I ran various search terms through Google yesterday to see if I could find one website (or a few) listing Presentations, SCORM content, Flash or Video modules suitable for inclusion in online learning programs. I was hoping to find a repository of content from various eLearning vendors and independent learning professionals. You know, somewhere modules and complete courses are listed by subject, media format, price, vendor, country of relevance, voice-over accent and with a short preview available so you know what you're buying. The content could then be purchased for download and bumped up in to an LMS of the buyer's choice. Well, I was surprised to discover that I couldn't find one.
So one of two things must be true. Either there is no website like this, or there is one out there but it is so badly search engine optimized that no amount of search terms I tried could find it!
I'm curious to know which it is.
Is there a marketplace you visit to find more generic content to include in an online learning program? Is it a collaborative marketplace for all types of international vendors to list their content? This kind of marketplace would be especially useful for something like compliance training modules that just need to cover off country and industry-specific legal obligations.
I'd be really interested in any feedback!
@Schnicker
I suspect the site you are looking for does not really exist. Many companies have tried to do this without any commercial success (this was the original business plan of the company now know as SumTotal). Why? I suspect there are three reasons: the power of search engines has made this less important, people can search and aggregate themselves, (ii) SCORM or whatever the final standard comes to be is at once too restrictive and too fuzzy to allow a good combinaiton of plug and play across learning systems, (iii) the models are moving too quickly for a conventional publishing or aggregation approach to work (the rapid emergence of social media as a learning environment is an example).
ReplyDeleteI am not aware of any site aggregating all the content from competing providers of off-the-shelf eLearning courses and other technology-enabled assets. SkillSoft, the world's largest provider of online learning content, likely has the content you seek and the LMS integration capability needed for deployment. Feel free to browse our website at www.skillsoft.com. We have teams in Austrailia and New Zealand who can work with Litmos. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteI have seen two "marketplaces" for content aimed towards E-learning production in Adobe Captivate. While they don't have a lot of stuff available now we can only hope they will get bigger in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe URL's are:
http://www.e-learningcomponents.com
and
http://e-learningtemplates.com/
Best regards,
Martin
I don't know if we at ManageTrainLearn qualify as a repository of e-learning content in the way you're talking about, Nicole, but, if what you're looking for is a wide selection of generic content on soft skills, personal development, and management topics that can be adapted to suit, then I think we could qualify. We have 100 online courses full of specialist content and these can easily be mixed and matched for users' own needs. If interested, have a look here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.managetrainlearn.com/product-list/mtl-online-courses
You can also have a look at the courses before buying/subscribing as we showcase one of the courses for free.
So, to answer your question on which of the 2 options is true, it's not (1) so it must be (2).
Best wishes
From a K12 perspective we have a real paradox here, maybe even a "chicken little" type of thing. Everyone I talked to agrees that this would be great, we should do it! Noone denies it, there have even been actual attempts to do it (usually at some sort of state level - Florida comes to mind). But then the problems begin, to get something for free, typically, someone else must provide it for free. In the world of expensive curriculum and tight budgets, it can be very difficult to convince a teacher, administrator, or school board to release a piece of curriculum that cost them money/time to produce. Therein lies the problem. In the meantime, there are 'pseudo'-options if you will..
ReplyDeletehippocampus.org might be a good place to start. Searching for "online textbooks" will also typically reveal a fair number of resources.
Many of these sites lure with you free, hoping you'll buy into the "bigger" product down the road.
I personally dream of a nationwide repository of content for k12 (k20) use someday. I hope the hurdles can be overcome!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteWell we use http://www.coggno.com to list our content in the marketplace. They also offer a pay as you go LMS but you can contact marketplace vendors directly and syndicate their content. We market our custom/off the shelf content there and have had good success.
Laurel
VP
SilkWeb Consulting & Development
Web: http://www.silkwebconsulting.com