SME – Subject Matter Expert is really a fancy word of describing someone who is expert in his particular field and who has high expertise and skill in a specific topic.
SME can be anywhere it can be in HR team, Engineering, R & D, Product, Sales or even Finance department. Every business unit has a resident expert.
In E-learning SME plays a vital role in the creation of high-quality online courses as he focuses mainly on the quality of learning and making the module more effective. Your SME can help you define learning objectives, craft content, and give valuable feedback as you’re developing the course. In short, you can’t develop effective e-learning without an SME.
In this article, I will highlight the importance of SME in E-Learning
Clarify doubts about content: As we all know content is the King and SME is an individual who has extensive knowledge on a subject. The SME of your project helps you to develop the right content for your online course by keeping the target audience in mind. He also clears the doubts in the process of developing an E-learning project.
Storyboarding process: At the beginning of the storyboard process, it is highly recommended for an Instructional Designer to discuss with the SME and understand their requirements for the content. This ensures smooth flow of communication and helps in getting ideas to develop the E-learning module that meets the client expectations.
Re-designing the content to meet E-learning needs: SME will suggest us to use the interactivities, images, graphics, animations and engaging functionality as per their requirements. They also provide inputs on how to present the content in a most consistent and organized manner.
Reviews the projects and closes it: As SME has a lot of expertise in their own desired field, they play an important role in validating the content. They ensure the project is on the right track and helps in finishing the project in a quick time.
Helps to develop proper content: When the inputs provided by the client are not clear, E-learning developers seek help from the SME to understand the content. The SMEs can help the E-learning developers by providing a proper understanding of the content and by explaining the complex animations and processes in coming out with highly effective E-learning module.
Subject Matter Experts are crucial for a high-quality E-learning course. They help to save a lot of resources and time and also helps in making the E-learning process better. Without SME an E-learning content is as an incomplete website without accurate and current content. The goal here is not necessarily to create compelling content with a smooth slide but to work with an expert so as to come out with the most effective E-learning module before the given deadlines.
