What's all this about E-Learning?

E-learning is the delivery of a learning, training or education program by electronic means. E-learning involves the use of a computer or electronic device (eg. a mobile phone) in some way to provide training, educational or learning material. (Derek Stockley 2003)

The term was first coined 16 years ago and has since grown to a $107 billion market. 25% of all employees leave their jobs due to lack of training and learning opportunities, but companies who do provide e-learning generate about 26% more revenue per employee.

E-learning has shown improvements to the time to competence, productivity, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, delivery time, and ability to adapt.

Some of the best practices of e-learning include grabbing the users attention from the beginning and maintaining it, and clearly outlining expectations from the beginning. It is a good idea to provide self-assessment activities and break down the course into manageable lessons.

The instructor’s role in e-learning is to facilitate the learning by clearly outlining the objectives and to create a friendly social environment for the students to engage in.

The learner’s role in e-learning is to engage in the material being taught and to be self directed to complete all requirements of the course.

E-learning is a growing industry, and so long as students understand the technology, have access to trainers, and are tested with real-life scenarios; e-learning reduces costs, increases revenue and keeps employees happy.

#ELearning