It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the earliest decisions made for a new venture are often the most important. This is especially the case when an institution of higher learning is considering the launch of an online learning program.

In a way, it was easier a decade ago. Some colleges and universities already had platforms hosting downloadable supplemental materials that supported classroom teaching; they added complete courses to these platforms. This limited what faculty could design into the course, but it was a beginning.

 We are willing to bet that there isn’t a training director anywhere who doesn’t wonder if their organization’s training is all it could be. It’s a disappointing thought because in most cases your online training reflects a lot of thought, resources, and expense.

Chances are you are dissatisfied with the eLearning at your organization. If so, you’re not alone. According to a 2016 study by the Brandon Hall Group, the highest score survey respondents gave to their online learning equated to a C-. Another study by the MASIE Center indicates that only 32 percent of employees will start an online course if it isn’t required, that’s how excited they are about the prospect.

Warren Buffett’s right hand man, Charlie Munger, coined (or made famous) the idea of the “too hard pile.”  Back in the day when communication was by physical letters and memos, you would have three bins on your desk: inbox, outbox and the “too hard pile.”  In Charlie’s world of investing at Berkshire Hathaway, the key was to look at an investment opportunity and decide where it belonged. If there was “hair on the deal”, his rule was to put it in the “too hard pile” and move on.

ExtensionEngine teamed up with Jennifer Gormley, Senior Director, Product at McKinsey Academy to present a webinar on “Using Open edX for online training to generate revenue or create impact.”

Not too long ago, ExtensionEngine hosted an information session geared towards those interested in teaching abroad. This session was organized by Edvntr and featured Tu Ngo cofounder of Yola Institute and ELSA Corp, which won at SXSWedu Launch 2016.

Edvntr is an edtech startup that is engineering a web application that connects foreign schools with teachers interested in teaching abroad anywhere in the world. Edvntr has also roadmapped features to help teachers acclimate to their new enviornment via geo-mapping which will provide them with information about their location and local events as they explore their new home. Edvntr hopes their app will make the teaching abroad process less daunting and more readily available to all. They’ve begun their efforts by partnering with the Yola Institute in Vietnam.

As part of our ongoing exploration of how other pros approach learning experiences, we recently took a look at the newly updated YouTube Creator Academy.

From time to time, we like to take a look at the learning experiences other organizations are creating to help sharpen our own edge in instructional design and user experience.

In the pursuit of our mission to help every person get a great education, we have created a nonprofit arm of ExtensionEngine, known as ExtensionEngine.org.

Please, not another “we ought to put this online” idea….

Recently we’ve been speaking with companies that deliver training and generate revenue from it. Most of these companies deliver this training in-person. They’ve done it this way for years, they know how to get students, deliver the training and generate good revenue. And when we suggest to them that they think about moving it online, we often hear “No! We’ve tried that and it didn’t work. It was hard. The students didn’t like the experience. We never got the results we hoped for. I am not going there again.”