You may have noticed some new terms we’ve been using around here to describe some of the problems our software helps to solve when it comes to distributing eLearning content. Over the years, we have described our solutions as Cross Domain, Dispatch and more recently, Content Controller. While these are specific products that help solve the problem, we want to better describe the problem at hand, and a solution to help you get there.
In a not-so-small nutshell, we’re talking about the ability to host content and share access to courses with your customers (internal or external) rather than more traditional distribution models which require content providers to deliver the entire course package to customers. There are some nuances here which are important to point out.
- Share access- allowing customers to take your courses on terms you control because the content remains in your possession
- Deliver the entire course package– giving the content (in its entirety) to customers, ultimately giving up the ability to manage that content after the hand off
Some background
For content providers to distribute their courses with clients and other 3rd parties, a standard like SCORM usually comes into play. Sparing you the technical details, this typically entails delivering the entire course package to a customer who then must host and manage that content.Whether it’s keeping up with updates to the course or keeping track of license compliance, the customer has a lot of work ahead of them managing those courses. And the content provider has little control of that course once it’s handed off.
How we talk about it
We started down the path of Content as a Service and Training as a Service, but quickly realized that these imply other types of solutions that CMSs (think WordPress) tend to provide and it became confusing for what we’re really talking about. A few more iterations have led us to a term we think better represents what we’re tackling for the eLearning industry. Wait for it….
eLearning Content Distribution Solutions. While it’s not the catchiest title ever, it’s more accurate than any -aaS or other phraseology.
So when you hear and see us talking about eLearning Content Distribution, it’s really just a shorthand way for us to refer to all of the above- sharing access to your content across a wide variety of platforms, while retaining ownership of both the user experience and your best asset- your learning content.
Questions or thoughts on the way we talk about it? Let us know. Most importantly, we want to hear about the challenges you have when it comes to distributing your eLearning content and find the best way to tackle that problem.
