the benefits of e-learning

The development of your staff is essential to the success of your business: if staff don’t have the required knowledge, skills and motivation, you will undoubtedly suffer poor performance, low productivity and high attrition rates. The business implications of this are widespread and the potential of losing competitive edge has serious impacts.

Despite initial upfront costs, the implementation of e-learning will, if properly implemented, provide you with a substantial return on investment.

The benefits of e-learning are examined in more detail below:

• Always available - e-learning is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No matter where the learner is, they can now use e-learning anywhere, provided they have a computer and/or internet access
• Just in time - Content can be updated with the click of a button. E-learning gets rid of the logistical nightmare of trying to update masses of paper-based materials every time there is a change
• Substantial cost savings - E-learning removes the burdens of cost of travel, outsourcing trainers, accommodation, room hire etc; all of which eat heavily in to the precious training budget
• ‘Bitesize' learning - The attention span of learners can vary greatly and it is often difficult to cater for a range of learning needs and styles in the classroom. In using e-learning, individuals can take control of how much time they want to spend on a course: it is common practice to deliver e-learning in 'bitesize' chunks of 10 to 20 minutes to enable maximum knowledge retention
• Risk free learning - Many people find it difficult to get involved in the classroom environment; it can be embarrassing getting questions wrong or showing yourself up in front of colleagues. E-learning offers a safe environment where users can practice and learn without fear of failure
• Interactive online forums - Certain types of learning will only be successful through group or collaborative learning. Creating online communities and forums are less formal types of e-learning where the group members can interact with each other online, sharing experiences, knowledge and best practice
• Consistency of message - This is a key advantage to e-learning - everybody receives the same learning messages and content through a consistent form of delivery
• Customable content - Learning can be designed and delivered to your specific requirements. This ensures that operational processes and procedures are delivered alongside relevant subject matter, often mirroring the real working conditions and learner’s environment
• Central point for learning and development – In accordance with anytime, anywhere delivery, you can give staff the opportunity to access learning from a central point. Learning and development portals can give learners the ability to create their own learning paths, identifying and using the resources they require
• Tracking learner progress - This is an essential element to clearly identify the progress of the learners and the take-up of the e-learning courses
• Reusability - As you create e-learning content, you can minimise your long-term costs by reusing specific elements or even entire courses
• Interoperability - There are many different components within an e-learning course: infrastructure, content, assessments, tools etc. It is therefore essential that all these elements work successfully together. An open standard called SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model) has been developed to ensure all the learning components can be integrated across common platforms and are therefore interoperable
  

e-learning at xperience

• overview
• e-learning portfolio
• on-demand helpers

about e-learning

• why use e-learning?
• benefits of e-learning
• what does e-learning look like?
• models used to deliver e-learning
• impact of learning design