What’s a Subject Matter Expert (SME)?
What’s the first thing that popped into your mind when someone told you to find the “ess, em, ee” to get the course content you need? Did your rookie self grasp at straws and think something along the lines of “small- or medium-size enterprise"? Or maybe your potential client actually said “smee,” which really threw you for a loop. In the e-learning world, the acronym stands for subject matter expert. SME is really just a fancy way of describing someone who is an expert in his or her field. It’s the person in an organization who has the most knowledge or skill in a specific topic. But don’t go looking for the SME department; there isn’t one. An SME might be an HR staff member, an engineer, a researcher, a product manager, a sales manager, or a finance person. Pretty much every department or business unit has a resident expert. The SME has tons of content, experience, and insights that are essential to creating fantastic courses that your learners need in order to ramp up on a new skill quickly or improve their existing skills. And when you’re developing an e-learning course, the SME can be your best friend. Your SME can help you define learning objectives, craft content, and give valuable feedback as you’re developing the course. In short, you can’t develop effective e-learning without an SME. And if you’re an e-learning developer, your job is to partner with the SME to get the information, strategies, and content you’ll need to build an effective course. So, you need to build a collaborative partnership that’s focused on productive communication. Effective communication is especially important during the course review process. Otherwise, you could find yourself in a (seemingly) never-ending cycle of iterations. But don’t worry, that’s why we created Review 360: a simple web app that makes collaborating with SMEs (and other stakeholders) super easy. And we didn’t stop there! We even created this great course to help you explain the review process to your stakeholders, so you can be sure everyone is on the same page. And we’ve got tons of other resources to help you figure out the best ways to work with SMEs to create amazing e-learning: Learn more about engaging productively with SMEs by downloading our free e-book, “The Essential Guide to Working with Subject Matter Experts.” Read this article for some quick tips on working with SMEs. Discover the secret to turning a reluctant SME into an engaged team member in this article. Check out the top discussions and forum threads in our “Working with Subject Matter Experts” forums compilation in E-Learning Heroes. We’d love to hear your questions and comments about working with SMEs in the comments below! Remember to follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.Project Kickoff Questions
Are you starting a new project, but aren’t sure what to ask your Subject Matter Experts? Then download and customize this project kickoff questionnaire to help guide the conversation. If you found this document helpful, then check out: Make Working With SMEs a Breeze with These 3 DownloadsE-Learning Project Plan
Set clear expectations from the start with this E-Learning Project Plan. Download and customize this Microsoft Word document to help you and your Subject Matter Experts get on the same page. If you found this document helpful, then check out: Make Working With SMEs a Breeze with These 3 DownloadsWhat do E-Learning Designers Need to Know About Working with SMEs? #474
Working with E-Learning SMEs #474: Challenge | Recap When it comes to building courses, your Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) hold the keys to your success—you can’t do much without them. They’re the folks who not only bring their expertise to the table but also help you fine-tune those storyboards and quizzes and break down the intricate processes that make your training actually work. But here’s the catch: if they’re not fully on board or are dragging their feet, they can quickly become a major headache. The trick is figuring out how to turn those challenging SMEs into your biggest allies. And that's this week’s challenge is all about! 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week’s challenge is to share a short demo or interaction that helps e-learning designers collaborate more effectively with their SMEs. You can take it in any direction you like—whether it’s creating a slide with your favorite quote about working with SMEs, building a microlearning course, or even a whack-a-mole game (SME Edition). ✨ Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a new thread and share a link to your published example. Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We'll link to your posts, so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before sharing your favorite tips for working with SMEs, take a look at the final examples from the e-learning game show series: E-Learning Quiz Games RECAP #473: Challenge | Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly e-learning challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. Learn more about the challenges in this Q&A post and why and how to participate in this helpful article.The Essential Guide to Working with Subject Matter Experts
If you’re like most e-learning developers, working with subject matter experts (SMEs) is one of your toughest challenges. But don’t worry, we’re here to help. Download this e-book to learn effective strategies for partnering with your SMEs to create awesome e-learning. You’ll learn how to get the information and feedback that you need—and how to make collaborating on courses a positive experience for everyone. In this e-book, we’ll discuss how to: Set the right tone Get the right content Set expectations with all project partners Handle objections from SMEs Keep the project on schedule Wrap up your collaboration And much moreE-Learning Storyboard
Do you need help organizing content and resources into a slide-based e-learning course? Before you start developing, download and customize this Microsoft Word Storyboard template to clearly outline the learning content for your Subject Matter Experts. If you found this document helpful, then check out: Make Working With SMEs a Breeze with These 3 DownloadsWhat To Do When Your Course Has Too Much Content
Sometimes creating an e-learning course is like packing for a trip: it’s easy to keep adding, adding, adding … until your e-learning “suitcase” is bursting at the seams. And guess what? Most learners go numb when slide after slide is stuffed with text and images and ideas. The volume of content overwhelms their drive to “unpack” key messages buried in all that information. And when learners can’t focus on what’s important, how will they ever apply what you’re trying to teach them? Content overload, at both the slide level and the course level, is one of the most common e-learning mistakes. What can you do to avoid it? Here are few ideas to consider. Avoid Making a Course Have an SME who’s really, really insistent that every last piece of their content needs to be in the course? It may be because they’re focused on pushing information at learners, rather than coaxing out the kind of thinking that leads to behavior change. Your job as the e-learning expert is to help SMEs see all the different ways you can structure content to focus on the learner and, ultimately, to impact their performance. Try suggesting non-course options, like: Job aids: A simple quick reference or at-a-glance chart is often far more effective than a course. Digital performance support: An online glossary of terms, a troubleshooting guide, or a short software simulation might be all learners need to get up to speed. Break It Down Numerous studies (Miller, most notably) have shown that the human brain more easily digests information when it’s provided in manageable chunks. That’s because our working memory—the place where our brains process information—can only handle so much at once. Here are a few pointers for breaking down content in a way that makes it more manageable. Prioritize content: If the learner needs to be taught information to pass a quiz at the end of the course, maintain a focus on that most crucial content. Focus on the learning objectives: If the goal of the course is for learners to be able to assemble widgets, move the ancillary “ancient history of widgets” into a format that’s optional … you know, for those viewers who are really, really into widgets. Avoid content overload: A simple tabs or process interaction can be a great way to organize lots of related content in a way that’s inviting for learners to explore. Manage content: Break out individual lessons into mini-courses. Make It Compelling It’s tempting to lose sight of the goal and think of courses as content containers rather than change catalysts. Transforming your content into something that’s inspiring and actionable means you need to make it compelling. As Tom Kuhlmann points out in this classic Rapid E-Learning Blog post, you’ve got to “give the learner a reason to use the information.” So, how do you that? Use problem-solving: People learn the most from trying and failing, experimenting, and playing with the possibilities. Transform passive lectures into active learning by giving folks a problem to solve. Have lots of data to share? Pull out the most important facts and support them with an eye-catching graphic. Infographics are much better at conveying information than bullets. Keep your writing snappy. Ditch superlatives that distract learners and don’t add value. Swap out wordy phrases for more succinct ones. Even small changes—replacing “click the next arrow to proceed” with something snappier and more inviting, like “see what happens next,” can make your content easier to read and understand. Ready to Streamline Your Content? Longing for some clever ways to streamline content? Look no further than E-Learning Heroes for examples, ideas, and inspiration. Here are a few resources that you might find especially helpful. Intrigued by the idea of creating interactive job aids? Take a look at these great examples from our past E-Learning Challenge—Using Interactive Job Aids in E-Learning. Want to avoid overwhelming learners with content or confusing them with poorly organized content? Use these four strategies from Nicole Legault for organizing e-learning content. Not sure how to make your interactions more compelling? Check out these fabulous pointers from Nicole Legault. How do you deal with content overload? We’d love to hear your ideas and field your questions in the comments below. Enjoy this article? Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.Rise 360: A Course for Stakeholders on the Review Process
If you’re like 25% of e-learning developers, the review process is the most difficult part of your job. Now, thanks to Review 360, it’s easier than ever before. A great review tool makes the process run a lot more smoothly, but why not take it a step further by educating reviewers on the e-learning development process, their role within it, and how to give clear, relevant feedback? Here’s an example of a simple course on the review process you could send to your reviewers to help get them up to speed. Like this course? Click here to send a copy of this course to your Rise 360 dashboard. Feel free to share this course or adapt it based on your internal review workflow. If you don’t have access to Rise 360, sign up for a free, 30-day trial of Articulate 360.
