Content experts (also called subject matter experts or sometimes expert practitioners) are people who are thoroughly familiar with skills and content that training must impart. Sometimes instructional designers work with a team of people who can guide the development process. In addition, they may work with written resources, job descriptions, or related manuals.

 

The type of content expertise needed, and the best ways of accessing that knowledge, vary. For example, when the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) decided to develop a national curriculum to train new Performance Reviewers—people responsible for reviewing and helping to improve grantee performance—they hired a contractor to help develop the training, but established two important internal mechanisms to guide the development process that included:

 

1. A Steering Committee to oversee development process, review products, and ensure the contractor remained on track; and

 

2. A Stakeholder Advisory Group consisting of both new and experienced performance reviewers who share their knowledge of job requirements in both group and individual interviews and who, in addition, work small teams to provide further advice and resources on particular modules in the curriculum.