Creating Online Aviation Training Courses In-House vs. Outsourcing: Factors to Consider

April 19, 2022

One of the most critical tasks required of airlines and ATOs is the delivery of effective training to their pilots. Due the ease of distribution, reduction in costs and ability to leverage insights from training data, online aviation training courses typically provide a more effective solution than the traditional in-person ground school model.

There are two options when creating online aviation courses:

• Develop your courses in-house
• Outsource course development to a third-party provider

The right solution for you will depend on the specific needs of your organization as well as the resources at your disposal. The following factors will help guide your decision making process regarding whether to develop your online aviation training courses in-house or outsource them to a third-party vendor.

Creating Online Aviation Courses In-House

Developing your eLearning courses in-house means that you’re using internal resources to build your courses, develop all content and manage the software application. This requires a dedicated internal team that is responsible for the creation, management and updating of your course materials. If you don’t currently have employees on your staff with the skills and background to handle this operation, you’ll need to hire individuals with the right qualifications to build your courses.

Keeping online aviation training course development in-house provides several benefits:

• Your in-house team will have a better understanding of your organization’s specific needs, making it easier to deliver the precise course content your pilots need.
• Creating courses in-house provides you with greater control over the confidentiality of your data.

While lower costs is a commonly touted benefit of keeping your course creation in-house, this often isn’t actually the case. There may be a larger upfront cost when outsourcing your eLearning course creation, but this initial cost is often offset by the ongoing costs associated with employing a dedicated team of employees to manage your online aviation courses. These individuals will require full salaries and benefits. In addition, there are other costs associated with keeping this task in-house, including:

• Time resources associated with training your eLearning development team and the time it takes to develop these courses (there are significant monetary resources associated with this time)
• Expenses associated with the software tools and LMS hosting required to develop and run your online aviation training courses (these tools, including their licensing fees, aren’t cheap)

Therefore, many organizations actually find that outsourcing this task is more cost-effective over the long run.

Outsourcing Your Online Aviation Course Creation

When you outsource your online aviation course creation, a third-party provider manages the entire process. For many organizations who lack the expertise to handle this process in-house, outsourcing provides an effective solution.

Some benefits of outsourcing your online aviation course creation include:

• Having the expertise of a professional development team that specializes in online course creation and utilizes the most advanced eLearning technology
• Shorter time to build and launch your eLearning courses
• Greater scalability to address your needs as they grow over time
• The ability to develop more creative solutions to meet your specific needs

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Third-Party eLearning Course Creation Provider

If you decide that outsourcing the development of your online aviation courses is the best option for your organization, it’s crucial that you choose your vendor wisely. When evaluating potential providers, make sure to consider the following factors:

• Specialization in aviation courses – There are third-party providers that create eLearning courses for a wide range of industries, and there are others that specifically focus on online aviation course creation. Choosing a vendor who specializes in online aviation course content will provide significant benefits, ensuring you have access to the specific content required for the aircraft in your fleet.
  
• The ability for customization – While there are certain aspects of online aviation training courses that can be standardized for all organizations, it’s always important to be able to customize the content to address your unique needs. This customization can be associated with the design of the course, allowing you to use your organization’s logo and colors. It can also be associated with the course content, allowing you to make sure your organization’s specific policies are addressed in your training materials.
  
• Ease of updates – Whether it’s due to changing regulations, changes to the aircraft in your fleet or other reasons, you’ll need to update your course content periodically. Make sure you choose a provider that makes updating your content easy. Whether their team completes the updates in a timely manner or you have the ability to make the updates yourself, it’s crucial that you’re able to make any necessary changes to your content.
  
• Training and support – Make sure you work with a vendor that provides the necessary training and support for your team to successfully implement your online aviation training program.
  
• LMS compatibility – Certain providers will require you to host all course content on their LMS, while others have the flexibility to use any LMS. If you currently use an LMS for your existing courses, working with a vendor that allows you to host their courses on your current system provides a great deal of convenience.

Avsoft Provides Customized Online Aviation Training Solutions for Airlines and ATOs

Avsoft provides robust online aviation training solutions for airlines and ATOs. We’re the only pilot training innovators in the industry with a FlexPlus™ Training Platform delivering a truly custom solution to achieve your specific goals. This platform delivers a wide range of benefits, including:

• Complete customization of course content
• The ability to create and deliver your own courses
• Full mobile experience, including the ability to access materials offline in situations where internet access is limited
• The ability to customize exam questions and implement your own performance standards
• Customized reporting dashboards
• Easily modify your content or exam questions
• The ability to run your courses on any LMS
• Model specific type rating courses
• General subject courses
• Custom APIs for third-party system integration
• Courses available in metric or imperial measurements

Avsoft is raising the bar for online aviation training courses. Find out how your airline or ATO can benefit. Request a demo today.