Using a Decision Tree to curate LMS Content
The Tool
A decision tree to develop shared criteria for auditing the contents of your learning management system (LMS).
The Purpose
A decision tree helps you clearly articulate what content you plan to remove and what content you need to keep in your organization's LMS.
Use Case
As instructional designers, we often wear the additional hats of LMS experts and content curators. Maybe you've found yourself in a new role managing an unwieldy number of courses. You look into your organization's LMS and think, "Why do we still have a course on Zoom happy hours that was last completed in 2020?"
Or perhaps your organization has decided to move to a new LMS, and you need to make informed decisions about what content to migrate. Reach into your toolbox and pull out a decision tree.
Instructions
To use a decision tree, you first need to establish your criteria for curation. If you've been given free rein to curate existing content, congratulations! But it's more likely that you'll need to gather information from a few other stakeholders before you can build your decision tree and start taking action. Here are some questions to ask them as you get started:
What is important to our organization at this point in time?
What are our must-have courses from a compliance perspective?
Is our content aligned with organizational goals?
What content do we have that is out of date?
From these questions, start developing your criteria for content curation and plug them into a decision tree. Here is an example that I built using Canva, but I recommend starting on a virtual (or real) whiteboard.
Pros
If done correctly and updated often, a decision tree helps you clearly articulate your plans for curation or migration with your stakeholders. It evaluates content based on alignment with organizational objectives rather than people's feelings about a specific topic. I recommend an annual audit of all LMS content to ensure that the learning products available to your learners stay aligned with organizational objectives.
Cons
As you audit your course content, you may find content that doesn't perfectly match the criteria outlined in your decision tree. I've outlined the answers to the questions in the example as yes/no, but you may be operating with your best possible guess. Pull out your research and consulting skills and edit the tree as needed.
Takeaways
Decision trees can be useful any time you need to systematically curate content. Give it a try today and see how you can "branch" out your communication strategy!
