Intranet Corner

It’s your first day of school… all over again!

Day 9. Your office is in transition. IT is upgrading the corporate groupware in order to keep up with the constant changes in technology which seem to ebb and flow with the phases of the moon. Not only is your own work piling up higher and higher, you are now forced to attend several training sessions to familiarize yourself with the use of the new software. In a moment of rebellion, you throw your arms in the air, stand up on your chair, and proudly proclaim:

"O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done!!!"

You pause and look around the room. Rather than the roaring echo of the "Dead Poets Society" soundtrack and tearful gaze of Robin Williams’s appreciative face, you are confronted only with the silent drone of crickets outside your window and the steady blinking or your computer cursor.

Press any key to continue... blink… blink… blink… blink… blink…

Good morning, class! E-Learning 101

Over the past several years, industries around the world have been slowly warming up to the idea of e-Learning – a virtual "classroom" where the instructor and students may be scattered over continents. E-Learning can range from simple online orientation sessions for new employees to full-fledged certification programs.

Although the term "e-Learning" can be broadly defined as the use of a network (a LAN, WAN, or the Internet) for the delivery of training and educational material, this delivery can occur either synchronously or asynchronously.

Some companies have adopted hybrid e-Learning systems which combine synchronous and asynchronous methods. Lectures and courses could be stored on large "data farms" and burned onto CD-ROMs when needed. The e-Learner may then utilize this CD at his or her own convenience. However, it is best not to abandon them by the side of the road with a screeching car pulling away. Instructors may decide to make themselves available online at scheduled times during what can be called electronic office hours. This burn-on-demand method is extremely useful in cases where network bandwidth may not permit the media to be streamed to a student’s desktop in an efficient manner.

The level of real-time interaction is not the only factor to take into consideration. You can also decide on how the course will be run or managed. E-Learning courses can be purely computer-based, instructor-led, or a combination of the two. These two methods are not mutually exclusive and may compliment one another very well.

The real question, though, is how easily can your employees adapt to the idea of e-Learning? The answer, in part, depends on how computer literate they are. If you need to have your IT staff dressed in their black ninja outfits (requisite attire for any true IT technician), harnessed, roped in, and lowered from the ceiling in the dead of night in order to make changes to your employees’ desktops for fear of office wide revolt, then you may have a tougher time.

It may not be a bad idea to offer a CBT course on the CBT course! This could be a short one-hour introduction to the new e-Learning interface, allowing the e-Learner to familiarize him- or herself on how to operate the menus and navigate through the course material. If your staff finds it difficult to adjust to the new technology, it would be a safer bet to ease them into it rather than throwing them into an ice-cold pool. Separating the material into shorter course modules, for instance, may help them in the early stages.

E-Learning, however, is not that wide a shift. This is not going to be another "Thrilla in Manila" bout or the revelation of the true fifth Beetle. In the big picture, it is no different then when the typewriter was replaced by a word processor or the interoffice memo was replaced by e-mail. The one glaring difference which sets e-Learning apart from these examples, of course, is one of human interaction.

Think about your daily routine for a moment. You wake up, shower, shave, get breakfast ready, drive the kids to school, yell at the guy in the white Camry who cuts you off every morning as you attempt to pull out of the driveway, and so on and so on. You do this same routine for years and all of a sudden you are thrust into the alkali badlands of Survivor IX and forced to share a makeshift lean-to shelter with the surly one from "Deliverance" and the cast of the original Beverly Hillbillies. How quickly do you think you can adjust before getting voted off the show?

Human beings are creatures of habit. We get familiar with certain rhythms and soon these rhythms fossilize in our worldview. When this happens it is often difficult to break these habits overnight. There is no behavioural patch to help wean you away from certain habitual patterns.

We all recall going to school; sitting in a packed classroom, the teacher giving you the evil eye because you were talking in the middle of the lecture, and the ritual of cramming for exams at 2:00 am in the morning. This is what we equate to the word "learning." What if we took all that away and sat you in front of a computer terminal which seems to be addressing you from the ethereal world of a network? What if you try to throw a paper airplane at your teacher only to have it bounce off the monitor and into your cold cup of coffee?

The concept of e-Learning has two hurdles: technology and attitude. In the past, potential e-Learning students were doubtful as to whether bandwidth would truly allow material to be broadcast in real-time. The images were choppy at best and the video media looked as though the instructor was moving in a giant jar of molasses in a drunken stupor. However, technological issues can always be overcome in one way or another short of asking someone to split the atom with no more than an empty beer can, a sheet of aluminum foil, and a Swiss Army knife. With improvements in bandwidth, data compression techniques, and caching of streaming audio/visual media, previous bottlenecks are no longer the barrier they once were.

A more difficult boundary to overcome is how to change someone’s mindset regarding e-Learning? The problem we have is more of social engineering. What if they are unwilling or unable to adapt to the concept of talking into a microphone sitting next to their computer screen? How do you get buy-in from those who still print and file their vast stores of e-mail messages in faded manila folders?

The appeal of e-Learning over traditional classrooms stem from the fact that courses can be flexible enough so the student can study at their own pace and according to their own schedule. Some students may find it more productive to absorb the whole course in one sitting. Others may prefer to study at a slower pace and complete one module at a time. This is advantageous in the elimination of the "Zone Out Factor" where a student may lose focus or concentration after several hours of a lengthy course.

In the past, students had to accommodate their schedules around a particular course. This is no longer a viable solution given our increasingly wired world. With the speed and growth of technology, we are more accessible than ever. We cannot turn our backs without an e-mail, fax, pager, or cell phone going off. The course must now accommodate the students’ schedules.

Is it for you? Well, some companies are turning towards e-Learning because it is more cost-effective in the long run and more suitable to their employees’ hectic schedules. Others, however, are doing it out of necessity rather than by choice. A geographically dispersed work force makes it difficult to train employees on what they really need to know to get their job done. There are also added expenses of sending employees to traditional training centres which may be located outside of the company’s home city.

An interesting survey was conducted by the MASIE Centre, polling some 2,474 learning and training professionals during the week of May 15, 2000.

Will e-Learning really work? How do we measure its effectiveness? We may ask the same question of a traditional F2F course. The evaluation of learning is not confined to the electronic medium. Simply because a student attends a course does not necessarily mean they will turn the teaching into knowledge.

One way to try classifying the areas of evaluation is by applying what is known as the Kirkpatrick Model developed by Donald Kirkpatrick in 1959. His four-level model is briefly described in the following table:

Although in-depth descriptions of each of Kirkpatrick’s four levels go beyond the scope of this article, you can read more about it at the following Web sites:

This article has only scratched the surface on the topic of e-Learning. There is still the issue of whether to build your e-Learning solution on top of your existing intranet infrastructure or hiring someone to build it and house the material externally. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the notion of electronic learning has been around for a while, it is in its infancy. There is still no clear leader or dominant company in this arena, although there are companies that have chosen to adopt these titles by self-proclamation rather than consensus.

Whatever you do decide, there is no one perfect solution. In the end, I believe that the most successful e-Learning model may be one that combines the interactivity of a synchronous, instructor-led program and an asynchronous, computer-based program.

Now, a final thought for amusement. I once attended a course where a fellow student told an interesting story about the president of an unnamed company who showed up early on the Monday morning of a week-long course. He had with him several suitcases and a cheque in is hand. He placed the course fee on the instructor’s desk and simply walked out stating that he was going on vacation. Apparently, his schedule was so hectic and his time was in such demand that the only way he was able to get some time away from work was to sign up for a course and then disappear off into the sunset. Please, do not try this at home…