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E-Learning: Potential, Performance, Pitfalls

With concern about travel and budget, and a desire to maximize the training dollar, e-learning has become the medium of choice for corporate training. There are wonderful new development tools available that make it possible to create dynamic online courseware. And the ability to register, track, and communicate with geographically disbursed populations is a huge enhancement to the administration of training for large groups of individuals.

However, while the potential of e-learning is exciting, there are some disturbing trends emerging, too.

For example, if you design a course for online delivery, learners have the ability to drop out at will. According to an ASTD study, 70% of learners drop out of online courses without completing them.

The reasons for this extraordinary failure rate are complex. They include:

• Interruptions
• Lack of interest
• Poorly designed courseware
• Delivery method inappropriate to the topic
• Lack of interactivity

Unlike standard classroom delivery, online learners can "vote with their feet," or more accurately, with their mouse. E-learning modules have to compete with all the standard distractions of an office environment.

If the e-learning modules don't engage learners, they leave. The fact that they are leaving in droves reflects poorly on instructional designers, not on the learners themselves.

So how do you make your e-learning modules as compelling as Freecell and as integral to the learner's work process as checking their email?

To develop a valuable e-learning library, you first need to understand your users.

• What do they need to know?
• What online techniques appeal to them?
• What grabs their attention?

It may be that a particular topic–for example, emergency evacuation procedures may be so compelling that a standard, off-the-shelf "page turner" will be sufficient to keep them interested through the module. Or, it may be that your learners want to be engaged–to learn by participating in interactive exercises or simulations.

The way to find out what they want is to perform a Needs Analysis–the same kind of analysis that responsible instructional designers have been performing for decades. In addition to standard survey and interview processes, for online learning, part of your analysis may be letting users test prototypes of various modules to find out what they respond to.

Often learners can't articulate the types of online experiences they enjoy. However they will all be able to tell you what they like and don't like if you put samples in front of them.

Taking the time for this key initial step is essential to effective e-learning. Skipping it to save time or money guarantees that your final result will not meet your learners' expectations, or provide the metrics for completed training that management demands.

Another key is to build measurement in to your e-learning strategy. Most development tools have tracking mechanisms, which is how you measure completion and success for the course. You want to design your courses to capture a knowledge baseline at the outset–this can also motivate distance learners. Seeing for themselves what they don't know engages their natural curiosity.

Once you have a baseline, the course should build in performance–based measurement along the way. That is, users should demonstrate mastery of the specific objectives at the end of each module. By tracking scores against the baseline, you develop the metrics that show the value (or problems!) in your training materials.

E-learning is a tool with unlimited potential in the workplace. But it is only as good as the thought behind its development and rollout. Simply purchasing an online library or dumping an instructor-based course online won't deliver successful training.

For a detailed overview of this process, please take a look at Building CBT Modules and On-Line Performance Measures on our web site.