Companies such as IBM have started using interactive online courses to train their employees. This approach is looking increasingly attractive for a host of reasons–significant cost savings being one of them.

As any capable manager knows, teaching employees new skills is critical to a smoothly run business. Having said that, however, the traditional route of classroom instruction runs the risk of being expensive, slow and, oftentimes, ineffective. Perhaps the classroom’s greatest disadvantage is the fact that it takes employees out of their jobs. Every minute an employee is sitting in a classroom training session is a minute they’re not out on the floor working. It now looks as if there is a way to circumvent these traditional training drawbacks. E-training promises more effective teaching techniques by integrating audio, video, animation, text and interactive materials with the intent of teaching each student at his or her own pace. It is the case of the monitor versus the blackboard. But the real argument for online training may just be that it eliminates the costs in both time and money of having to send the employees to seminars.

IBM, for instance, claims that the institution of its e-training program, Basic Blue, whose purpose is to train new managers, saved the company in the range of $200 million in 1999. Cutting the travel expenses required to bring employees and instructors to a central classroom accounts for the lion’s share of the savings. With an online course, employees can learn from any Internet-connected PC, anywhere in the world.

However, nobody said this technology would be cheap. E-training service providers, on the average, charge from $10,000 to $60,000 to develop one hour of online instruction. This price varies depending on the complexity of the training topic and the media used. HTML pages are a little cheaper to develop while streaming-video presentations or flash animations cost more. Course content is just the starting place for cost. A complete e-learning solution also includes the technology platform (the computers, applications and network connections that are used to deliver the courses). This technology platform, known as a learning management system (LMS), can either be installed onsite or outsourced. Add to that cost the necessary investments in network bandwidth to deliver multimedia courses, and you’re left holding one heck of a bill. For the LMS infrastructure and a dozen or so online courses, costs can top $500,000 in the first year. These kinds of costs mean that custom e-training is, for the time being, an option only for large organizations. For those companies that have a large enough staff, the e-training concept pays for itself. Aware of this fact, large companies are investing heavily in online training.

E-learning began in IT departments more than a decade ago under the moniker computer-based training (CBT). CBT courses were usually delivered on CD-ROM and have largely been focused on providing technology skills. The traditional CBT model does have drawbacks for teaching skills, like salesmanship, that require an interactive form of instruction. Now e-training is expanding beyond CD-ROMs and onto the Web, fully encompassing all the capabilities of this new medium. E-training incorporates streaming audio and video, interactive flash animations and PowerPoint slides into a compelling, fully interactive learning experience. As of right now, about 40% of all e-training is still CD-ROM-based, but an increasing number of courses are being delivered over company intranets and the world wide web. About a third of these online courses include interaction with other people but most programs still involve the learner and a computer. In 1999 the vast majority of all e-training was IT-related, but that area is expected to fall to less than half by 2003. There are currently e-training courses being taught that embrace the entire gamut of business issues, from topics as diverse as accounting to employee fitness.

E-learning isn’t expected to replace the classroom entirely. For one thing, bandwidth limitations are still an issue in presenting multimedia over the Internet. Furthermore, e-training isn’t suited to every mode of instruction or topic. For instance, its rather ineffective imparting cultural values or building teams. If your company has a unique corporate culture it would be difficult to convey that to first time employees through a computer monitor. Group training sessions are more ideal for these purposes. However, for teaching specific information and skills, e-training holds great promise. It can be especially effective at helping employees prepare for IT certification programs. E-learning also seems to effectively address topics such as sexual harassment education, safety training and management training — all areas where a clear set of objectives can be identified. Ultimately, training experts recommend a “blended” approach that combines both online and in-person training as the instruction requires. E-learning is not an end-all solution. But if it helps decrease costs and windowless classrooms filled with snoring students, it definitely has its advantages.

Source: Want Smarter Employees? Get on the E-Train
Dylan Tweney
eCompany
http://www.ecompany.com/articles/mag/print/0,1643,9001,00.html