Mission E-Possible: The Cisco E-Learning Story

Training & Development, Feb, 2001 by Patricia A. Galagan

"My hope is that e-learning expands their horizons and gives them the skills to achieve a brighter future."

Patricia A. Galagan is editor-in-chief of the ASTD Magazine Group and ASTD's e-learning spokesperson, pgalagan@astd.org.

Q&A With John Chambers

Q: By being the first CEO of a major company to publicly predict the future of e-learning, you've influenced many other business leaders to think of it in a new light. How did you come to the position you hold? Who or what persuaded you to take such a bold public stand on a relatively untried phenomenon?

A: There are two global equalizers in life--the Internet and education. Although the United States has one of the best university programs in the world, education at the K-12 level is broken. I believe that if we don't fix that for our children, the competitive advantage that the United States enjoys today could change. The jobs of the future are going to go to the best-educated workforce, no matter where that workforce is. Leaders around the world get that and that the Internet is going to be key to survival, including Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, Jiang Zemin of China, and Lee Tung-hui of Taiwan.

Given that, I think we need to do what's best for the next generation. E-learning helps eliminate barriers of time, distance, and socioeconomic status, so individuals are empowered to take charge of their own lifelong learning.

Q: What's your view of the contribution of e-learning to Cisco's success as a business?

A: How many times have you sat in a 40-hour class waiting for the two hours of information you wanted to hear? E-learning is a productivity tool that not only gives students personalized learning or the information to meet their needs, but also allows for assessment and accountability.

Switched On

Glen Tapley is a trainer who made the switch to e-learning. One month after he was hired by Cisco as an instructor, the word went out that his training unit "was no longer in the instruction business." Tapley had joined Cisco just as it was getting serious about e-learning.

Burned out by a previous instructor job that kept him on the road 80 percent of the time, he was ready for a change. "My kids would cry on the way to the airport when I headed out for another week away from home.

Now, Tapley is a technical education consultant in Cisco's Internet Learning Solutions Group, a job he sees as having advantages over his previous role as a fulltime classroom instructor.

"E-learning doesn't require skills I didn't already have, but it takes more flexibility of thought to apply the things I used to do to this new arena," says Tapley. It's also easier to get set up to do online instruction. "Instead of going to a hotel meeting room with tons of equipment, I just need a couple of PCs and an Internet connection."

Tapley admits that for an in-structor, there are downsides to e-learning in its current state. "A lot of old-time trainers moved on to other business units (when e-learning became a priority) because they wanted more platform time. I understand their choice. There's a satisfaction you get from seeing the light go on in someone's eyes when they understand a complex topic. The instructor doesn't get that satisfaction from e-learning."