e-Learning design and delivery

Many organizations such as government agencies, universities and libraries are offering various outreach, employment training, and development programs that include "e-learning" components. Offering such components can help reduce costs associated with travel and classroom-based training. This consulting engagement from IBM offers life-cycle services to provide your enterprise with a comprehensive education/training strategy and plan, as well as course materials and customized learning content. IBM recommends that you incorporate accessibility requirements into learning projects as early in the life cycle as possible. By doing so, the risks associated with non-compliance can be decreased and the usability of e-learning systems can be improved.

IBM has extensive expertise and knowledge of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and U.S. Section 508 standards, two main standards referred to in U.S. state and local government policies. IBM can leverage this expertise and collaborate with you to develop training strategies and deployment plans, develop deliverables that document the e-learning system's accessibility requirements and produce specifications that can help create a compliant solution. If IBM is performing testing of the e-learning system or content, IBM will test the system or content at appropriate stages of the life cycle. A subset of this service can be offered to address the repair of non-compliant existing e-learning systems or content.

• Can help integrate accessibility and usability into your e-learning systems and content for your customers, constituents and employees, including people with disabilities, aging populations and multicultural populations.
• Can help your enterprise address requirements in state and local government laws and regulations.

The size of an e-Learning design and delivery engagement varies, depending on a number of factors. In general, a good rule of thumb is to estimate between 15-20% of the total estimated hours on a project to include services such as the following:

• Use of the IBM User-Centered Design Approach, part of IBM's Global Services Method
• Definition of functional, usability and non-functional requirements
• Development of various work products to support e-Learning design and delivery including (but not limited to): User Profiles, Day-in-the-Life Scenarios, Learning Solution Strategy, Instructional Design Specifications, Usability Evaluations
• Development of style guides, templates, media (simulations, graphics, etc.) and textual content to support usability and accessibility
• Production of captioning and transcripts for rich media
• Selection of accessibility testing tools and methods; performance of accessibility testing on development, test and production code using a combination of testing tools and manual testing - including functionality provided by third parties
• Creation of training and user support strategies and materials