Evaluating E-Learning - electronic learning - Brief Article

Training & Development, Dec, 2000 by Stu Tanquist

Info-line is ASTD 's how-to reference for training and performance professionals, with practical, concise information in an easy-to-read format that gets readers up-to-speed on training topics in a matter of minutes.

The following excerpt has been adapted from "Evaluating E-Learning," by Stu Tanquist, Info-line No. 0009.

Impact of e-learning

E-learning definitions abound. This Info-line uses ASTD's definition: "E-learning refers to anything delivered, enabled, or mediated by electronic technology for the explicit purpose of learning." For simplicity, assume that if you use a computer in some fashion to affect learning, then it is e-learning.

While some businesses have accepted and adopted e-learning as a mission-critical business strategy, others are cautious. To many, it is difficult to envision how machines could replace or even supplement the instructor-led classroom approach that has pervaded U.S. society.

You cannot ignore the overwhelming accolades that this relatively new medium receives from top companies and respected leaders. The promise of delivering efficient and effective training that provides just what learners need, when and where they need it, while reducing associated financial and human resource requirements, holds great appeal for small and large businesses alike.

But e-learning doesn't come without a price. Start-up costs can be significant and may involve organization-wide technology infrastructure upgrades and enhancements. Likewise, employees may need to acquire knowledge and learn new skills related to e-learning development, implementation, and delivery.

E-learning represents not only a different delivery mechanism, it also decreases direct human contact and requires more motivation and effort on the part of learners. As such, initial employee resistance can be significant, particularly when organizational culture doesn't support change or technology implementations. With so much at stake, organizations typically express the need to demonstrate value and a positive return-on-investment. Hence, the need for e-learning evaluations.

Because e-learning is relatively new, skepticism, caution, and even some hostility abound. Those concerns may pervade organizational leaders, managers, or employees. An evaluation that demonstrates the effectiveness and value of e-learning can help to quell everyone's concerns and fears.

We still have much to discover about the usefulness and effectiveness of e-learning. Advocates anticipate that in the not-so-distant future, e-learning systems will dynamically generate personalized content based on individual competency assessments and adapt to preferred learning styles to provide just what each learner needs when and where he or she needs it. All of that will be accomplished while bringing learners together, in both real and virtual spaces.

Once we reach that level of sophistication, much of the skepticism surrounding the value of this new learning medium will likely subside. Evaluations can then focus on assessing the quality, effectiveness, and business results (ROD, rather than on justifying the medium.

Reasons to evaluate. Reasons for evaluating e-learning are many and generally no different from the age-old reasons for measuring other learning activities:

* Satisfy learners' curiosity or their apprehension.

* Give subject matter experts, instructional designers, and developers useful insight to improve the quality and effectiveness of future learning initiatives.

* Assist with strategy and decision-making activities.

* Supply organizational leaders and management with necessary information to justify current and future e-learning initiatives.

* Demonstrate that e-learning is a viable training solution.

When an organization invests valuable resources in an e-learning initiative, management understandably wants assurances that employees learn what they're supposed to or will perform at a higher level. Individual improvements translate to improved business performance, which can ultimately produce a positive financial return. Recognizing that initiatives that either save money or make money will receive funding, business leaders increasingly expect e-learning to demonstrate positive bottom-line results--return-on-investment.

Clip & Save is compiled by Sabrina Hicks, managing editor, Info-line, published by ASTD; shicks@astd.org.