So, you just analyzed your business problem and realized your employees need training…remotely (need I say that?). But the question is: What should I do to make sure the training is effective? Map your training content, obviously! (haha)
You’re looking at your existing training assets. You know some of the PowerPoints are outdated. There are some new materials from a vendor you want to incorporate. You want to avoid making reactionary training that is hard to track, update, and make sure it points toward performance outcomes.
You know the goal. The goal of training is to increase the KSB (Knowledge-Skills-Behaviors) of your employees so that your people and your business succeed.
Now what?
It’s time to start learning how instructional designers use a training playbook and toolkit to create online learning. The playbook and toolkit model is filled with proven processes that are repeatable, scalable, and measurable.
This post is all about one of the tools: content mapping.
Now let’s get onto the 7 steps you need to take after you have analyzed your training needs.
7 Steps to Map Your Training Content
Many organizations react to training needs. Let’s talk onboarding as an example.
Employee turnover is a big training issue in many organizations. Onboarding new employees is a common training need. Someone gets assigned or takes on the task of creating new training. They start creating a PowerPoint. Often, the person creating the training has little experience in training. On the other hand, the person may have been training people in person for years and has no idea how to take the training online.
3 reasons training needs to be mapped:
- There is a new need for content.
- The training material is out of date.
- The content is insufficient to adequately train people to meet their goals.
Following the 7 Steps to Map Your Training Content will give you a repeatable process rooted in a playbook & toolkit model.
Step 1 – Identify the team
Identifying your team begins with your listing your internal team. These are the people who will help you map the content from start to finish. Ask yourself these questions:
- Who is the subject matter expert for this content?
- Who will be a good project manager?
- Who needs to sign off or approve the final product?
Next, you need to identify whether or not you’ll need an external team to complete the content development. An outside vendor should act as an extension of your internal team. If you qualify the external vendor properly, they will enable you to speed up your development time. Ask yourself these questions:
- Does my external team have instructional design expertise?
- Do they have a clear process for accomplishing the work?
- Does their scope of work fit within my budget?
Once you have your team in place, set aside time to do the mapping.
Step 2 – Set a scheduled mapping time
Now that you know who’s on your team it’s time to organize everyone around a specific block of time. Content mapping can be done rapidly in a matter of days or it can be spread out over multiple weeks. Most importantly, plan a consistent time.
Pro-tip: Gather all of your resources (past training materials, courses, PDFs, job aids, etc.) before your first content mapping session.
Step 3: Create a shared folder
Now that you have your team and your regular meeting time they’re going to need a place to put everything. Create a shared folder with subfolders using the architecture below.
“[name of program or training initiative or course]”
Images
Videos
Courses
Instructor-Led Training
Training Manuals
Online Course Documents
Job Aids
The shared folder structure will allow you to manage the files and resources involved in the content mapping process. Make sure that everybody knows where this is located. And most importantly, make sure everyone has read/write access.
Step 4: Create a new content map instance
If you have a training playbook and toolkit, simply create a new version of your content mapping template. Save it at the root level of your new shared folder structure. For example, let’s say you are creating onboarding for new employees. Create a new instance of your template and name it Onboarding Program Content Map.
Step 5: Fill in the map
Here is where the real work begins. Content mapping is linear. Follow these seven steps for every training topic.
- List each topic
- Identify the type of material
- Name the Subject Matter Expert (SME)
- List the source material location
- Grade the material as use as-is, update, or new need.
- Note any questions related to the topic
- Create actions for the team
Step 6: Evaluate the mapping process
Filling in the map may take several hours, days, or weeks to complete. It is the job of the project manager, or the outside vendor project manager, to evaluate the progress of the content mapping. It is not uncommon for content mapping to take several sessions to complete.
Step 7: Write a learning strategy
Content mapping yields informed decisions. A thorough content map will prepare your team to develop a solid learning strategy. Again, you should return to your playbook and toolkit to create a new instance of a learning strategy for a program. If you are making a single course, then perhaps a design document is better suited to your needs. Either way, the end of content mapping as a process is the beginning of writing a learning strategy, whether at the program or course level.
Helpful Links
A Training Needs Analysis Guide
What is a Training Toolkit? – VIDEO
A Beginner’s Guide: Training Toolkit
10 Compelling Reasons You Should Use Templates for eLearning
The Best Video for Learning Guide to Make Training Videos
How to Edit Learning Video: The Ultimate Checklist
Video Editing Workflow: How to Do it Properly
10 Important Steps After You Finish A Live Training Video
Conclusion
Teaching people how to do something so they can do their job better is very important. Using a repeatable process that helps you teach people effectively is even more important. Following the 7 steps to map your learning content after you analyze your training needs is a crucial thing you can do to guarantee that the training you develop actually meets your goals.
Before you can create a learning strategy you have to map your content. Start by assembling a team, setting a regular meeting schedule, and give them a place to put their work.
Now get busy and start mapping your content by identifying the type of materials, who owns them, where they are located, and grade it!
After you’ve followed these 7 steps, you’ll be ready to draft a learning strategy for your online learning program.
Now, let’s interact. How are you going to use these 7 steps to improve your next employee training program or course?
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