8 actionable tips to ensure quality SME content without overloading L&D teams

Over 2,000 companies use Easygenerator to unlock the power of Employee-generated Learning (EGL). EGL lets all experts in the company—not just the learning team—create e-learning. But how can you ensure these subject-matter experts (SMEs) build effective courses?

Strong L&D support is key.

With the right support:

• More SMEs share their knowledge
• SMEs choose relevant topics for their courses
• The content SMEs create meets company standards

So, are you ready to empower your employees to build awesome training all on their own? Let’s dive into the strategies that make your EGL program run smoothly without overloading your L&D team.

bioMérieux’s subject-matter experts created 1,382 courses so far

bioMérieux is a French-based biotech company that has offices in 45 countries. When you factor in their distributors, their network spans over 160 countries.

With 430 SME course creators and 1,382 courses, it’s safe to say they’re doing EGL right!

Today, we’ll delve into how Johanna Henry, Immersive Learning Project & LMS Manager at bioMérieux, enables the company’s SMEs to create effective e-learning.

8 tips to support your subject-matter experts create e-learning

1. Welcome new SMEs with an email

A warm welcome sets the tone, introduces people to valuable resources, and sets the foundation for quality content creation.

When someone at bioMérieux becomes an Easygenerator user, Johanna sends them a personalized welcome email. She shares licensing details, informs them about bioMérieux’s Easygenerator community, links to relevant training, and invites them to upcoming webinars.

2. Launch a dedicated Easygenerator channel

Unify your SMEs by setting up a dedicated channel on your company’s messaging platform (like Slack or Microsoft Teams). When someone becomes an Easygenerator user, automatically add them to the channel.

This space will empower SMEs to:

• Swap best practices 
• Ask questions and get help from peers 
• Share their e-learning courses  

Plus, it becomes the perfect platform for you to: 

• Announce fresh Easygenerator features 
• Hype upcoming events (like webinars) 

Johanna regularly reminds SMEs about this valuable community. In every webinar (see tip #4), she proactively shares the channel link and promotes it as a way to collaborate with fellow Easygenerator users. 

3. Create an Easygenerator knowledge base

Empower SMEs with resources for independent content creation and ensure consistent quality through clear guidelines (all in one place). 

Let’s look at bioMérieux’s Easygenerator page on their employee portal.  

This central location is a one-stop shop for employees to access essential resources and training materials.

Johanna says it’s crucial to lay out the processes and guidelines employees should follow when creating a learning journey or course.

“Subject matter experts are everywhere in the company, right? But we want them to follow a defined framework because we have guidelines,” she explains. “We communicate these guidelines through this Easygenerator page on our portal.”

Here are the key elements to include in your Easygenerator knowledge base:

• Essential resources and training: Everything SMEs need to get started, including tutorials, templates, and best-practice guides. 
• Easygenerator toolbox: A clear overview of Easygenerator’s capabilities, functionalities, and licensing process. 
• E-learning creation framework: Either a step-by-step guide or a set of principles to ensure SMEs follow consistent and effective e-learning development practices. 
• Company-specific processes: Your organization’s procedures for creating, sharing, and approving e-learning courses. 
• Events calendar: Upcoming onboarding sessions, webinars, hackathons, and other relevant events. 
• Helpful links: A list of helpful resources like Easygenerator’s webinar videos or help articles. 
• L&D contact information: Convenient access to L&D support. 

4. Build a strong partnership between SMEs and L&D

A strong partnership with L&D keeps SMEs informed about training needs and existing e-learning within the company. Johanna’s team promotes their Learning department every chance they get.  

She says, “We promote the partnership with the Learning department because our subject matter experts are scattered across all departments. We don’t want them to design their e-learning on their own. We want them to follow a specific process. We want them to make sure there isn’t already an existing e-learning course on the same topic they are working on. Therefore, we strongly encourage SMEs to keep their L&D partners in the loop.”   

5. Host webinars for new and existing users

There’s a reason Easygenerator’s Customer Success team hosts webinars on e-learning best practices for SMEs. Webinars are a fantastic way to build a strong community around Easygenerator within a company. They allow employees to learn e-learning best practices, ask questions, and get the most out of the platform.  

Easygenerator regularly hosts custom sessions specifically designed for bioMérieux’s needs. These sessions focus on topics like:  

• best practices for e-learning creation  
• keeping content concise and engaging 
• creating interactive content  

Remember to post the webinar recordings on your knowledge base so everyone can access them later! 

6. Create SME groups for departmental collaboration

When you have a company like bioMérieux with thousands of employees, it’s a good idea to group course authors by department. Departmental groups lead to improved knowledge sharing within teams. They also always lead to more relevant and targeted e-learning content. Johanna calls this practice “building communities within the community.”  

Organizing SMEs into groups makes it easier for them to collaborate on courses and share relevant training with their teams. To do this easily, you can use Easygenerator’s group functionality. 

An added perk: each group has an SME admin who moderates content, which prevents the creation of duplicate courses within the company. 

7. Encourage users to get support from Easygenerator’s live chat

Empower your SMEs with quick and effective help by directing them to Easygenerator’s live chat support. Live chat support empowers SMEs to overcome hurdles and ensures they can focus on sharing their knowledge (instead of dealing with technicalities). 

Available 24 hours on weekdays, our expert team is there to answer both technical and didactic questions. They will guide your SMEs through any challenge with creating e-learning.  

This readily available support will minimize roadblocks for your Easygenerator users. 

8. Recognize and reward achievements

Hosting an Easygenerator challenge or “hackathon” can spark creativity and incentivize knowledge sharing. These types of activities set a higher bar for quality.  

To encourage more people to share their knowledge, bioMérieux’s Learning team organized an online Easygenerator hackathon. The prize, which reflected the learning theme, was a six-month Coursera license.  

Attendees had 1.5 hours to create an e-learning course. During this time, they had access to Easygenerator experts who gave individual help and advice.  

Johanna’s team then showcased the winning e-learning course to everyone, explaining the best practices it followed and why it was a great example. According to her, this was the most impactful part of the initiative.  

Wrapping up

bioMérieux’s success story with Employee-Generated Learning (EGL) is proof: by providing the right support system, you can empower your SMEs to become rockstar content creators.  

Here’s a quick recap of the key takeaways: 

• Build a strong foundation: Establish clear guidelines, have a dedicated knowledge base, and create a collaborative community for knowledge sharing. 
• Create an L&D partnership: Make sure that there is strong collaboration between SMEs and the L&D team.  
• Provide ongoing learning: Host webinars, create SME groups, and promote Easygenerator’s live chat support. 
• Reward and showcase exemplary courses: Find creative ways to incentivize content creation and publicly recognize achievements to inspire others.