Flash is Dead: Upgrading To HTML5 Isn’t As Hard As You Think

It's time to have a good think about converting all your legacy Flash courses to HTML 5. Adobe now has your back against a wall regarding conversion. Until now you have been able to use your Flash courses by temporarily unblocking Flash Player, but it’s imperative to update your courses to keep up with a tech fueled, ever-changing world. See our Flash End Of Life post for more details. This may seem quite daunting at first, but it will give your courses a more modern look and feel, not to mention improving efficiency. This will give your business an edge in this crowded landscape.

It may seem like an impossible task to convert all your content to HTML 5. But with the right plan, not only can you retain all your courses, but also evaluate any gaps that are existing in your e-Learning content, which refreshes the experience that your content deliverers.

Categorize your courses

Converting courses does not always mean you have to recreate them from scratch. First of all, you can prioritize all your courses into the following categories:

1. Courses that meet the learning objectives desired by your business, which only need a technology update.
2. Courses that mostly meet the learning aspirations your business desires but can do with some small visual enhancement.
3. Courses that need to be totally reworked with an updated instructional and visual approach.

While your legacy courses need to be converted, they are not superfluous. They become the foundation on which your new courses will be constructed. Putting your courses into these categories will help you understand just how to attempt the conversion program ahead.

Ask the Correct Questions

After you have given the above some thought, you now need to ask yourself a few questions:

1. Can you do this work internally, or will you need to outsource some of this work?
2. Do you have a budget in place for this plan?
3. Do you have a plan to reintroduce the upgraded courses?

Choosing Partners

Once you have chosen the correct strategies for your business it is important to keep in mind the needs of your learning content. The conversion of a high volume of content can be tedious and take a lot of time. This is where you need to consider the capability of your team. If extra manpower or technological skill are needed, there are professional e-Learning vendors that have helped accomplish this task many times before. Outsourcing some or all of this work will help your business move forward with this migration in an efficient and timely manner. Choosing a good partner to complement your business through this migration period is key to succeeding in a smooth transition.

The benefit of outsourcing is that you will work with a committed team of professionals. These are people who specialize in Visual Design, Programmers, Solution Architects, Industrial designers as well as Quality Assurance personnel and End-to-end product management. With these professionals, you can make a customized plan to suit your business needs.

Create focus groups to delegate workload effectively

Using the three categories spoken about earlier, it is possible to create focus groups to tackle the different courses that need a particular treatment. It is a good idea to have good communication among these different focus groups, to ensure the overall quality and completion of the project in the time frame required.

Which technology is right for your business?

As you will be upgrading and enhancing your courses, it is important not to lose the main objective of your courses, make sure not to lose the initial purpose of the e-Learning courses during the conversion. With the right team and authoring tools working on this project, you can ensure you do not lose sight of your goals.

Often, the conversion of your legacy courses can be as easy as upgrading which tool you are using to build your courses. Asking professionals in this field can help you quickly identify the new tools you need moving forward.

Some examples of tools being used today are:

1. Adobe Captivate
2. iSpring
3. Articulate Storyline
4. Lectora

Start with a prototype

Another important part of this process is starting with a prototype. This will help decide the look and feel you desire for your course updates. Having a prototype stage, really does help you find potential problems as early as possible, crucial when dealing with a high volume of courses. The prototype will become the groundwork that all your courses will follow. This aids with the overall flow of work to be done and helps reduce delays in the roll out of your courses.

Test everything

When dealing with a high volume conversion project, it is imperative that you test all courses. Check for things like the visual design and functionalities of each converted course to ensure nothing has been overlooked.

Keep in mind your systems may need to be upgraded as well. Check that your current infrastructure has the ability to support the new courses. If your infrastructure does not support HTML 5, it will need to be upgraded. We reported on Microsoft's recommendations for which technology to use last week. Once again professionals in this field will be helpful in assisting with this process.

Over-all, converting all your courses in one single project can be a great achievement. By using the discussed approach, with the right partner and team of professionals, a successful outcome can be achieved. At the same time, this is the opportunity to give all your courses a face lift and bring them in line with the most modern and up-to-date courses out there.

Connect with iTRA to discuss your next project.