The 6 Phases of eLearning Development

Everyone has different teaching methods, learning preferences, attention spans… Did we lose you already? Let’s not make this more complicated than it has to be. 

There are only 6 phases to developing eLearning training. It’s adaptable, so no matter what your preferences are, they’ll fit into this framework. 

Phase 1: Need Analysis

The needs analysis is a structured process of identifying why the training is needed, who it’s for, what they need to know, and how you’re going to get that knowledge to them. It also makes the approval process a lot easier, since you can make changes faster in this phase, before development. Without a proper needs analysis, you risk creating training that’s either irrelevant, unengaging, ineffective, or all three. 

A 2023 LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report emphasized that aligning learning programs with business goals is critical, yet only 40% of L&D professionals believe their training is aligned effectively.

Below is a detailed breakdown of everything that would go into a great analysis.

Identify the Problem

You’re trying to fill a gap in the company, get better, and achieve a goal - or you wouldn’t need the training in the first place. Let’s identify the problem before we discuss solutions. 

Ask questions like: 

• What is happening in the business that triggered the need for this training? 
• Are employees underperforming? Why?
• Is there a knowledge gap? A skills gap? A culture problem?
• What is the effect of this problem on the business? Is it financial? Operational?

Identify the Target Audience

Understanding your learners will continuously inform the shape of your course, including its tone, methods of teaching, and modes of delivery. 

These are some considerations for your target audience:

• Roles and responsibilities: What do they spend their day-to-day doing?
• Experience level: Are they new hires you need to onboard, team leaders, experts?
• Learning preferences: What is the best way to deliver content to them? In a group setting, in-depth deep dives, mobile-friendly microlearning?
• Location and Accessibility: Are they in-office, remote, hybrid? Will localization be needed for them to learn in their own language? Do they have any learning barriers?

Deloitte’s 2023 Human Capital Trends report notes that workforce decentralization demands more tailored, digital-first training approaches, so these are things you should consider before planning the training. 

Set the Goals

Getting into the real question: What do you want to achieve? This is where the broader ambitions become clear, objective markers to work towards. So let’s narrow it down. 

• What are you trying to accomplish?
  Frame your goals around the problem. For example, increase onboarding speed by equipping new hires with essential tools and procedures.
• What topics need to be covered to accomplish this?
  What knowledge, skills, or behaviors will bridge the gap between “where learners are” and “where they need to be”? This can generally be simplified to: what they need to know, what they need to do, and what they need to not do. 
• How will success be measured?
  Are you tracking quiz scores, completion rate, behavior changes, business outcomes? 

Determine the Delivery Method

Once you understand the audience and the problem, you need to have an idea of how you can best deliver this training. 

• Should this be self-paced or instructor-led?
• Is this information best explained with videos, readings, quizzes, or scenario-based practice?
• What tools are you using? Do you have a Learning Management System (LMS) in place?
• What technical requirements are there? 
• How will you handle progress tracking, analytics, reporting?

Plan for Content Creation

Finally, have a realistic plan in place for creating the content. Consider things like:

• Do you have Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) available? Do you need to find them externally?
• What internal resources will be helpful?
• How long will development take? What’s the budget?

Phase 2: The Instructional Design Document

Okay, you’ve done your homework. You know exactly what this course is and who it’s for. Now that you have all of the logistics planned out, you can focus on the actual content of the course. 

An Instructional Design Document (IDD) outlines exactly what information is delivered in this training, and the best ways to engage learners with your content. It’s the architecture of the experience. It’s also a detailed plan that stakeholders, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), instructional designers, and developers can align around. You can easily get feedback on the plan before creating the content, so it saves time later. 

Creating a detailed instructional design document is vital to clarify the vision for the course and aligns all team members on content goals and delivery strategy.

Bring in the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

No one knows the content better than the SME. They have all of the information you want to impart on your trainees. The SME will need to:

• Gather detailed, accurate information.
• Define the knowledge and skills the learner should walk away with. 
• Clarify any tricky concepts or industry-specific information.
• Validate the learning outcomes. 

SMEs improve training effectiveness by providing industry-relevant context, which studies show boosts knowledge retention by up to 30%. The SME gives you the information, and you translate that into something the learner can actually absorb. 

Structure

You have the information, now decide how it will be laid out. What’s the best way to present the material without overwhelming your audience?

Here’s what you should sort out in this stage:

• Course structure: Number of modules, lessons, or topics. 
• Flow of content: Logical progression from one idea to the next. 
• Scaffolding: Building on previous knowledge as learners move forward. 

Choose the Modes of Learning

Let’s make the course interesting now. Modern eLearning thrives on variety. People learn differently, and engaging content speaks to multiple senses and preferences.

You’ve already considered your technical limitations in the planning. With that in mind, you’ll decide which formats to use, such as:

• Videos: Great for visual learners and passive knowledge transfer. 
• Scenario-based Learning: Perfect for skills-based training and real-time decision making. 
• Quizzes and Assessments: Reinforce knowledge and track progress. 
• Gamification: Add motivation and play through points, badges, levels. 
• Readings and Resources: Ideal for deep dives. 
• Social Learning and Discussion Prompts: Boost engagement and peer-to-peer learning. 

Build the Syllabus

Create a roadmap for the course. This isn’t planning anymore, this is what your learners will see so that they have a clear overview of what’s coming. 

Your syllabus should include:

• Module/lesson titles
• Brief description of each lesson
• Expected learning hours (guided and non-guided)
• Learning outcomes per module
• Assessment strategy (when and how learners will be tested)
• Student success strategy (tips, tools, or scaffolding for support)

Design the Assessment For Learning (AFL) Strategy

Assessments aren’t just for you to see how employees are performing, they’re tools for learning. It’s good to have points of assessment where the learner can fail safely. The way that you test the learner will depend on the kind of training they’re receiving. If you want them to apply knowledge, don’t just ask them to recall facts. 

Your AFL strategy can include:

• Formative assessments: In-lesson quizzes or interactive checks.
• Summative assessments: End-of-module tests or practical evaluations. 
• Feedback mechanisms: Instant feedback with explanations for answers.
• Benchmarks for success: An 80% pass rate, or completion of training, for example.

Scripting 

Now that the instructional strategy is approved, you can start working on planning the actual training materials. 

Develop Individual Training Plans 

Break your syllabus into actionable development steps. For example:

• Module 1: Script, slides, voiceover. 
• Module 2: Quiz.
• Module 3: Video and reading. 

Write the Course Script

You know what each module looks like, so you can easily write the script. This includes:

• Slide-by-slide narration or on-screen text.
• Instructional copy for quizzes and activities. 
• Calls to action, instructions, or learner prompts. 

Now, Get Approval

At this point, you should have:

• A clear structure
• SME-validated content
• A multi-format learning plan
• A full lesson syllabus
• Defined outcomes and assessments
• Scripts for every lesson and module. 

Once this is done, get the sign off from your SME, as well as any relevant leaders. This makes sure that everyone agrees on what’s being built before production begins. You’ll have fewer surprises, smoother development, and far less work. 

Phase 3: Production 

This is the easy part, thanks to all that planning. At this point, it’s just about execution. Simply use the instructional design document to build the course, piece by piece. That means:

• Recording videos. 
• Designing simulations, scenarios, and interactive experiences. 
• Creating quizzes and assessments.
• Finalizing a voiceover script - either to record or for text-to-speech. 
• Writing and refining on-screen text.
• Adding visuals and animations.
• Incorporating sound and music.
• Preparing any downloadable PDFs, worksheets, or guides. 

Keep in Mind

Some tips for the production process. 

• Stick to the content flow and layout approved by SMEs.
• Maintain consistency in design, tone, and user experience.
• Make accessibility a priority from the start (captioning, readable fonts, alt text).
• Don’t overcomplicate things—polish what matters, but keep it lean where you can.

Phase 4: Quality Assurance

We all maek mistakes. It would be embarrassing for you to release a typo to the public. 

This is why you need to get your course through a solid checkup before it sees the light of day. Quality Assurance (QA) is a clean-up of glitches, typos, or confusing content that could derail the learning experience. 

You’ll want to check up on:

• Language and Grammar: Eliminate typos, awkward phrasing, and anything that makes the course feel hard to follow read or unprofessional.
• Functionality: Do buttons, quizzes, and interactions work? Does everything load properly across devices and browsers? 
• Accuracy: Are all facts SME-approved? Do lessons actually support the learning goals?
• Design Consistency: Fonts, colors, layout - everything should feel cohesive and polished. 
• Accessibility: Are there captions and alt text in place where there needs to be? Remember your target audience and make sure no one’s left out. 

How to Do This (Well)

• Use a simple checklist. 
• Test the course on multiple devices and browsers. 
• Get fresh eyes on it. 

Phase 5: Delivery 

All of the hard work is done. On your part, anyway. The learners still have a bunch of stuff coming their way now. 

But you’ve built it and tested it, so now it’s time to release the course. 

• Upload the course to your LMS, or share the link with the LMS. 
• Organize the modules according to the syllabus. 
• Ensure permissions are set for the right people to have access.
• Send out invites or enrollment notifications. Tell the learners where to go, what to expect, and what is expected of them. 
• Make support available. Technical issues are common and you should be ready for them. 

Phase 6: Analytics and Re-Iterating 

Now, you learn from the learners. You’ve launched the course - cue confetti - but now it’s time to find out what’s actually happening when people take it. With the right data, you can see what’s working and what’s not. 

Corporate training programs that incorporate analytics are significantly more likely to deliver personalized learning experiences and improved ROI.

What to Track, and What it Tells You:

• Audience reach: Are the right people taking the course? Is enrollment where it should be?
• Completion rate: How many learners are finishing the course? Low rates might mean it’s too long, confusing, or boring. 
• Average session time: Are people sticking around or rushing through it?
• Drop-off points: Where are people giving up? Maybe a module is too hard or not engaging enough. 
• Top-performing modules: Which parts have the highest engagement rates or learning scores? You may want to replicate that approach elsewhere. 
• Assessment results: Are people actually learning what they need to? 

This is all information you can use to refine your content. The beauty of good eLearning tools is that training is easily updated and instantly distributed - you can always make it better. 

In Conclusion: Build Smarter, Train Better.

The eLearning development process is more than just a checklist - it’s a strategy. Your objective is to design content that helps the business reach its goals, by supporting the people who need it. When you take the time to do it right, you can build a learning experience that drives performance and actually sticks.