If you are one of those stewards who started eLearning very early in your organization, I am sure you will be now wanting to Convert your Legacy Courses for one of these reasons.

Talking to customers this year, I collected 6 reasons why organizations are converting their existing courses into more contemporary formats. Compare notes and see if you too have the same reasons or yours is something different. In case you do, do comment and tell us.

1. Flash is Dead

When we started developing eLearning, way back in 2000, our primary tool was Flash. It was a great tool to create awesome animations and clear audio. But, it was cumbersome to make Flash courses SCORM compliant, to run on the LMS.

Now that Flash is not supported by Apple products and some other browsers, there is a need to convert these courses quickly, using latest authoring tools like Articulate Storyline, Lectora Inspire or iSpring, so that they can run on mobile devices and also become browser agnostic.

Recently, a manufacturing major in USA, converted 100 Flash courses into Articulate Storyline 2 output. These courses on various technical subjects were used to train their new hires on various processes.

2. Make Courses for the Millennials

A customer had great classroom PowerPoint Presentations designed by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), but was not ready for the online delivery for the millennials, as these digital natives use mobile devices more than computers.

Although the customer just published the PowerPoint slides to an online format, using articulate studio, they now wish to convert them into bite-sized learning modules and make it more interactive, using ISpring.

In another instance, a pharmaceutical giant converted its legacy classroom material to 200 bite-sized learning modules for their new sales representatives. These modules were on various subjects of anatomy & physiology, drug usage and handling doctor objections. Their millennial sales force loved this approach, which resulted in a stunning completion rate of 94% in the first year.

3. Enhance Page-Turners into Engaging e-Learning

A continuous medical education company had huge Page-Turner eLearning courses that had tons of content in them. The company decided to make them more interactive for the learners so that they have an engaging learning experience. The company had to make this investment to be on the top of competition.

We developed a set of 15 standardized templates for various activities and engagement. These templates were developed in Articulate Storyline and used to rapidly design and develop the new courses.

4. Gearing up for the Global Workforce

Some organizations are converting their courses using rapid development tools for quick translations, to impart training to their global workforce.

A European logistic giant, converted its safety courses built on Flash, into Articulate Storyline and then translated them into 25 languages to reach their global workforce.

5. Making Courses Available on Any Device

Many organizations need their old legacy courses to be available on all browsers and on any device; hence, rapidly converting their old legacy courses into mobile compatible formats.

An American Multi-National telecommunications conglomerate, recently converted 1000+ courses using Lectora Online. These courses now run on all devices and browsers, making them accessible to all their associates, employees and other stakeholders.

6. Strategically Moving Away from One Tool to Another

One of Australia’s largest financial services providers, which offers home and motor insurance, recently decided to move from their old authoring tool to Lectora 16, in order to make their courses “responsive”. They are now planning to convert 100s of their courses into Lectora 16.

If you have one of these 6 reasons, it is time you think of strategies on how quickly, creatively and economically you can convert these courses.

In my next blog, I will share some of the best practices of converting your legacy courses to get better ROI on your investment.