1. What is e-learning?
2. We use CD-ROMs for training. Are they considered e-learning?
3. What are the benefits of e-learning?
4. What are the elements of an e-learning strategy?
5. We’ve developed online training, and purchased online courses from vendors. Yet we really don’t feel they were successful. Why?
6. Does multimedia enhance learning?
7. What’s knowledge management and why should I be interested in it?
8. What about synchronous, classroom training on the Web?
9. How can I tell if senior management supports e-learning?
10. How do I evaluate e-learning?
11. How many hours of development time does it take to deliver one hour of e-learning?
12. What percentage of training should be technologically based?
13. How should the training organization change to meet the challenges of e-learning?
14. What’s the future of e-learning?

E-Learning refers to the use of internet technologies to deliver a broad array of solutions that enhance knowledge and performance. It is based on three fundamental criteria:

• E-Learning is networked, which makes it capable of instant updating, storage/retrieval, distribution and sharing of instruction or information.
• It is delivered to the end user via a computer using standard internet technology.
• It focuses on the broadest view of learning – learning solutions that go beyond the traditional paradigms of training.

(Learn more in the book on pages 28-29)

It depends who you talk to. Certainly, CD-ROM (and DVD) based training has an important role to play, and it is an electronic, computer-based format. But because CDs are not tied to the Web and can’t be updated on a moment’s notice, they lack the networkability that I feel is essential for e-learning. So CD-based courseware is distributed learning, even distance learning, but it is not e-learning.

(Learn more in the book on pages 28-29)

Here are eleven benefits of e-learning:

• Lower costs for learning
• Enhanced business responsiveness
• Consistent or customized messages, depending on the situation
• Content is more timely and dependable
• Learning is 24/7
• Little user "ramp up" time
• Employs a universal platform
• Builds community
• Scalability
• Leverages the corporate investment in the Web
• Provides and increasingly valuable customer service

(Learn more in the book on pages 29-31)

Certainly, your e-learning strategy requires a sound technological framework. But if you rely solely on technology, your e-learning efforts are apt to fail. The best e-learning efforts are based on a strategy that takes all of the following components into consideration:

• A broad view of learning and e-learning to embrace new approaches such as knowledge management and performance support, in addition to online training – and the ability to chose the right approach at the right time.
• The design of learning architectures that systematically takes e-learning and classroom learning into account.
• A sound technological infrastructure and tool set, of course.
• A focus on building a solid learning culture, management ownership and change management.
• A sound business case.
• A reinvented training organization that has e-learning as a central focus of its work.

(Learn more in the book on pages 32-33)

There are many reasons why online training has been disappointing – and many of the reasons have little to do with the programs themselves. As you look at the online training you’ve deployed, ask yourself if they’ve had any of the following going against them:

• The content just wasn’t any good, either inaccurate or inappropriate for the audience.
• The learning wasn’t authentic. It was correct but unrealistic or too idealistic for the audience. They just didn’t believe it.
• It was too much form over substance. Too much glitz and not enough content.
• It wasn’t flexible enough to meet the needs of all the learners. For some it was too deep and for others, not deep enough, for example.
• The technology was a barrier. People just couldn’t get access to the online materials.
• It was useless after the initial use. There was no way people could use the training in support of their work.
• The learning wasn’t reinforced. People learned all right, but when they went back to work, the content was forgotten. Or the content was not valued in future training.
• It was just plain boring. Nuf said.
• It was "shovelware" – classroom courses quickly put online without regards to the needs of the new medium.

(Learn more in the book on pages 42-48)

Yes, and no. Certainly there are times where audio, video and other multimedia elements are necessary for learning. But there are other times where they get in the way. Too much glitz can detract from learning, and can hog bandwidth. When used carefully and properly, it is possible to incorporate the richness of multimedia in the learning experience without degradation in access, quality and speed.

(Learn more in the book on pages 55-58)

Knowledge management supports the creation archiving and sharing of valued information, expertise and insight within and across communities of people nad organizations with similar interests and needs. KM is facilitated by internet technologies.

If we think of e-learning as just courses, we are thinking too narrowly. When we surf the Web – to find information, to make a purchase or for any other reason, we are learning. There are many opportunities to create a learning environment by simply distributing the right information, to the right people, at the right time. With knowledge management, the Web becomes less of a classroom and more of a library. Just think of the learning capabilities you’ll have when you combine instruction and information!

(Learn more in the book on pages 63-110)

There’s a lot of talk about simply "broadcasting" classroom courses over the Web in a synchronous format. Certainly this will save travel and living costs, but is that enough? The answer is not so simple. While there are times when a synchronous class is appropriate, saving on travel costs alone is usually not enough justification. If the program can accommodate fewer learners so you have to run more of them, or if the program saves travel but little "seat" time, the savings could evaporate. The real savings in any e-learning venture is the reduction of learning time, thereby returning people to productive work sooner. Nevertheless, there are some real opportunities for using this technology, including providing greater access to key events, managing learning activities, and maintaining a learning community, especially between instructional events.

(Learn more in the book on pages 139-143)

Perhaps a better way to approach this is to look for telltale signs of lack of support, which include:

• Work is assigned to people already overloaded or who don’t have a clue.
• Support or directives are given without any money.
• The e-learning budget is always cut first.
• Senior managers refuse to learn anything about e-learning.
• The e-learning team is left to make all the decisions.
• The boss refuses to tell his/her boss anything about it.
• No deliverables or accountability is assigned.
• Belief that going to training is either a perk or a sign of a performance problem.
• Approves other initiatives that undermine e-learning.
• Suggests that employee use of the Web at work is disruptive.

(Learn more in the book on pages 189-199)

Most people focus on Kirkpatrick’s four levels: reaction, learning, transfer/performance and return on investment. These are good, but insufficient for e-learning. E-Learning should also be evaluated on overall cost efficiency, quality, service and speed. In fact, these four measures are the elements of e-learning’s value proposition.

(Learn more in the book on pages 211-227)

Seems like a logical question. Isn’t it a good idea to be able to predict development times and costs? Perhaps, except for the fact that this question is usually impossible to answer with anything more than, "it depends." It depends on the experience of the developers, the availability of resources (talent and money), project timelines, business risks, complexity of the solution, nature of the content and the programming required and management quality. In other words, every project is different.

(Learn more in the book on pages 225-226)

Everyone asks this question, yet the answer can be so arbitrary as to provide very little value. Is 40% enough? How about 50% or 30%? What about 100%? You can instantly achieve any of these goals simply by signing a contract with an e-learning vendor to have any number of online courses installed on your servers. But is this what you want. If ten percent of your courses were on the Web, but were most impactful, wouldn’t this be a better goal? Reduced organizational costs, or a contribution to competitive advantage (flexibility, responsiveness, adaptiveness) may be better goals to consider.

(Learn more in the book on pages 226-227)

A good, but complex question. Here’s a summary of some of the things to consider:

• You need to fund e-learning in a way that protects the investment long enough (perhaps a few years) for results to be achieved. Cutting budgets all the time, or requiring that everything be done in the "budget year" will make your e-learning goals hard to achieve.
• You may need to treat your e-learning initiative more like an internal venture and less like part of the more traditional training organization. That means separate budgets, staff and accountabilities, with a leadership that has the vision – and the clout – to get things done.
• You also may need to change the way e-learning is financed. Tuition is not a good approach for e-learning.
• You’ll have to re-examine your investment in facilities. But don’t knock down all the classroom buildings – classroom training still has an important role to play. Rather, you need to look at the integration of e-learning and classroom learning.
• Consider outsourcing some of your e-learning components to trusted partners who have the expertise you may not have.
• Focus on developing your people for e-learning, including brining in some expertise who will serve as "seed corn" for your future staff.

(Learn more in the book on pages 233-261)

It’s anyone’s guess how e-learning will grow in the future, but it will grow. As John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems has said, "Education over the internet is going to be so big, it is going to make e-mail look like a rounding error." Believe it!

(Learn more in the book on pages 304-311)