1. Define and clarify the project brief.

You don’t want any nasty surprises in the middle of your project! You need to carefully analyse the project brief and work out exactly what resources, skills and abilities you need in your team to achieve the required outcomes. You should also research the content area, and in particular the needs of the target audience, to ensure that you consider all the things your e-learning resource needs to support.

If you don’t feel you have the knowledge or experience to translate required outcomes into team roles, consult with an expert who can help you. This is often required when it comes to the technical aspects of the e-learning resource development project, where it can be difficult to work out the kinds of skills you need in your team unless you have a good understanding of technical development.

2. Define roles and responsibilities.

Most successful e-learning resource development teams follow a process flow that provides a framework for the project to follow. Within this framework, it is important for each team member to know exactly what he/she is responsible for, and how their individual role relates to that of others in the team.

Of course, you need to have some flexibility here – people will have strengths and weakness in different areas, so working collaboratively and supporting each other in the team must be encouraged. However, if roles and responsibilities are not established and understood; team members may lose focus. Sometimes conflict can occur when ownership is unclear.

3. Interpersonal skills!

We all know it can be challenging to establish and maintain a positive team working collaboratively together, but an e-learning resource development team can often contain a quirky mix of personalities. You need to look for people with good interpersonal skills such as communication, negotiation, leadership, teamwork, questioning and listening. The ability to work to deadlines in pressured situations is also a great asset.

In a collaborative team environment, ideas are shared and feedback given supportively. Problems are shared and solved together. Skills and expertise are respected and valued. Recognition is given for both individual and team achievements. Decision making is a team process and people are consulted for their opinions.

4. Balance!

A balanced e-learning resource development team is one that is not dominated by any one role or area of expertise. Generally, a content expert won’t be a specialist in instructional design, an instructional designer won’t be an expert multimedia developer, and a multimedia developer won’t be a content expert. It’s the combination of skills, experience and expertise that makes a team work, but that combination must be balanced.

Most importantly, ensure there is strong learner representation on the team. Ideally, your content expert should be a trainer/assessor with experience in delivering the content you’re developing in your e-learning resource. Instructional designers who have a background in education or experience in training delivery are also very valuable.

These might be helpful for you when it’s time to establish your e-learning resource development team:

  • the roles and responsibilities in an e-learning resource development team
  • a checklist for assembling an e-learning resource development team
  • the design and development process.