Introduction
An internet search for the key word “e-Learning” will return more than 4 million matches, clearly e-Learning is a topic of immense interest. In this month’s article we will investigate two areas of e-Learning that are of particular interest to large organisations, namely the factors that are critical to success during the initial planning stages of e-Learning initiatives and the topic of return on investment in e-Learning resources.
Developing an Effective e-Learning Strategy
E-Learning is not about publishing aesthetically pleasing, animated, “point and click” content on web sites with the expectation that people will become more knowledgably and effective in their roles.
Successful e-Learning initiatives focus on the needs of the learners rather than on content. In successful e-Learning programs the needs of the learner inform the design of a holistic learning program which contains resources that best meet these needs.
E-Learning is often viewed as an alternative to the face-to-face learning environment, however, in effective e-Learning programs, electronic methods of information delivery are viewed as one of a number of complementary avenues for transferring information, knowledge and skills. This concept is commonly referred to as blended learning and the realisation of this integrated approach is a prerequisite for any successful e-Learning initiative.
When e-Learning resources follow best practice principles of instructional, learning and user centred design they more often that not contribute greatly to a holistic program that combines a range of learning resources.
The first step towards successful e-Learning implementation is to develop a strategy. Here are 6 key factors that are critical to the creation of a successful e-Learning plan.
- E-Learning should be viewed as an integrated component of the broader training and development strategy. This means that executive sponsorship and “buy-in” is critical as is committed investment for both specific projects and the larger e-Learning management infrastructure.
- Rather than attempting to craft a detailed strategy of how to design, implement and manage e-Learning programs, chart a broad vision of the direction you wish to proceed, including your general goals and potential subject matter areas. During the beginning stages of developing an e-Learning program, creating detailed strategy is too difficult as there are many components that warrant intensive research, organisation shifts can easily render detailed plans useless and technological considerations can be left to later in the design life cycle.
- Do not allow training or content vendors to drive the discussions around how best to design your e-Learning system as this will inevitable lead to silos of technology that lack integration with each other an the rest of your IT infrastructure. Consider E-Learning technology within the strategic context of your existing IT technological framework.
- An integrated approach to managing e-Learning resources in conjunction with other training and development initiatives is a basic requirement. Among the options available are learning portals and more powerful enterprise learning management systems. Whatever route is taken, the management system must support all types of learning: e-Learning as well as classroom based learning and other methods of delivery.
- E-Learning is much more than pretty pages on a website. Your e-Learning strategy must be learner focused. Whether you develop educational content internally or outsource its development, it is critical to ensure that content is developed for the learners needs instead of finding learners to deliver content to. Adherence to best practice instructional and user centred design are also key to satisfying the needs of learners.
- Finally, methods of measuring the success with e-Learning must be created in order to evaluate its worth. While it is often difficult to judge how much training is worth, one easy method is to simply ask the participants and their supervisors or managers what they think. It can help if this is an anonymous exercise as some may people skew their answers.
In summary, the recipe for e-Learning success includes:
- A clear strategy for integrating e-Learning with existing training
- Executive commitment and support to implement the strategy
- Flexible delivery models that can include classroom as well as e-Learning components
- Best practice instructional and user centred design to develop and deliver high value e-Learning
- One single management system for managing access to learning
- An organisational standard for how e-Learning will be delivered
- An enterprise-wide capability rather than localised, disconnected systems
Return on Investment: Focus on Educational Value As Well As Cost
Many corporations have embarked upon a path of developing e-Learning programs to address gaps concerning “generic skills” in broad areas (e.g. computer applications training) because of the economic benefits of e-Learning. While this investment does indeed address learning needs within organisations, investment in e-Learning educational solutions will achieve a better return on investment if specific skills in more specialist areas are targeted.
At first thought this may appear to go against common sense as it seems to be a simple volume equals value proposition. But let us investigate this further and reveal where even greater value lies.
If your organisation has a number of employees who need training in a particular computer application, sending employees on training courses is expensive as there are a number of costs involved:
- opportunity cost – expensive for them to be there rather than at work
- travel and support cost - expensive for them to get there
- training cost - and it’s expensive for them to be trained
If the employees can undertake online courses that are available off-the-shelf for a fraction of the cost, this makes a lot of financial sense.
The problem is that cost saving does not necessarily equal increased value; higher value is achieved by addressing more specific subject matter. This can be simply illustrated in the following diagram.
The diagram above depicts the relationship between volume of training and training value. For generic training the volume is high, however value is low because the knowledge being transferred at this level is often quite superficial, and in terms of organisational performance, of little strategic value when compared to more specialised job functions.
As subject matter becomes more specialised, the knowledge being transferred concerns itself with people, products and processes and although volume decreases, the value delivered increases because the content of the educational processes is of greater strategic significance.
From an investment point of view, in order to get a better return companies should be looking at how they can use e-Learning resources to support the delivery of core development programs and company-specific subject matter having high strategic value.
In this strategic view, apart from reduced cost of delivery, e-Learning resources have the ability to
- Reduce the amount of time to learn new skills
- Reach people independent of location
- Integrate learning and development activity seamlessly into the workplace
- Base content on real business problems rather than through generic case studies
- Provide online mentoring and coaching support
In addition, the content and role specific e-Learning resources developed can be reused to help educate future employees on their developmental journey. And if constructed properly, existing e-Learning content can be modified to include changes within the market place or the organisation.
If you would like more information on how to create effective e-Learning strategies please contact one of our consultants on 61 3 9855 1346.
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