E-Learning: New Twist on CBT - United States Army Recruiting Command to launch computer-based military personnel training programme

HR Magazine, April, 2001 by Bill Roberts

The Internet is helping employers take computer-based training initiatives to the next level.

Another employer has joined the ranks of those using Internet-based technology to enhance their computer-based training (CBT) initiatives: the U.S. Army. Within the next year, the U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC), based in Fort Knox, Ky., plans to launch a web-based USAREC University that will handle much of the training for its 15,000-member staff.

USAREC University will offer online courses for entry-level recruiters, mid-career recruitment leaders and faculty who train recruiting specialists. A consultant involved with USAREC estimates the system could cut by at least 30 percent the time recruiters spend in school at Fort Jackson, S.C., potentially saving the Army millions of dollars.

"Most of the training now is done by instructors," says David Dawson, a retired master sergeant and training consultant to USAREC. When USAREC University launches, Dawson says, it will offer thousands of hours of training, focusing primarily on the sales techniques used by recruiters. The program also will allow students to schedule classroom training at Fort Jackson and will provide a database to track recruiter competency, certification and career progression.

Last year, the recruiting command made its first foray into CBT. It put onto CD-ROM 18 hours of instruction to train staff in a new recruitment information sys tem. Learners completed the CD at their own pace before receiving an additional 16 hours of instructor led training. Dawson, who was still in service and the ranking non-com missioned officer for the project, says the content is designed to be moved to the web when the infrastructure is ready.

Web-based training--also known as online training or e-learning--is the latest evolution in CBT. Instead of putting a CD-ROM on every desktop, e-learning allows organizations to post training courses on a web site, which then can be visited by workers and easily revised by instructors. Gone are the days when CDs had to be updated, reissued and distributed each time curriculum changed.

"As Internet bandwidth increases, companies can distribute material around the country and the world on the web," says Paul Jeffries, CEO of Logic Bay Corp. in Minneapolis. Logic Bay served as the contractor for the Army's CBT project and is vying for the USAREC University contract. Two years ago Logic Bay put 80 percent of its clients' content on CD-ROMs and 20 percent on the web. Today, he says, the ratios are reversed.

Latest Wrinkle in CBT

However, experts say e-learning initiatives face significant challenges-many of which are not technology-related. Proponents of web-based teaching programs must prove they can meet business objectives, be cost-effective and effectively train learners.

That may be why the number of corporate training programs delivered through technology, including the web and CD-ROM, remains relatively small, says Mark Van Buren, director of research at the American Society for Training and Develop ment (ASTD) in Alexandria, Va.

ASTD's most recent survey of CBT, conducted in 1999, found that only 8.5 percent of all training was delivered via some kind of technology. Van Buren estimates that today, only about 10 percent of training programs are computer based. "People continue to tell us that in two to three years as much as 20 percent of learning will be delivered through technology," he says.

Brandon Hall, CEO of brandonhall.com, an e-learning consulting firm in Sunnyvale, Calif., predicts an even higher percentage. "It might not be that big right now, maybe 8 to 10 percent. But I think it will become half of all training in the next few years."

What has been holding back the technology? Van Buren says, "There are various reasons why more progress hasn't been made."

Among the reasons: Some companies didn't put enough resources into their web-based e-learning pilot projects, hence the results were less than satisfactory. Some earlier (pre-web) CBT programs were not positive experiences for learners because the programs were not well thought out; it is not easy to woo these learners to try the newer e-learning programs. Also, implementation of e-learning programs requires high levels of executive buy-in and change management, never simple propositions. And, the jury is still out on the effectiveness and cost-savings of CBT.

In addition, says Van Buren, "There isn't strong evidence that it is superior to instructor-led learning. But, there's no evidence that it is inferior either."

Maybe that's why some companies take the attributes of e-learning and combine them with instructor-led training, not to replace it, but to enhance it.

For instance, IBM's online training focuses on management development. Hall estimates IBM has moved about 80 percent of this instruction online. But, he says, IBM still brings managers into the classroom for role playing, team building and other group experiences. "The implication is that training specialists will have to figure out what you do online and what you do in the classroom," Hall says.