Hi there,
There is a tremendous amount of material available and published on e-learning so please allow me to share some of my random thought firings on the topic based on our experiences
In today’s technology-dependent, fast moving and rapidly accelerating business world where skills deficiencies, once identified, must be corrected as soon as practicably possible, e-learning has a vital part to play in keeping businesses competitive and public sector organizations efficient, effective and provide ‘good value’ for the student’s or organizational expenditure.
E- learning can provide the on-going fast yet consistent information flow to remote employees and can ensure a constant up date of relative legislation changes and applications for industries where compliance with laws and regulations are a requirement.
E- Learning can provide a kick-start to skills development through induction training for a range of individuals and associated responsibilities throughout an organization.
However, consider that just as constantly re-charging your laptop’s battery will only charge the battery to a certain level, in the long term, this may be the cause of a battery to fail.
A complete diet of ‘instant learning’ is unlikely to produce the in-depth, knowledge and skills and behavioral change that workers need for long-term success.
In other words, the complete range of knowledge and skills necessary for a continuing, successful career – is not likely to be gathered entirely from e-learning. It is prone to come from a range of learning delivery methods - one of which could well be e-learning to provide beginning and/or top-up knowledge and skills.
Where e-learning scores hands down over its other methodologies – the off-the-job training course – is in terms of delivery flexibility, timeliness, relevance (learning only what the learner needs to know) and, if you have enough students to teach, cost.
For experiential learning (which it appears most adults prefer) and ‘higher’ (strategic and interpersonal) skills, e-learning can play a part in a mix with other learning delivery methods. But, to meet an immediate need, e-learning is increasingly vital in the modern world.
I think there is also a number of assumptions that we make when we speak of e-learning:
1. That we understand the difference between asynchronous(self paced e-learning and synchronous(live on line)
2 That all students would have access to system requirements and equipment
3 That the students preference for learning is e based. I think this is an important consideration as you cannot force a learner to learn but simply provide the tools and theory to guide the learning. It is my view that often times organizations fail to consider preferred learning style in the FEA which should preface any training initiative.
Perhaps a controversial view but mine none the less
Thanks for listening
Regards to all,
Jo
www.jemmconsultants.com
E-LEARNING 
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