What is the problem?
A co-worker reached out to me recently, and let me know that she was taking an online learning course. She said that the course was still referencing a feature that went away 6 months ago. She wanted to know the plan to have up-to-date training materials. Sound familiar?
One of the many struggles as a learning professional is tracking content once it has been created. I define learning content as documentation, slide decks, videos, courses, quizzes, recordings, SCORM/xAPI files, and even live events. There are many tools to create and house this content. You may have an LMS, Youtube/Vimeo/Wistia account that you have uploaded to or authoring tools like Articulate or Captivate used to create it. I would argue that most learning professionals don’t focus too much on better managing content after it has been created and there is an opportunity for improvement. There isn’t an easy way to track all of these assets in one place to ensure that all content is up to date.
My background is in creating software training materials. This content is relevant for about a month as the software products change so quickly in an agile development world. Content Creators struggle daily with the fear that end-users will find their learning content and help materials outdated.
Why does it matter?
We have a metric called Content Currency. Once an asset is created, we tag the asset with an audit schedule over a period of time. Some of these assets are aggressive and need 30 day audits, others need 12 months. In the agile development world, product changes can move very quickly. For other trainings, like anti-discrimination training or management training, this may not be the case. Either way, the content creator must understand that content needs to be audited at a set interval to stay current.
Why currency matters
The content currency metric has transformed how we report on all assets, but ensure that the customer is accessing the most up-to-date content and are able to solve their problem quickly or learn what they need at that moment. As a manager of instructional designers, trainers, and technical writers, I want to know what content we have and is it current. This also holds individuals accountable for their work to complete the tasks that are most urgent. Managing content across multiple teams adds another level of complexity that needs to be addressed in centralizing, tracking and collaborating.
Stratified's goal is to help all content creators, regardless of industry, to simplify the process of content currency. This can increase individual value, centralize efforts, and create a better end-user experience for those consuming the content. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn to chat more.
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