Source: theHRDIRECTOR
Date: December 2006 

While e-learning can be a more cost effective way of training staff compared to more traditional face to face methods, companies need to ensure employees really are learning from such programs, in order to gain tangible returns on the investment made.

At the beginning of the new millennium, e-learning hype was at its height. At the very least, technology delivered education was going to save organisations incomprehensible amounts of money; at most, it would be the only way anyone on the planet would ever learn anything ever again. This latter is not that much of an exaggeration; from shop floor to higher education, e-learning was nothing short of a revolution. Desk bound employees could learn from the same computer on which they worked. Video conferencing, chat rooms, seminars and online library resources could duplicate or at least offer a comparable learning experience to that of any classroom. Today, experts and suppliers are agreed there’s a greater sense of reality to what e-learning offers. To begin with, it is practically impossible to discuss the subject without mention of the phrase ‘Blended Learning’ – the combination of a number of different educational formats to make up an individual’s learning experience.

This alone signifies the realisation that e-learning cannot teach everyone everything. Indeed, there is open admission of where elearning is inappropriate – those interpersonal and hands-on equipment skills that have to be imparted face to face. And alongside this appraisal of the technique there is also great debate over what return on investment (ROI) is achievable. On the face of it, ROI should be easier to come by today than ever before. There are a large number of relatively cheap, off-the-shelf solutions for common skills required by businesses. A basic training package to get your staff up to speed with Microsoft Outlook, for example, can be hosted externally (avoiding the use of in-house IT resources) with staff simply given codes to access the course.

“Unless they’re on a very tight budget any SME can afford a resource like that,” says William Burton, e-learning consultant at Rhema Group. Moreover, Burton reckons some return on investment is felt as soon as staff start logging on: “If you factor in accommodation and travel, then the cost of a simple e-learning course is roughly equivalent to the travel and accommodation of 60 people,” he says. “Therefore, if you bring a course in-house for that number of people, you know you’ve already made a saving.”

“cost saving is not ROI”

But do the cost savings of e-learning constitute return on investment? Donald Taylor, alliances director at InfoBasis doesn’t think so: “Cost saving is not ROI,” he says. “Your staff may undergo some form of training but at the end of the day if they still can’t do what they need to do, there has been no return on that training. Your costs might be less with an e-learning solution but you’ve still wasted the money you’ve spent.” As Taylor points out, measuring the effectiveness of e-learning requires the same care and attention as measuring that of any other training intervention. There should be a skills needs analysis beforehand and a comparable measurement of skills attained after the event. Only then can anyone say for sure whether the training has worked. Return on investment means going one stage further – to measure if any impact has been felt on the bottom line. “We’ve always thought we could get the most out of e-learning by linking competency, learning and people management,” says Taylor, “but the technology to do that wasn’t around five years ago.” Taylor also thinks there was less understanding of skills at the turn of the century – leading to confusion about which were required, which should be developed and how they could be developed.

“In the early days e-learning was about offering employees the keys to the British Library,” he says. “Now it’s about taking people by the hand and guiding them through the resources you have. The combination of skills management and e-learning means you can make sure the skill needs of the individual are met and that those skills match the needs of the organisation.” “LMS can be linked to performance management” One way of ensuring skills gaps are met is by underpinning e-learning resources with a Learning Management System (LMS). This software essentially tracks the training undertaken by an individual and can be designed to ensure all those learning activities move the organisation in the right direction. “The LMS can be linked to performance management,” says Alun Cope-Morgan, president of EMEA at Saba. “It is
also possible to bring in a talent management piece which means you get the link from basic learning activities through to the strategic direction of the company.”

An organisation with a strategy to grow its client base might, for example, decide that to do this their current salespeople require improved skills. Learning resources can be provided through e-learning, and the LMS can provide a gateway to this and a host of other learning resources – information on useful books, external or internal classroom based training. An online assessment process undertaken by each individual employee enables the LMS to identify the education resource most suited to their requirement. Post training, further online assessment will examine whether the appropriate level of skills have been gained. More importantly, the organisation should judge effectiveness by looking at the original reason for the intervention – has their client base grown?

“People are costing employers more and more money,” notes Cope-Morgan. “Management are realising that if those people are trained properly and do their job properly they’re of greater value to them.” “a two-dimensional fashion” But even with an LMS in place and linked to an overarching performance management strategy, doubts exist as to how far up the management hierarchy e-learning can spread. “E-learning is sometimes deployed in what I’d describe as a two-dimensional fashion,” says Mark Pittaway, chief executive of learning technologies centre of excellence, Learning Light. “It’s just page turning material – text on a screen – and that’s not going to engage managers.”

According to Pittaway there are a number of interactive training programs on the market which are better at addressing management trainees. “There are business simulations which can provide the context in which skills need to be used,” he says. “It depends what skills you’re trying to address, but there are some products which are very effective at conceptualising different management approaches.” “At the lower end of management around 90% of training can be delivered online,” says Kim Parish, CEO of the Institute of Leadership and Management, “but in our experience, as you get to the higher levels e-learning is no longer the most attractive teaching method.”  Parish’s argument is that good management is a question of skill deployment – choosing and executing the right approach at the right time given a unique set of circumstances.

It’s a scenario that doesn’t translate very well to the virtual world. “How can you assess online whether a manager is effective at coaching someone?” she asks. “Sure you can test their knowledge and understanding of the theory, but that’s only a small part of the story.” At the end of the day, e-learning is no different from other learning interventions – they must be designed and implemented on a case by case basis taking into account the skills required and the situation of the individual trainee. “I don’t think the position of the individual makes any difference on its own,” says Clive Shepherd, e-learning specialist at The Training Foundation. “What’s more important is that some topics are easier than others to get across through e-learning – and that applies to all levels in an organisation.”

As far as Shepherd is concerned, performance management is to some extent just another administration system which, like other aspects of the HR function, can be automated easily. An admin system which links employee records to databases of competencies for job positions, set alongside an effective assessment process and an LMS, can enable managers to identify how to grow their talent and will even offer individuals the resources they need to start planning their own careers. Simply compare the skills they need for the next step up with the ones they have and ensure the resources are accessible for them to bridge the gap. “Whatever you do you need to design the training intervention to match the person receiving the training,” says Shepherd. “This is especially the case for management. You don’t want to offer them a resource that appears irrelevant or patronising for them.”

If anything has been learned from the use of e-learning over the past few years it is that to be effective, education cannot be technology led. No matter how impressive the software, no matter how interactive it might be, training must always be focused on the skills required and then on how those skills can best be delivered. To this extent, perhaps Kim Parish’s advice should be followed closely: “If you’re going to use e-learning always choose a supplier who started off as a learning company,” she says, “not one that started as a technology company.”