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BRIEFING
Should You Invest in E-Learning?
E-learning might not necessarily slash your corporate training costs, but according to LearnShare, it can give you more bang for the buck compared to traditional training methods.
In tough times, one of the first things likely to be affected is corporate training. Why is that a big mistake? Corporate training services are a company's number one source of competitive advantage, according to a Merrill Lynch study. In addition, studies conducted by Motorola have shown that every dollar spent on training results in a US$30 boost in productivity.
Those statistics are what LearnShare, a consortium of 13 Fortune 500 companies, uses to promote corporate learning as a key strategy to help professionals -- and the companies they work for -- stay on the leading edge. The founding members (see sidebar) had a novel idea: About five years ago they realized they could team up to share resources and best practices, saving money in the process. They joined together to transform the way their companies research, design, purchase, package, and communicate career development and skill enhancement courses to more than two million employees.
As the consortium has evolved, it has placed a greater emphasis on technology-enabled courseware. Today, LearnShare makes more than 500,000 Web-based courses available to 2.5 million employees of member companies. Courses range from technology, business, professional skills, and leadership topics.
The advantages of the consortium are threefold, says Lois Webster, general manager of LearnShare:
- It influences the value of the learning product by establishing a common set of criteria.
- It helps guide technology standards.
- It helps influence a buying model that's mutually beneficial to corporate learning providers and customers.
LearnShare delivers the majority of its courses through seven career development and skills training providers, including THINQ, UNext, SkillSoft, QuicKnowledge, Ninth House, Development Dimensions International (DDI), and 24/7 University.
In selecting its providers, LearnShare "evaluated everything from company stability and business model to course design," says Webster. As the consortium moves forward, Webster says they expect to create a "consumer-report" type of evaluation they'll put online for member companies. Eventually, that may be made available to the larger community.
Meeting corporate training needs
Some might argue that this is precisely the economic climate that calls for investing in your employees. Not only does it boost morale, but automation in new areas is requiring retraining and new skills.
The good news: Thanks to increasingly sophisticated and varied e-learning programs, more employees have access to corporate education and development, Webster says. "The electronic technology that allows for training is incredible." Admittedly, many companies are still limited. "There's just such a variance in the technology that's available, although the e-learning products are becoming more sophisticated (offering video streaming, for example)."
In some cases, companies can save on the expenses involved in travel and time off from work. Most companies, however "are approaching [e-learning] realizing that the costs may be placed differently, but the total costs may be about the same," says Webster. There is a higher cost in developing online courses compared to instructor-led or text-based courses, she notes. "Setting up the infrastructure for the delivery is costly."
In addition, some topics are better suited to live instruction, or other delivery methods, such as CDs. Most companies want to use what Webster calls a "blended approach."
A new but promising field
E-learning isn't without obstacles -- both technical and cultural. For example, since e-learning is still a relatively new field, some providers may get too caught up in the technology at the expense of integrating the necessary expertise to make a program successful. For example, some educators might not have thorough experience inside a corporation, and don't necessarily understand corporate decision-making and politics, Webster says. On a positive note, many e-learning providers are advancing the products by using innovative designs to improve e-learning interactivity, such as offering live-person assistance to questions in real time, she adds.
"People need training now more than ever," says Webster. "E-learning provides a way not to have to submit to the economic downturn. It's efficient, there are great resources, and it isn't dependent on a lot of in-house instructors."
Keyword Tags: 24/7 University, Business Management, Business Technology, Career, Development Dimensions International (DDI), E-Learning, LearnShare, Management, Ninth House, QuicKnowledge, SkillSoft, THINQ, Training, Trends, UNext
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