Charting Possible Performance Indicators Related to Digital Learning Content Supported Learning

Abstract

During my professional carrier, I participated in several digital content development projects, and in my doctoral dissertation I examined the ecosystem of e-learning development according to the Design Science (DS) methodology. Partly from the practical experience, partly from the comprehensive research, I perceived that few indicators – which can be applied in practice – were determined about the effectiveness and efficiency of a digital learning content development process.Traditionally, projects can be evaluated by the ‘iron triangle’: the project is completed on time, within budget in right quality. This approach is not fundamentally wrong, but as several studies point out, it does not provide a complete picture, can even lead to false conclusions, and can determine wrong decisions.The present work aims to focus specifically on the e-learning content created as a product of professional authoring tools (e.g. the end result is a SCORM standard package). This paper does not seek to take into account the whole development process. In addition to the focus on the content development, it is also important to underline that the background of these findings is in adult learning environments in large or multinational corporations.In this article, I summarise the key technological, methodological and financial indicators (both key performance indicators and key result indicators) for the learner- and content-centred e-learning materials. Together, these indicators can form a system that gives the opportunity to evaluate and compare e-learning materials in its complexity.