What is an eLearning Project Manager?

Project Managers are well sought out in many key industries. Known for being the centrepiece of progression and achievement for taking projects from A to B, they are a key requirement for many businesses seeking tangible change through various operations and schemes. This is particularly true within the e-learning industry, with “E-Learning/Digital Learning Project Manager” now boasting one of the most common job titles in the sector.

While Instructional Designers, Developers, and Learning Technologists (some of which have been dissected in previous articles) remain at the forefront of the more hands-on E-Learning production, Project Managers remain integral in this field to ensure efficient day-to-day management of a multitude of projects, working hard to maintain all components within budget with timely delivery. Interestingly, E-Learning Project Managers don’t always need to come from a digital learning background themselves.

Often, they are valued more on previous examples of delivering large scale projects in a commercial setting, with high pace and agility. However, candidates will certainly set themselves apart from more generalist project managers by working their way up through the sector, and some job postings do bolster previous experience in the field as ‘necessary’ or at least ‘highly desirable’.

Like more generalist project managers, those in the digital learning sector usually work around continuous plans for each necessary deliverable. If they were looking to manage the development of a particular course, for example, they may follow a process such as the below:

• Develop the initial project plan
• Gather all resources and collaborate with relevant teams/skill sets
• Oversee the development of the course
• Test the course
• Manage the publication onto the necessary platform
• Gather feedback

At the planning stage, project managers may also set key milestones and objectives to ensure each stage of the development process falls within a certain timeframe and to the expected achievement for that stage of the process. This is also important for establishing which resources and/or individuals will be required for each step of the process so that they can be contacted with sufficient time and with the relevant expectations. An example of this could be:

Step X: oversee the written element of the course content development

People required: subject matter experts, instructional designers

Tools required: (example) Google Docs

Project Managers in this space must also take responsibility for overcoming potential problems, such as a lack of synchronisation across team members, missed timelines, or more general breakdowns in communication. While these problems are prevalent across all generalist areas involving Project Management, it is particularly important for E-Learning Project Managers to take the time to understand each job role involved in their project to ensure full clarity of what is expected, especially when the individual has not worked in this space already.

Overall, Project Managers are a popular job role in the E-Learning Industry, and they are vital members of the team who work to ensure a brilliant result is delivered for the necessary clients across a broad set of subject areas and project types. But, what do you think is the most essential component of being a great Project Manager? Is previous sector experience needed? Or is it the skillset and ability to deliver on time, to budget, and to a great quality more important?