{"id":3268,"date":"2015-05-25T19:20:48","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T16:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.talentlms.com\/blog\/?p=3268"},"modified":"2025-01-24T11:52:41","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T09:52:41","slug":"harnessing-the-power-of-a-subject-matter-expert-sme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.talentlms.com\/blog\/harnessing-the-power-of-a-subject-matter-expert-sme\/","title":{"rendered":"Harnessing the Power of a Subject Matter Expert (SME)"},"content":{"rendered":"

What happens when you have a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and an Instructional Designer (or an eLearning program\u00a0developer) in one room?<\/p>\n

You have a creative meeting that ends with a specific outline for the\u00a0course, complete with interactivity nodes highlighted. And of course, a very confident\u00a0instructional designer who knows the program would sell before it hit the shelves!!<\/p>\n

This is\u00a0because the material is both learner and organization centered, stemming from core objectives.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Importance\u00a0of Subject Matter Experts<\/h2>\n

Without an SME, the eLearning content is as incomplete as a great website without accurate\u00a0and\u00a0current content! The goal\u00a0here is not necessarily to create compelling content with smooth slide turner\u00a0interactions, but to work with the expert in order to really spin the program towards a very time and cost\u00a0efficient direction.<\/p>\n

Did we mention greater learner performance and learning satisfaction? With\u00a0the right SME handling strategies, not only will your eLearning program be hassle-free to\u00a0develop, but you will also earn credibility in your organization. Let\u2019s discover how to catch these\u00a0rare knowledge brokers.<\/p>\n

We all know the usual protocol to contact a subject matter expert. We request for a meeting, we\u00a0follow up with a “thank you very much”. We refer to their articles, blogs or books available online\u00a0and then we gather the content that we need. SMEs are\u00a0your content providers and we all know that content is\u00a0K-I-N-G!<\/p>\n

Subject Matter Expert (SME) and Instructional Design<\/h2>\n

Subject Matter Experts\u00a0and Instructional Designers have an equal role to\u00a0play in the eLearning program design. So how do you treat them? Like a\u00a0team member or the boss?<\/p>\n

To be very honest, SMEs have a wealth of deep\u00a0knowledge in\u00a0their subject. They are more than happy to share their knowledge with anyone who is\u00a0willing to listen. The Instructional Designers (ID), in their own right, have accomplished the optimum mix of all learning\u00a0theories and online teaching strategies and tools to develop a best seller eLearning program.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, both SME and ID can combine forces to create innovative learning experiences\u00a0for the learner. If the learner (or the organization) is the center of the axis, let\u2019s place them on the\u00a0pedestal and design the program for them.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about the learner.<\/p>\n

LMS For SMEs And Developing eLearning Courses<\/h2>\n

With two valuable assets in the eLearning program design team, developing courses should\u00a0be a breeze. Unfortunately, it is not so easy in most cases. The surplus and the overzealous content\u00a0received from the SME needs to be edited with great care and precision. The editing process\u00a0involves several factors:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The organizational strategy and goals:<\/strong> Avoid obscuring the course requirements by\u00a0revising the organizational goals together. This will keep you both on track. The Subject Matter Expert will\u00a0have several pieces of content which will be \u201chighly important\u201d according to them.\u00a0Often\u00a0this important stuff adds to the bulk of the content, pushing it over the edge. Your job is\u00a0to gather crucial\u00a0information from the SME and narrow it down according to the\u00a0organizational strategy and training goals for the eLearning program. This way you can\u00a0have the \u201cmost important\u201d AND \u201cmost relevant\u201d information in the course.<\/li>\n
  2. Think about the learner.<\/strong> Analyze their past experiences and trainings. This\u00a0way you will be able to reduce\u00a0the content by including only the next in line, scaffolding\u00a0concepts. The idea is to build you content on previous courses. An SME will be able to\u00a0guide you towards increasing the challenge and scope of the course as compared to its\u00a0previous counterpart. As\u00a0an\u00a0ID, you will need to identify the learning preferences of the\u00a0learner. Do they prefer online, mobile or Instructor-Led Training? Discuss with the SME,\u00a0they will have just the right resources for each delivery format.<\/li>\n
  3. Determine the length as well as the depth of the course.<\/strong> Can the content be covered in 2\u00a0days? 16\u00a0hours? Six weeks? An SME will be the best judge to determine how long it would take for a facilitator to cover the course. You can also develop extra\u00a0exercises for the important concepts with the SME. Both Instructional Designers and Subject Matter Experts can exchange\u00a0perspectives to create strong assessment and casual reinforcement exercises. SMEs are\u00a0also the best people to device out the capstone project for the course. Their extensive\u00a0knowledge on the subject will provide you with the great data. Your job will then\u00a0be to determine how this project will be developed using educational technology tools\u00a0and how it will be delivered with\u00a0the learning management system.<\/li>\n
  4. Shift \u201cessential to know\u201d, \u201cimportant to know\u201d and \u201cnice to know\u201d<\/strong> information with the\u00a0SME. When all the content is placed under each of these headings, it will be even easier to\u00a0decide the delivery format for these topics in the online environment. For example, the\u00a0\u201cnice to know\u201d information can be placed under the Resources, References or even the\u00a0Glossary section. The SME will also help with the wording of the content in terms of\u00a0summarizing it and presenting it in bullet forms. If a storyline is used in the course to link\u00a0the learner to the\u00a0real-world\u00a0application, the SME can help develop characters with\u00a0problems that will be solved by the learner. As an ID, you can focus on the delivery format,\u00a0instead of learning another new subject from scratch!<\/li>\n
  5. Remember these tips when working with SMEs to avoid creating an information\u00a0dump for the learner. When selecting content, establish its relevance to the eLearning\u00a0course by answering the following questions:\n
      \n
    1. Does the content speak to the heart of the topic?<\/li>\n
    2. Is it critical to be educated to perform the task at hand?<\/li>\n
    3. Will the content be assessed through quizzes or is it directly linked to performance?<\/li>\n
    4. Does it links to essential understanding (foundations)?<\/li>\n
    5. Does it have interesting points which add value to the learner?<\/li>\n
    6. Does it help make links to other concepts?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Conclusion<\/h2>\n

      A Subject Matter expert is as important in the online instruction design process as the content is\u00a0to a website. Unfortunately, the power of the SME usually isn’t fully harnessed during the eLearning development process. There are several strategies to communicate with the SME that go\u00a0beyond the regular protocol.<\/p>\n

      When meeting with the SME, consider the organizational learning\u00a0needs as the starting point. Progress to the learning preferences and needs of the learner.\u00a0Determine the scope of the project by shifting content between \u201cimportant to know\u201d and \u201cgood to\u00a0know\u201d.<\/p>\n

      Finally, evaluate with the SME using the checklist provided at the end of the article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      What happens when you have a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and an Instructional Designer (or an eLearning program\u00a0developer) in one room? You have a creative meeting that ends with a specific outline for the\u00a0course, complete with interactivity nodes highlighted. And of course, a very confident\u00a0instructional designer who knows the program would sell before it hit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-instructional-design"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nImportance Of Subject Matter Experts (SME) - TalentLMS Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The importance of Subject Matter Experts (SME) is paramount for instructional designers. 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