I was walking down one of those tunnels in an airport with pictures from yesteryear on air travel. They showed photos of passengers, and I noticed those folks all looked old.

Take a look at pictures of folks in the mid-1800s, especially those who fought in the Civil War. With the mustaches and some beards, you would think they must be in their late 20s or 30s. Yet, plenty were 16, 17, and 18.

What you see is perceived in this way, which in turn makes your brain think it must be this way because this is how I see it.

We do not have to look at old-timey photos to get that feel, but from a photographic standpoint, it stands out.

For those in the 80s who saw our fashion as the latest, you look now and think either “Yep, it was,” or “I can’t believe I wore that.”

It’s a different world then—a different perception, and yet there is a constant stream of existence. From the 80s angle, some of that has come back in 2024—seen as “hip.”

Bounce into the late 90’s, and flip phones started to appear.

Even into the early 2000s, you would think it was once there, but time changed, and now it is gone forever.

Nope, it is making a big comeback with the latest generation of kids, the generation that is now in their late teens and mid-20s.

Ditto on those phones we all had with the dial – remember yellow?

Read one thing, Recognize the other.

Content is a necessity in any online learning environment.

Classroom learning is one of the constants that exists. Those who perceive that it is somehow different from back in the day and, therefore, is not the king of learning are diluting themselves.

I get it. That perception, with perceiving as though content isn’t necessary because you do not need it online – something I have read recently with various folks – is a misnomer.
It ignores the truth.

From the early days of preschool, you received and learned how to read with a book or a guide helping you. From first grade, it wasn’t just listening to the teacher or eating out of a lunchbox; it was receiving materials of some kind.

Fast-forward to those who attended a college/university, tech school, culinary school, or whatever. You received materials. You often had to buy an overpriced textbook that your professor listed in the need category, and then the professor never used it.

Be honest. You used it as a stopper for your dorm room door, then sold it back and used the money to give everyone in your home a holiday present.

I digress.

Unless I lived in another dimension (some people think that, and maybe they are right), that stuff was content. Yes, we called it a course, guidebook, worksheet, or homework assignment that involved writing off some materials or whatever; all of that was content.

From an online standpoint, we still refer to the term’s courses and content as though they are different. They are not. I’ve seen systems label videos differently than a course, and then when you ask what the courses are, they are all videos. Now, think about that.

All that is content – a course is content – in whatever manner you design it and its appearance.

Video? Content or refer to it as a course. Guidebook? Content. A journal to put down your thoughts? Content.

Are you creating an authoring tool? A course that is the same as content, but ideally, a different form and design—sadly, ADDIE hybrid (from an online standpoint) is gone. You can thank the rapid content authoring tools for that—albeit you can do it with Storyline and a couple of other providers if you want.

However, RCAT’s goal is to output rapid content.

That’s why my term preference today is to call them content creators, even in a learning system—regardless of type—a content creator tool or content creator.
Some systems allow the assignment angle to be as long as everyone is 15 years old.

The assignments are often listed in a PDF or some form to read and respond to. Lessons?

Besides seeing everyone as a high schooler – i.e. it is outdated – but the perception and how you perceive it, aligns to an agreement – is a form of content.

What is Content, then?

Besides being the king is a commodity.

It is an expansive necessity that continues to be. Vendors can create or create custom courses, i.e., Content.

There are vendors who have a course/content marketplace where you can pick from a variety of third-party publishers. The number of seats—by the way, you do not need to give them to everyone if you so choose—is content.

Cornerstone’s Content is no longer only available to Cornerstone clients. You can now buy it for your LMS, LXP, Learning Platform, and other learning systems.

You can choose as little or as much as you choose – thus, the all-you-can-consume model or pick this or that.

It’s content. GO1 has the same angle. Biz Library does, too. OpenSesame does, too. And there are other aggregators, albeit Biz and Cornerstone have a learning system, too.

GO1 gives you the option—thus, you can use the back end as your learning system.

I expect a few vendors to start offering content from colleges or universities—in fact, D2L does offer it.

They have universities that offer degrees, although I see it more as an executive education program.

I’m surprised how many colleges and universities have never seen this as an opportunity to generate revenue, especially since many are struggling financially.

Regardless, courses, even with executive education programs, are content.

Do you want to purchase courses using a digital wallet within the system?

The delivery output is different, the digital wallet isn’t and using it to go external or within the system is partially new and partially not.

The fact is, there is “old” there, a past angle that has returned. Toolwire was the first vendor to have an agreement with a business school, where when you completed the courses, you received a badge from that business school, which, trust me, means more than getting one from LinkedIn.

What if I decide not to buy courses?

Hey, you are creating content – in whatever format you want.

Let’s remember the historical context. This practice’s roots can be traced back to the early days of college, which are believed to have begun in the 1600s.

It’s important to note that even in the distant past, during the B.C. era, literacy was a key factor. Whether it was through reading or listening to another person, knowledge was being extracted-a form of content delivery.

You do not need a system; instead, get an FTP.

What about those people who say content is not needed?

Misinformed. That’s all.

They see online learning as a format of acquiring knowledge and learning that has zero need for webinars, courses, PDFs, ebooks, downloading a scrap of paper, or writing down the top five of whatever tasks (a form of content), assessments).

A philosophical approach to them would be guessing numbers or letters in your mind because you can’t write them down, you can’t view any information on them, you are just there—like Jello.

Honestly, nobody is going to be Jello.

Content is the backbone of learning.

There is content, whether teaching people how to do something or playing a video game.

From a training standpoint, it relies on content from the Internet.

Sadly, though, there are people who espouse different perspectives—yet the moment they do it, they acquire the information from somewhere at some point.

Bottom Line

I learned how Instructional Design for online learning – reading a book – fantastic one (I recommend going on eBay and getting a used one for like $8. His freebie requires you to take a dive on Captivate – Pass)- and then, explored other channels on the net, learning about JavaScript, ADDIE – which was designed for course development before the days of course creation for online – thus, I extracted parts of it for my purposes.

I utilized the Scenario Based Learning providing content so that the learners could tap into it.

Prior to online learning, I learned HTML and HEX codes – from the net (back in the early 90s). It didn’t come out of brain, on a random day.

When I conduct research today, on topics such as learning styles I tap into what I learned in observation as the head of training – and being in the trenches. Plus, I use research sites – (avoid the pages of internet – which now junk. With AI – I read lots of publications, that is a form of learning, acquiring knowledge by reading.

Next year, I am launching via a mobile app – branded and will be available on iOS and Google Play, mini content items – short and right to the point, on a variety of topics. A form of mobile learning.

With a different take on what we experience in a level of content.

You do not need to bow down to the King.

Rather

Recognize what this King is all about.

A commodity

You want

And need.

E-Learning 24/7