Quick Answer:
Contract eLearning developers help organizations scale large learning initiatives by adding experienced development capacity without permanently increasing headcount. They can work alongside an internal L&D team to build multiple courses simultaneously, meet aggressive rollout schedules, provide specialized development skills, and handle peaks in workload. For large initiatives, contract developers can make the difference between having a learning strategy and actually getting all the learning built and launched.
Why Do Large Learning Initiatives
Put So Much Pressure on L&D Teams?
A large learning initiative rarely means building just one course.
A new system implementation might require role-based eLearning for several different audiences. A leadership initiative could include digital learning, videos, assessments, job aids, and reinforcement. A compliance rollout might involve dozens of modules that have to be updated and deployed across the organization by a specific deadline.
Even an experienced internal L&D team can quickly run into a capacity problem.
The team may have the expertise to do the work. They simply don’t have enough people to do all of it at once.
That is where contract eLearning developers can be particularly useful. Rather than putting other priorities on hold, an organization can add contract eLearning developers to handle the temporary increase in workload.
How Do Contract eLearning Developers
Help an L&D Team Scale?
One of the biggest advantages of using contract eLearning developers is the ability to increase production capacity relatively quickly.
Imagine an organization needs to develop 20 eLearning modules in six months. One internal developer may be capable of producing all 20, but not within the required timeline.
Adding contract developers changes the equation.
Work can be divided among several developers, with courses moving through development simultaneously rather than sequentially. The internal team can continue to provide strategy, standards, subject matter expertise, and oversight while the contract developers increase production capacity.
This can be especially helpful when an initiative has a firm launch date tied to a system implementation, product launch, regulatory requirement, organizational change, or other business priority.
Can Contract eLearning Developers
Work with an Existing Internal Team?
Absolutely. In fact, contract eLearning developers are often most valuable when they become an extension of an existing L&D team.
The organization doesn’t have to hand over the entire initiative.
An internal learning team might own the learning strategy and instructional design while contract developers build the courses. Or internal developers may handle some portions of the curriculum while contractors take responsibility for others.
The right division of work depends on the team’s capabilities and where the bottleneck exists.
For example, an organization may have excellent instructional designers but not enough development capacity. Another may need developers with advanced skills in a particular authoring tool. A third may need both instructional design and eLearning development resources to meet the deadline.
Contract staffing allows the organization to fill the specific gaps instead of restructuring the entire team around a temporary need.
How Can Multiple eLearning
Developers Maintain Consistency?
Adding more developers can increase speed, but it also creates another challenge: consistency. When several people are building courses for the same initiative, learners shouldn’t feel as though every module was created by a different person.
Large initiatives benefit from establishing development standards before production accelerates. These may include:
- Templates and visual standards
- Course structure and navigation
- Interaction guidelines
- Accessibility requirements
- Naming conventions and file organization
- Audio, video, and animation standards
- Review and approval processes
- Publishing and LMS specifications
A prototype or representative course can also establish the development approach before multiple developers begin building in parallel. This upfront alignment helps a team increase capacity without sacrificing consistency.
When Does Specialized eLearning Expertise Matter?
Sometimes the challenge isn’t the amount of work. It’s the type of work.
A large initiative may require capabilities that an internal team doesn’t regularly need, such as advanced Articulate Storyline development, complex branching scenarios, animation, video production, accessibility remediation, or development for a particular LMS or learning platform.
Hiring a permanent employee for a specialized skill that will only be needed for several months may not make sense. A contract eLearning developer can bring that expertise into the team for the portion of the initiative where it is needed.
This also gives L&D leaders more flexibility when assembling a project team. Instead of looking for one person who can do everything, they can build a team around the actual requirements of the initiative.
Can Contract Developers Help
When the Scope Changes?
Large learning initiatives have a habit of changing.
A business unit gets added to the rollout. The launch date moves forward. New courses are identified. A system change requires updates to content already in development. Stakeholders decide that one audience actually needs three different learning paths.
Those changes can create serious capacity problems for a team that was staffed based on the original scope.
Contract resources give organizations another lever to pull.
Additional developers can be brought in when the workload increases, and the team can scale back when the development surge ends. That flexibility is one reason contract eLearning developers are particularly well suited to project-based work.
When Should You Consider
Adding Contract eLearning Developers?
The question usually isn’t simply, “Can our team build this?”
A better question is, “Can our team build this, along with everything else they’re responsible for, within the timeframe the business needs?”
Contract eLearning developers may be worth considering when:
- A large number of courses need to be developed at the same time.
- A fixed launch date is creating a temporary spike in workload.
- Internal developers are already at capacity.
- The initiative requires development skills the team doesn’t currently have.
- Existing priorities can’t be delayed to make room for the project.
- The organization needs additional capacity for a defined period rather than another permanent position.
The earlier L&D leaders identify that capacity gap, the more options they typically have for structuring the work.
What Should You Look for
in a Contract eLearning Developer?
Technical skill matters, but large initiatives require more than proficiency with an authoring tool.
Look for developers who can work within established standards, collaborate with instructional designers and subject matter experts, manage feedback from multiple stakeholders, and keep their portion of the project moving without constant supervision.
Experience working in corporate environments is also important. An experienced contract eLearning developer understands that development is only one part of a much larger process involving reviews, revisions, approvals, accessibility requirements, LMS testing, and business deadlines.
For a large initiative, you may also want developers who have experience working as part of a distributed development team rather than primarily building courses independently.
How Do You Decide How
Many eLearning Developers You Need?
Start with the work rather than the headcount.
Consider how many learning assets need to be developed, their complexity, the amount of source content available, the review process, the deadline, and how much development capacity your internal team can realistically contribute.
Then identify the gap.
You may discover that you need one experienced eLearning developer for six months. Or you may need four developers for a shorter, intensive production period.
This is one of the advantages of using contract resources: the team can be built around the workload rather than forcing the workload to fit the team you already have.
What To Read Next:
Want to learn more about how eLearning developers support large learning initiatives? These articles continue the conversation:
Business Metrics Every Instructional Designer Should Know
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Frequently Asked Questions
About Contract eLearning Developers
No. Some engagements last only a few weeks or months, while others continue for a year or longer. The appropriate length depends on the initiative, workload, and organization's ongoing development needs.
Yes. Large initiatives often benefit from multiple developers working in parallel, particularly when there are many courses or a firm rollout deadline. Clear templates, standards, and project management become increasingly important as the development team grows.
It depends on the developer and the project. Some eLearning developers also have strong instructional design skills, while others specialize primarily in development. If the learning strategy, design, and storyboards are already complete, the need may be primarily for development. If they aren't, you may need both instructional design and development expertise.
With a contract developer, the individual typically works as part of your team and within your processes. Outsourcing usually places responsibility for a defined deliverable or project with an outside provider. Both approaches can work; the right choice depends on how much control, capacity, project management, and specialized expertise you need.
