Bundle resources and you may not need courses

More and more I am being asked by clients to help them assemble a collection of resources to support some new business initiative. Not 'courses' - although they may also provide some of these - but 'resources'. These resources are not 'pushed' at people, who have to use them whether they like it or not; they are 'pulled' as and when needed. They don't sit on an LMS, where each individual's usage is monitored, but on the intranet, where they can be freely accessed at any time and found using a search engine.

These resources can take various forms:

• Web articles, written in an engaging, journalistic manner, rather like blogs.
• More formal reference material, in HTML or PDF format.
• Decision aids, perhaps coded in Flash or JavaScript, but sometimes more simply provided as spreadsheets.
• Self-analysis questionnaires and perhaps quizzes.
• Short, simple videos and screencasts.
• Mini-scenarios that allow the user to check whether they can put what they have learned into practice.

Resources like these are so flexible, because elements can be added, removed and edited at any time, whether that's because the subject matter itself has changed or in response to user feedback. For each element you can select the best tool for development and the most flexible format for delivery. You can develop the simple ones yourself and bring in help to produce more sophisticated elements where necessary. Importantly, you can go live as soon as the first few elements are ready - there's no reason to wait until the whole collection is finished.

In many cases, users will find the resources they want using the intranet's search function, but you can help users by providing some additional form of curation. Perhaps the best way is to create gateway pages, which provide links to the most useful resources around a particular topic, in a logical sequence and with clear indications of just who is likely to benefit. In a recent project we used web articles as the gateways, each article drawing on the resources most closely related to a particular topic.

I've come to realise for myself just how useful this approach can be. I've just spent far too much money on a Canon 5D Mark III, a stills and HD video camera, with a whole load of complex accessories. It would be unforgivable not to take full advantage of the opportunities which this equipment provides, so I set about getting myself genned up. Here's what I have collected so far:

• Two iPad apps which provide video 'lessons', one for this particular model of camera and one on DSLR photography/videography in general.
• Endless YouTube videos.
• A number of popular blogs which I have now subscribed to,
• A couple of digital arts/photography magazines in the Apple Newsstand. 

Would I also take a course? Possibly yes, perhaps even a face-to-face one with real people in a real local college (although a collaborative online course would probably also work well). But I wouldn't depend on this, because no course is going to provide exactly what I want when I want it. The how-to information I can find for myself as I need it. The application of this knowledge is another matter. You need feedback on your own work and to provide feedback to others. You need to share perspectives with others in your position and draw on the wisdom of experts. Courses and resources - we need them both.