client is not planning immediate translation.
When it comes to translating custom eLearning content there are several services that come in handy. Educational material translation, website localization, and software localization are a few to mention. The translator needs to make sure that all of the channels that will be used for the dissemination of the learning content are properly localized and synchronized. This ensures all of the learners have access to the same quality and experience.
Who can translate custom eLearning content?
You can translate eLearning courses in just 5 easy steps as long as you know how to do it. There are common misconceptions as to who is qualified to translate eLearning content. It is wrong to believe that anyone with foreign language knowledge or anyone involved in the sphere of eLearning and being bilingual can do the job. The fact is that educational material translation is a specific service offered by professional translators and service language providers. The job is usually done by people who have experience in education and are familiar with the specific features of eLearning localization for training purposes.
eLearning localization is a service that often combines educational material translation with software localization. This guarantees that the translated content will be properly displayed regardless of the language of the end user. When it comes to custom eLearning content, quite often the translators are subject-matter experts in the given industry. In other words, translations with the same language combination but in a different sphere will be translated by different professionals – those who have expertise in the given field. If you want your translated courses to have the same effect on the learners as the ones in the source language, make sure to carefully select your translation vendor.
