DITA: The Answer for Learning & Training
We talk to a lot of customers who develop Learning & Training (L&T) courses and help systems. Their challenge today is twofold:
- Delivering content to multiple audiences in multiple formats and languages
- At the same time, taking advantage of every possible efficiency to keep costs low
Many of these customers have found the ideal solution is an easy-to-use, end-to-end system that supports automated delivery to browsers, smartphones, tablet apps, e-readers, books and PDF from a single information source.
When done right, this system enables organizations to:
- Reuse content between documentation, marketing and training materials
- Collaboratively author, review and approve new content quickly
- Manage consistency between training courses and avoid duplication
- Publish to multiple formats easily
- Localize content automatically and never translate anything twice
- Display content dynamically and adapt courses to individual learners
A Little History
For years, L&T directors have dreamt of using structured content systems to get results like those listed above. The promise was that product documentation written in XML could be stored in a repository and then reused. Learning systems could use it to generate student guides, instructor handbooks and online training.
The problem was that these systems were difficult to implement and maintain. Without standard ways to categorize information or architecture to link or share content, each system was built from scratch. This meant that they didn’t integrate well with other learning and content management systems. They were white elephants, destined for extinction.
The next evolution of learning systems began about 10 years ago with the introduction of DITA. Developed in consultation with L&T experts, DITA is an open standard for categorizing, linking and sharing content. It is based on XML and eliminates many of the proprietary issues faced by earlier systems.
Future-Proofing Your Learning & Training
In recent years, L&T developers have started using DITA to build state-of-the-art, SCORM-compliant training solutions. With integrated tools for authoring, storing, publishing, and localizing content, they are designing and implementing unified content development environments. This improves efficiency and reduce costs.
The best of these environments get results beyond cost savings and actually improve the quality of the training content itself. Delivering targeted information at the point of need, in the right language and on the preferred device, increases customer satisfaction. Additionally, DITA’s use of goal-oriented topics keeps the focus on the real-world activities that customers need to perform for success. By separating training content from presentation (style, format, etc.), instructional designers are free to concentrate on what they do best. This relieves them of spending their time fussing with fonts.
A good Component Content Management System (CCMS) gives training teams a tool to collaborate and share work. It enables securely accessing materials for discussion, review and approval. For training managers, reusing modular materials from a single source repository means less duplication and less maintenance. This makes it easier to catch errors before customers see them. After launch, feedback loops can be built so content developers can see student and instructor comments in the authoring environment.
Finding reusable modules is fast and easy with smart search that digs deep inside your content. The metadata in the content enables users to:
- Refine a search by narrowing the choices to a particular category or classification, and;
- Order the results based on their needs.
It is the same faceted search used by e-commerce sites. You navigate the database for items in a classification, then search for a certain price range, or with selected features.
Who Needs It?
Companies that are growing rapidly will have to think seriously about future-proofing all their content creation and delivery systems. The world is changing rapidly, and your audience expects to be able to access content when they want and how they want. Organizations that get it right will have a huge competitive advantage.
Here are some other use cases for DITA:
- Companies in highly-regulated industries that need to meet regulatory standards for employee training and safety will benefit from built in audit trails..
- Forward-thinking companies who are producing learning products for smartphones and tablets that dynamically adapt to the learner’s location, skill level, role, etc.
- Companies that need to add assessment capabilities to their learning and training materials.
- Companies that are expanding globally can manage their multilingual content and automate their translation workflow.
- Companies that are currently using DITA for technical documentation and/or marketing can take advantage of content reuse.
What’s The First Step?
Every organization is unique, and the solution to your Learning & Training challenges begins with a conversation about your goals and how to best reach them. Without a content strategy that is agreed to by all stakeholders, successful implementation of a structured content solution is nearly impossible. Lay the foundation right, and you will build something that stands the test of time.
Adapted from an article by Stephen Page Morse. Reprinted with permission.
