Building the better…….mousetrap?

The tagline for this post is relatively lame, but you can consider it a lead in to one of my big journeys for the coming year.  In a recent conference where I had the privilege to spend a lot of time with trainers and partners, we talked a lot about Author Enablement (what might have the tagline, but it is way too pretentious...).

There are a number of forums and places online today where content authors, publishers and those who have a vested interest in the quality of their work can meet and discuss the quality of courseware in general and Community Courseware in particular.  While at this conference we brainstormed a number of ways that the resources available (or referred to) on the Authoring Resources page of the Microsoft Learning Courseware Library site could be more rich.  They included:

• Videos (3-7 minutes each) on:
  • How to write solid course objectives
  • Figuring out how long a course should be
  • How to prioritize feedback
  • Update and revision strategies
  • How to get good quality OOB (Out Of the Box)
  • NOTE: these would be interviews with Microsoft Learning professionals, master trainers and existing Community authors.
• Lists of relevant online resources
• A Publisher's/Author's Forum as part of the existing Born To Learn forums
• More blog posts on:
  • How do you start?
  • Straddling the box of ILT (Instructor Led Training) - that is, how to think about innovating while keeping a solid eye on what your customers' expect.
  • Strategies on ramping up on technologies

This is a pretty good start.  What else would you like to see covered, and in what kind of context (video, forum, blog/comments, etc.)?