The ABCs of e-Learning

Companies are using eLearning techniques to increase sales performance, accelerate product uptake and to provide immediate answers to questions at time of need.

The Internet has fundamentally changed how we think about learning. Since it is ubiquitous we now have easy access to vast quantities of learning materials that are often available at the time of need. Moreover, the interactive nature of the Internet and web-based technologies changes how we can interact during the learning experience, offering a much richer and more intensive learning environment. These factors coupled with companies’ growing need to train their employees quickly and their ongoing war for talent has created a frenzy of interest in eLearning.

eLearning has already become an $11 billion market, because it helps reduce costs, increase speed-to-market, improve training access, and usability. In the United States, the market for professional online education is growing at a 60 percent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR), while worldwide the rate is even greater—78 percent CAGR.

Today most companies are using “eLearning” in some way. They either produce their own educational content or buy it off-the-shelf and utilize web-based technologies to deliver it to their employees. However, the majority of these companies are not taking full advantage of the most compelling, and indeed effective, eLearning techniques.

In delivering content into the corporate and professional eLearning space, several technology driven practices are taking shape that produce some great outcomes. Among these outcomes are the following: to exceed customer expectations, to create cost savings, and to help organizations track employee performance.

To achieve the maximum organizational and financial results, companies need to implement their programs carefully. Several common challenges have that could severely limit the success of these programs.

• Implementing piecemeal solutions - Organizations that choose to implement a small portion of a comprehensive eLearning solution frequently ignore the interdependencies between the different components of learning processes and the economies these processes bring to each other.
  
  
• Central and departmental training organization roles not clearly defined - Clearly defined roles for central and departmental learning organizations can help mitigate the risk and maximize the learning organization’s impact on the bottom line. However, focusing solely on training is the opposite side of this coin. It is important to focus on the holistic picture of what learning is and the strategic capabilities it may bring to an organization.
  
  
• Lack of strategic positioning - Organizations do not view human performance as strategic in nature. So learning programs are positioned as tactical projects, with inappropriate sponsorship. In addition, a failure to link learning metrics to the organization’s strategic objectives is another part of this challenge. Although the exercise of linking learning programs to an organization’s strategic objectives may seem obvious, it cannot be overlooked or performed without rigor.