Project Management
Consultation
Before working together, we need to understand your goals, aims and objectives. By understanding exactly what a project must achieve, who will use it and where it will be deployed, we can offer you the best advice and start working on a framework that will enable you to see how and where we can enhance your project. Our consultation service will keep your project on track, time and budget.
Project planning
A project is nothing without a robust project plan. Project plans are always created in consultation with a client, ensuring milestones are achievable on both sides and that any resources have been efficiently allocated. We can also provide an online collaboration space where you can review, monitor and comment upon the progress of your project in real time.
Learning Structure
Instructional design
Instructional design is the very backbone of an e-learning project and typically represents the most involved stage of our work. Our instructional designers have specialist experience of working with large groups of subject matter experts, ensuring that all content is created to a common and effective format. Due to our unique academic background, we are able to align the instructional design process to an established evidence base of best practice, ensuring the creation of accomplished learning resources.
Design
Technical architecture
Understanding what you want is often very different from understanding exactly how you are going to get there. Every project has its own challenges, and a lack of understanding of the new technologies (from the use of Flash, to the utilisation of social media and delivery on mobile devices) can delay or reduce the effectiveness of your new project. Whether you are looking to deploy a new learning management system, incorporate content into an existing system or simply wish to develop a standalone resource, you need to be reassured that your creation is fit for purpose by the end users.
Creative design
As well as being educationally sound, any e-learning resource has to be both engaging and straightforward to use - this is the remit of our creative design team. Through review and modification, these designs are developed to ensure that they meet all the aims of the project. We believe that this design element is not about ‘window dressing’ or a last minute afterthought, the creative design of any e-learning resource is central to supporting the learning process.
Production
Authoring
The generation and collection of content for an e-learning project can be achieved in various different ways. You may already have content experts in mind who are experienced in adapting their material for different platforms. You may decide to work with us on adapting your existing material or create new content using our substantial pool of international healthcare professionals, key opinion leaders, educationalists and medical authors - whichever is best for you.
Development
Development is where all the different elements of the project come together. Typically comprised of content managers, animators, illustrators, video technicians, educationalists and programmers, the development team will use the instructional design blueprints to create learning assets based on the technical parameters of the project. Your learning assets can range from simple diagrams and narrated animations, through to interactive simulated learning environments – and it’s the development teams’ role to put it all together.
Quality assurance and testing
A newly created resource must be thoroughly tested on all platforms, in all internet browsers and inside all relevant operating systems. In addition to this, we ‘stress-test’ to ensure that it is fully integrated with any learning management system with which it is associated. Equally important, all elements of a resource are W3C and European Disabilities Act compliant, supported by stringent data protection and security protocols. From experience we have created our own in houses tests to ensure all projects are carefully tested before going live.
Delivery
Launch
Many of our clients ask us to assist in the launch and marketing campaigns of their completed educational resources. Due to our experience and heritage, OCB Media is particularly well integrated with professional networks and organisations in both the public and private healthcare sectors, ensuring appropriately targeted and cost efficient awareness raising activities. As well as extolling your resource at conferences and meetings, we can also operate effective campaigns through industry relevant press, social media and partnering with appropriate professional organisations/institutions.
Support and Training
Hosting
If you do not already have a hosting arrangement in place, a range of options is available to support the delivery of your resource. OCB Media maintains its own highly secure servers for delivery in the UK, with access to partner servers in the US, mainland Europe and South East Asia. We also use Amazon S3 servers for the transmission of high definition video material on a worldwide basis. Our development team can also set up and host a specific learning management system for you should you so wish.
Maintenance, support and updates
Unlike a brochure or DVD which has a clear end point, our projects can be regularly enhanced and updated. OCB Media is able to offer annual maintenance and support contracts for your resource to ensure it remains as relevant in five years’ time as the day it went live. In all cases, our support contracts are designed to ensure that a resource is both stable and future proof throughout the designated lifetime.
Project Review
Evaluation
All of our resources incorporate detailed user analysis, performance tracking and report generation tools. One of the main reasons for producing this data is so that we can be confident that the site is operating smoothly and identify and resolve any potential learning bottlenecks. Many of our clients also use this service to analyse the performance and use of a resource within target user populations, typically on a site or regional basis. The data tools can also be modified to collect specific demographic data on end user populations and their sub-sets in order to ensure the aims of a project have been met, as well as to inform further educational and/or marketing activities.
This page shows you how to travel on the ‘OCB journey’ across the production process. Just click on any of the buildings above to find out more about how to create the perfect e-learning project!