Preventing e-learning failure: ten common pitfalls and how to avoid them

T+D, August, 2002 by Pete Weaver

A growing number of organizations are embracing e-learning as an advantageous, if nor altogether superior, approach to delivering training. In fact, some observers estimate that by 2005 as much as 90 percent of all training will be delivered electronically.

But in their rush to implement e-learning, organizational leaders are making unfortunate mistakes--missteps caused by being unacquainted with the proper uses and requirements of e-learning or by miscalculating the resources and expertise needed to ensure a program's success. Given that e-learning is still new and unfamiliar territory for many organizations, it isn't surprising that mistakes occur. Adding to the confusion are the large number of e-learning suppliers and the wide variation in technology, functionality, and services that surround the design and implementation of an effective e-learning program.

Here's how you can avoid the most common pitfalls that are associated with implementing e-learning.

Pitfall 1: Believing that e-learning is a cheaper training alternative. E-learning has many advantages: scalability, broad geographic reach, and unmatched delivery speed--just to name a few. But those advantages don't make e-learning less expensive than other training delivery methods. In the words of Elliott Masie, a recognized proponent of e-learning, "We need to dispel the notion that e-learning is a cheaper alternative."

Masie's observation counters the assumption that if all training is put on the Web, implementation costs will be reduced. In reality, making content and courseware available to learners incurs many costs for planning, infrastructure, installation, bandwidth, and systems integration--not to mention the ongoing communications and marketing required to ensure that intended learners use the system. Organizational leaders often overlook those costs and make purchasing decisions based solely on the cost of course content. In such instances, the e-learning program can be severely undercapitalized and run significantly over budget.

E-learning can be cost-effective, especially with a large number of users in multiple locations. But don't expect a meticulously planned, effectively implemented, well-marketed system that meets or exceeds expectations to come cheaply. Like most investments, money must be spent to make money.

Pitfall 2: Overestimating what e-learning can accomplish. Despite a growing reliance on e-learning, instructor-led training still predominates. According to a recent Development Dimensions International survey, 68 percent of leadership development training is classroom based; other studies report an even higher percentage.

Such statistics suggest that e-learning will never supplant instructor-led training. One reason is because people are social learners. We like to learn in groups, exchanging thoughts and ideas and interacting with peers face-to-face. Classroom-based instructor-led training provides that experience; Web-based training generally doesn't.

Pitfall 3: Overlooking the shortcomings of self-study. The flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere is one of e-learning's greatest advantages. The self-study that characterizes that flexibility, however, poses a number of challenges.

In self-study (or asynchronous learning), learners follow their own schedule and aren't held accountable for their learning to an instructor, as in a classroom setting. That freedom of access is attractive, yet it has a major drawback: Unless learners are highly motivated, they may nor complete the training. Observers have estimated that learners don't complete 50 to 90 percent of Web-based courses.

Although self-study is an effective and appropriate platform for certain kinds of information--for example, on cognitive and process topics--the method runs counter to how most adults have been conditioned to learn: in classrooms, with other students, being taught by teachers who held students accountable for their learning. That system didn't condition most of us to learn in isolation what we need to do our jobs better.

A related issue to self-study is whether training should happen on company time or on the learner's time. Learners may not be motivated to finish a course if they're expected to do it while maintaining their same workloads; organizational leaders may be unwilling to implement e-learning fully if they think it will reduce productivity.

Pitfall 4: Failing to look beyond the course paradigm. E-learning courses exist for most job-relevant technical and soft skills. But the proliferation of courses has led many decision makers to believe that e-learning is all about courses. Actually, e-learning can take many other forms. For example, asynchronous threaded email discussions and synchronous chat rooms can be used to build communities of learning. Live e-learning platforms (virtual classrooms) can support open-ended discussions and small-group projects. Web-based knowledge management depositories and electronic performance support systems can provide just-in-time and just-enough online advice. Even 19th-century apprenticeship and 20th-century internship learning models can be facilitated across distance through emerging online and wireless communication technologies.