Quality Management in Learning and Development

Develop a Quality Management System to Support Learner and Organizational Goals

Quality management is collectively all the activities and processes that ensure your learning products meet the standard your organization is committed to. All errors have consequences that compromise that standard. Organizational outcomes are compromised if learners can’t complete e-learning courses due to navigation errors like broken hyperlinks or slides with buttons leading nowhere. Stakeholders and subject matter experts are embarrassed when learners walk away confused and with no clue how the content helps them with their job. Some learners are excluded from the experience entirely if accessibility measures aren’t in place. And so on.

In Quality Management in Learning and Development, you will learn to mitigate negative consequences. Go beyond checklists for correcting typos and incorrect branding, and instead consider the bigger picture. Define your organizational standard for quality, and learn how to create your own quality management system to support it. Explore how ultimately everyone is responsible for quality, and implement guidelines and policies that keep people accountable. Make sure everyone has the tools, templates, and support they need to support the standard’s guidelines. This book equips you with resources and insights from the field that are ready for you to adapt to your own organization.

For instructional designers and managers of the learning function, and even for the resource-strapped department of one, this book can help you step off the hamster wheel of fretful last-minute checks and re-work. Instead step into a proactive process that facilitates quality and results. Rather than agonizing over a broken hyperlink in an already-launched presentation when you’ve moved onto the next urgent project, feel confident in the quality management system that helps you and your stakeholders produce successful content from the outset.