Rapid eLearning Tools - New Debate

I wasn't able to go to the panel session at eLearningGuild, but there are a couple interesting posts on it and some debate around the purpose of these tools.

Clive Shepherd tells us - Rapid e-learning is swimming in too small a pond

His main point is that Rapid eLearning Tools should be aiming at the SMEs, but according to Clive, at the panel session, the vendors claimed they weren't really aimed there. My guess is that they may have been playing to the audience. I agree with Clive that this is part of the intent of rapid eLearning - pushing the tools to SMEs to allow them to easily create small information nuggets. These are not intended to be big courses with lots of interactivity.

One of the comments that Clive got back on his blog was that people were producing poor quality stuff with these tools. I guess it depends on what you mean by poor quality. Is what I'm writing now poor quality? Probably it depends on the context. If you are here trying to learning about Rapid eLearning Tools, then this is definitely poor quality. But, the intent of small bursts of information produced by SMEs is a bit different than producing a 60 minute course on ethics in the workplace (like that really works).

Jay Cross also discusses this session in -Rapid eLearning Panel and he does a good job discussing this very issue:

When is it appropriate to use rapid eLearning development tools? For procedural, how-topics. For things you have to get out the door right away. And I see e-information applications in addition to eLearning. “Information is not instruction,” but sometimes information is all you need.