E-LEARNING BENEFITS

How can you benefit from e-learning?



Executive Summary

The face of corporate learning has changed. It is no longer possible to develop your human capital with a single approach. Today's corporate environment calls for out of the box thinking, incorporating the advantages of many types of learning to benefit your company's single biggest investment — your people. Evaluating the ever-growing corporate learning solutions that are available enables you to obtain full benefit from your learning programs, by selecting the range of learning resources that best match your strategic corporate goals.

Table of Content

Introduction4

Overview of the Market4

Types of E-Learning5

Asynchronous E-Learning6

Synchronous Learning7

Benefits and Disadvantages7

Benefits8

Reduced cost8

Efficient8

Globally consistent8

Scalable8

Universal access to experts9

Trackable9

Convenient9

Reduces/eliminates travel9

Disadvantages9

Initial investment9

Inappropriate content10

Technology issues10

Diminished personal interaction10

Employee acceptance11

Motivation11

Implementing an E-Learning Program: Success Factors12

Developing a Business Case for E-Learning12

Measuring Performance13

Individual performance13

Business impact13

Measuring the Cost Savings vs. Classroom Training14

Improvements in Employee Productivity14

Summary and Recommendations15

References17

How can you benefit from e-learning?

Introduction

Companies looking to reduce costs and improve overall productivity are considering alternatives to traditional skills development programs. As broadband services become more ubiquitous and data storage costs decrease, the worldwide e-learning market has expanded (Allen, 2007). While cost reduction is often a key business justification for implanting an e-learning program, online training offers several advantages, including

Elimination of travel costs

Consistency - no bad instructor days

Scalability from a few users to a worldwide deployment

Flexibility to allow users to learn over a period of time

Modularity to provide customization options

Tracking capabilities to measure skills and confirm compliance

Reporting capabilities to identify skills gaps in an individual or department

This white paper designed to provide you with an overview of e-learning and to help you cost-justify an e-learning implementation and/or determine the benefits, if any, e-learning may provide your organization.

Overview of the Market

The worldwide corporate e-learning market reached $17.2 billion in 2008. IDC forecasts that it will grow at a CAGR of 8.0% to approximately $25.4 billion by 2013. Content (rather than systems or delivery) represent the largest segment of the e-learning market, accounting for well over half of total spent.

Classroom training still represents the primary delivery choice for most training organizations, although it now used less often. The combination of synchronous and asynchronous e-learning represents the next most popular modality. A significant number of organizations are also using formal on-the-job training as a key component of their overall education programs.

A majority of enterprises select the modality simply based on content availability; the content they want is available in an ILT format or e-learning or whatever, and that is the modality they offer. While organizations like the concept of blended learning and learner-centric design, they constrained by the available content (Bonk, 2009).

Types of E-Learning

E-learning is a broad term that includes a number of training methods and modalities. Vendors often define new terms for their offerings to differentiate themselves from the market. Most e-learning methods can be subdivided into two categories, asynchronous and synchronous learning:

Asynchronous E-Learning

Asynchronous learning is a student-centered approach to learning, as opposed to a teacher-centered approach where a live instructor interacts with the student. Asynchronous learning became popular in the early 1900s when ...