Is the success of eLearning a time-borne hype?
Is it staying for good? Or is it one of those buzzwords that wear off with use?
If the use of the internet and mobile devices is gaining momentum then eLearning is in for a stormy ride! Sure enough, online courses for mundane tasks to complex, are sprouting everywhere. Instruction developers and designers are now joining forces with eLearning specialists to keep up to pace with hungry learners. The proliferation of eLearning courses explains their success! Organizations, in every niche, are quickly closing the need, by training their human resource developers to provide real-time and concurrent learning experiences through the company intranet. Traditional training is rapidly being shelved for blending with eLearning!
Importance of eLearning in today’s world
It is no secret that eLearning has taken the world by a storm. A storm that has boosted the morale of learners and has instructors coming back for more. With the latest in communications technology tools, educational technology leaders have developed learning solutions to match paces: the avid digital learner and consumer.
The result? Learning experiences at your fingertips (literally), instead of “your doorstep”, as it was when distance education first broke into the learning scene.
Indeed, eLearning has given distance education a new name and a new identity. Learners now relate eLearning to their social media platform. They get instant notifications and updates and can think about an assignment days before they work on it!
In today’s self-validating world of text messages and instant statuses, learners are eager to share their knowledge and criticism with a never-seen-before honesty. In fact, learners demand platforms that proliferate their opinions across the cyber world.
Informal communities of learning are being developed across world-wide servers, morphing automatically into formal communities of practice in an eLearning environment.
- eLearning is inevitable.
- eLearning is a product of demand. It is a convenience that cannot be denied even by the technology-averse learners!
- It is prevalent in schools, universities, and corporations, regardless of the technology literacy of the learner. It is the most efficient vehicle to send and receive knowledge.
Traditional training vs eLearning
Traditional learning is wearing off at a slow but steady pace. Each year, the introduction of devices and eLearning platforms into the education sector increases to meet the demands of the digital youth. Businesses too, recognizing the advantages of a technology proficient intern, increasingly pressurize universities to create techno-grads, who can hit the industrial ground running.
Indeed, the best way to learn how to use technology is to teach with technology! eLearning in universities and schools has been replacing traditional teachers to enforce the “cross-curricular technology implementation”. Traditional methods in today’s classrooms are more “blended” in true sense – they are mixed with eLearning.
Apart from satisfying the learner’s convenience and learning style, eLearning has also filled the increasing cost of a traditional classroom course.
Learners no longer prefer limitations of space, time or pace when learning. Most adult learners enjoy the value of learning and strive to accomplish their learning goals. Maintaining one’s learning and personal growth regardless of life’s disruptions is synonymous with life-long learning.
Who is responsible?
When it comes to corporate training, no person can reinforce life-long learning more than the training manager. The training manager is intimately associated with the goals of the organization. This individual understands the performance gaps and how learning can fill those gaps. A training manager can be a communication relay between the organization, the instruction and eLearning developers.
These people have the power to influence a positive attitude towards training. Team managers can work closely with the training managers to create organization-specific training. They can also promote the training to each employee with better results.
ASTD’s “eLearning: If we Build it, Will They Come?” study (2001) reveals the direct relationship between higher training completion rates and manager support. Managers in organizations can support eLearning in more ways than one:
- Explaining the rationale behind completing the training
- Linking the course objectives with business objectives and future career growths
- Promoting eLearning as equal to classroom learning
- Enabling employees to transfer learning to their immediate work context
- Encouraging peer-peer support in training
This eBook is geared towards organizations which want to encourage employees to receive regular updates. These updates could be standard procedures or they could be organization-specific “way-to-do-things-around-here” guides. Education and training update is the sure-fire way to creativity and innovation.
Who should read this book
It’s about time to train yourself about how to train! This eBook is for organization learning managers and knowledge developers who manage training. We provide tools and tips that shorten your learning curve towards an eLearning course design, development and implementation.
In addition, the following professionals will significantly benefit by reading this eBook:
- Learning & development managers
These individuals are key “knowledge brokers”. They specialize in managing knowledge in the organization. eLearning will prove to be their strongest ally in maintaining and developing their organization’s knowledge. - Training directors
Very keen on having employees attend training, because they know the performance gaps of the organization too well! eLearning will be their best tool to improve employees and manage change in the organization. - HR partners
Responsible for generating an intelligent organization, the HR managers will enjoy better ROIs in terms of employee skill upgrades and happier customers. - Team managers
When the personnel is growing, they look for faster learning solutions with even quicker turnaround! eLearning will enable them to educate their teams at a faster pace and bond together, while learning to perform better. - Instructional designers
Armed with a toolbox of authoring and editing software, instructional designers can brag about their expertise in cutting-edge technology. With a constantly evolving medium like eLearning, instructional designers are the first ones to try and recommend an eLearning product. - Subject Matter Experts
When working with instructional designers, subject matter experts take learning at a deeper level, where internalizing concepts are as automatic as reading.
Questions that will be answered in this eBook
eLearning is not an easy learning medium to create. However, it is not strictly reserved for the technical adepts!! In fact, training managers and other interested individuals in an organization can easily create an eLearning environment with great efficiency and finesse. Simply follow the strategies and proven methods shared in this eBook.
Here are some common questions answered by this eBook:
How to introduce effective eLearning courses?
Are you one of the “hard to please learners”? Then you will make an excellent learning or training material developer for your organization. You already know what the learner wants! Flashback: how was your last eLearning experience? Boring? Dull? Monotonous? You must know why. Once you write down why the experience was not so pleasant, you will be ready to create effective training materials. In this eBook, you will find a wealth of resources to create learner-centered materials that are guaranteed to attract and retain them.
How to approach eLearning if we never did it before?
Have you used any social media? Have you uploaded documents in email? Have you written any articles? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are ready to succeed in your eLearning project. Basic computer literacy is more than enough to get you started! Simply follow the how-to’s in this eBook.
How to build the eLearning environment?
Just like a physical learning environment, an eLearning environment needs to have collaborating mentors and learners. In your organization, you can select mentors to establish a perspective sharing environment between employees. We will tackle issues like finding experts and seniors to help create a strong eLearning medium for your company in the upcoming chapters.
How to make sure that people will actually learn something?
This book solves the mystery behind engaging learning experiences: What do learners expect from an eLearning experience? How do we make sure that they have changed their attitude towards an issue? How do we evidence the presence of new skills? Learn how to create compelling e-courses that provide better ROI and employee turnover.
Learn how to create compelling e-courses that provide better ROI and employee turnover.