Do you believe in unicorns?  It’s a safe bet that you don’t.  After all, unicorns are a myth, and everyone knows it.  But what about “learning styles,” the idea that each person is a certain kind of learner, and learns best when material is delivered to them in their own preferred style of learning?  The concept of learning styles has been around since the first half of the 20th century.  It has had its ups and downs in terms of popularity, but it still hangs around despite the fact that the vast majority of scientific research on the topic has pretty soundly debunked it.

The proposals from eLearning vendors are in and have been thoroughly reviewed and evaluated. Presentations were made. At this point, eLearning project sponsors may be tempted to simply pick an eLearning vendor and get on with the contracting process.

What’s often overlooked? Checking references.

The first step to avoiding eLearning project mistakes is recognizing them in the first place. We've identified the seven most common mistakes that undermine eLearning projects. Most of them can be surprisingly difficult to detect -- until they've managed to put your project over budget or past deadline. They can make your life miserable, but only if you let them. Take a look at these seven project landmines, then download our "Training Executive's eLearning Playbook" white paper to learn how to avoid them.

eLearning vendors want to please. That can be a great thing for you, the client, in many respects. It can mean a sincere dedication to meeting your needs and making you happy. But it also comes with a downside: Vendors may not be willing to give you the real news or the hard news when it comes up.

Last week we wrote about how getting multiple reviewers to agree on an eLearning deliverable is no easy task. In fact, the process of reviewing eLearning deliverables can be the most challenging part of overseeing an eLearning project. Not managing that process effectively is, hands down, the leading cause of project delays and scope issues.

As a project sponsor – the one tasked with making sure the project is completed and meets its objectives – your success depends on identifying and effectively managing risks like this one. Unfortunately, that’s not always easy or straightforward.

How can you avoid problems with deliverable reviews? The key is in recognizing the root causes that can lead to trouble later down the line. Here’s what those root causes might look like in real life:

Imagine you’re tasked with overseeing an eLearning project. There will be five different interim deliverables provided, each of which must be reviewed two or three times as you cycle through drafts. Furthermore, you aren’t the only reviewer. In fact, there are five of them. All five must review and sign off on each deliverable. That means you’ll need agreement from five stakeholders on two to three drafts each of five different deliverables. In other words, you’ll need to get five people, each with their own thoughts and agendas, to agree on 15 occasions during the project.

If you’ve ever tried to get five people to agree on something, then you know why a review process like this can prove so challenging.

Reviewing deliverables may seem like the most innocuous thing. It turns out, though, that the process can be the most challenging part of overseeing an eLearning project and by far the leading cause of project delays and scope increases.

Three signs to look for

Here are three signs that you’re suffering from a painful review process – with potentially dangerous implications for your timeline and budget:

Once you’ve decided your organization will benefit from eLearning, the temptation to simply get started can be very strong.  Starting too early, however, is one of the leading causes of project “churn” (that is, lots of activity but little productivity), which in turn is a common cause of timing problems, budget overages, and strained vendor-client relationships. (Read about how to avoid all the major causes of project churn here.)

You see, most eLearning agencies are there to help you take your content and convert it into a meaningful learning experience. At the start, they’ll know very little about the topic being covered. They rely on you and your organization for guidance. If you and your stakeholders have not agreed on the knowledge and skills that are needed, your agency will get conflicting messages from subject matter experts and stakeholders or, in some cases, no real direction from anyone.

So, how can you know when you’re ready to start? You need to be able to answer these four questions: