Is eLearning Ready To Be A Grown Up?

Summary: It’s been more than two decades since eLlearning was introduced as an alternative delivery method for training. What started as a niche solution with more questions than answers has matured into a strategic tool for many organizations that impacts everything from employee development to risk management and customer retention.

According to ASTD’s State of the Industry Report, the delivery of learning through technology has more than doubled in since 2000 from 17.8% to 37.3%.  And BEST organizations report a record high usage of technology-based learning with 50% of their formal learning hours being delivered via a technology-based method.

So it’s clear that eLearning has found its place within the organization. But has the eLearning industry matured in-step with this growth? McKinsey characterizes the journey an IT organization takes to reach its full potential as a three phases

  1. Support
  2. Collaborate
  3. Innovate

What if we were to look at eLearning through this model? To achieve the first stage, support the business, your organization needs to have a mastery of the basics to deliver solutions in a cost-effective and consistent manner. For eLearning, this covers a lot of ground. Process, people, project definition, instructional strategy, technology, content acquisition, visual design and more.

The next stage of the model requires mastery of business collaboration. McKinsey states that "collaboration" means that you are pro-actively engaged in working with the business rather than responding reactively to events and crises as they occur. The next stage is innovation. That is, you are helping the business identify new opportunities for eLearning that will help them enable business processes to compete more effectively.

So where is your organization in this process? How about the eLearning industry as a whole? How do different business functions define success - cost savings, better results or ease of access? Kineo and eLearningindustry.com are collaborating to seek answers to these questions and more through a series of surveys. The first of which was launched earlier this month.

Take 5 minutes to complete the E-Learning in the Enterprise Survey to share what is happening in your organization.

eBook Release: Kineo
Kineo
Kineo helps the world's leading businesses improve performance through learning and technology. We combine quality in learning with award-winning customer service and innovation. We're here to take on your learning and performance challenges - and deliver results.