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| ARTICLES |
| Lessons Learned from the Waves of E-Learning |
E-Learning, like most technology industries, has seen its share of ups and downs. Since the time PCs became affordable for the average business, training professionals have been attempting to convert instructor-led courses into electronic format. We will learn from these attempts, some successful and some not, and discuss what is happening today. In the first wave, CBT or Computer-Based Training took hold as most computers had CD drives, and the standards for interoperability were fairly solidified. This meant that a CD could be purchased from a retail store, and the chances of it working on a fairly recent Windows computer were good. Coincidently, PC’s also became more multimedia capable, so many off-the-shelf training programs contained fun animations and audio, much like the computer games they sat beside on a retailer’s shelf. The downside to CBT, though, was that the cost to produce, package, and distribute was a barrier for some larger corporations, and versioning was an issue as well. Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of a field manager in the early 1990’s, to understand the lessons we have learned from this phase. As a field manager, you are responsible for your location, and all of its maintenance, operations, and logistical aspects. To your surprise, you get a CD-ROM in the mail from the corporate headquarters, and you are expected to train all of your staff in that location with this disc. Okay, so you have 1 computer in your office with a CD drive. Should you schedule each person, one at a time? Trust me, this is not the first scheduling priority for a field manager. Or let’s assume that the field office has many modern computers, all with CD drives. Do you request a CD for each computer? What happens when the corporate office wants to change the content on the disc? Will you be responsible for destroying the old training CD’s and loading the new ones? And what is to prevent someone from walking off with the CD-ROM, with the intention of learning at home (or worse selling it to a competitor)? Add to this the cost of packaging and mailing CD’s, and you can see why the success of the first wave was somewhat limited. Wave #1 Lessons Learned: •
Understand your audience and the demands already placed upon them. In the second wave, the industry learned from some of the mistakes of wave #1, plus the web became a new business mechanism for communication and information sharing. Around about 1997-1998, businesses overtook the web, and every large corporation was building or improving its web presence. The more technology-savvy companies had web access for each employee, and intranets were starting to become more popular as well. This led some in the training profession to create training for the web, and thus, WBT or Web-Based Training was born. At first, mostly text-based instruction for a specific skill, it grew to include graphics and took on more of a course-like structure. Due mostly to the bandwidth restrictions of dial-up modems, the early web courses were not multimedia-intensive like their CBT ancestors. In some ways, the coolness factor took a step backward from CBT to WBT. However, there seemed to be more of a business-like focus on objectives and a realization that the message was more important than the flashiness of the graphics. As a plus too, the industry realized that the web could be used as a powerful medium for sharing information throughout organizations. As a downside, though, mostly only IT personnel had access to corporate intranets and business websites, meaning that subject matter experts could not easily publish and share their knowledge. Wave #2 Lessons Learned: •
Content is King The years 1999 through 2001 saw great innovations in learning technology, and the term “e-learning” was born. One of the greatest contributions to this era was the LMS, or Learning Management System. These wonderful systems became the central technology point for users to log in, explore available learning opportunities, and launch and track e-learning courses. With these systems came increasing budgets for the associated purchasing and implementation services. Unfortunately, courses often took a back seat to the implementation and maintenance of LMS’s for long-term periods of up to a year or more. As bandwidth increased, content became more sophisticated and interactive, while still maintaining a focus on the learning objectives. Unfortunately, one of the biggest thorns in the side of e-learning, and this still applies today, was the incompatibility issue between courses and learning systems. There are industry standards, but they are new and somewhat vague, leading to independent interpretations. Corporations are often left with a bill for course integration to the tune of $30,000. Wave #3 Lessons Learning (still learning these): •
Keep a focus on course content while deploying technology While there is some subtle debate on what consists of an e-learning wave, we can safely say that we have learned from the limitations and mistakes of yesterday. Today, we still fight many of the battles fought in the 3rd wave, but the technologies and industry standards are maturing. Currently, rapid content development is popular, partially due to the fact that we are in an information age. Rapid Content Development takes a step backward in proper instructional design and interactivity, but it makes a leap forward in allowing subject matter experts to produce their own courses and make quick updates. There are more choices for the e-learning department today, too. Off-the-shelf content vendors with enormous libraries compete for accounts in commodity-like fashion, smaller boutique firms offer customized course development services, and independent consultants do course integration work. One of the most significant changes occurring today is in the roles and responsibilities of corporate stakeholders. New e-learning-specific positions have been created to oversee the course development process, administer and support the LMS, and more. In corporate training departments, change is afoot, but it seems to be going in the right direction with more refined processes and roles. I think we are smarter now. Like all adults, we learn lessons best by making mistakes and watching others make mistakes. After all, we are only human and making mistakes is in our nature. We just hope that in the end, we see our vision of increasing workforce performance come to fruition.
Sheldon Murphy
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