Ways around a slowdown

E.learning Age, Apr 2008 by Naish, Richard

The part of the industry that may experience some fall-out is "traditional e-learning", which is cheaper than simulations and other e-learning 2.0 methodologies, but more expensive to produce than rapid e-learning. If it is to pass the "cost-effective" test, then it needs to demonstrate that it is better at helping people learn than training material produced using rapid e-learning tools.

Overall, in any downturn (which of course may not happen), managers will be even more conscious of cost-effectiveness in learning. So the total e-learning spend will increase at the expense of traditional face-to-face training. However this bigger e-learning budget will be spent in different ways. The mature e-learning users will spend more on high-end e-learning to achieve productivity gains, maintain their brand and recruit/motivate their staff. Organisations that are new to e-learning, will spend more money on rapid e-learning to quickly up-skill their distributed workforce.

Richard Naish

e-learning consultant