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Education
E-LEARNING
HARNESSING THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE TO MAXIMIZE CORPORATE PROFITABILITY
E-Learning has always offered a compelling value proposition. But in recent weeks, it¹s become even more powerful. Because of the current economic downturn, coupled with terrorist attacks in the U.S., fewer people are inclined to travel for business. This spells a rosy outlook for an industry that enables people to collaborate, communicate and learn without ever leaving their offices.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks, more companies will opt to do one-on-one meetings over the Web, and "that's an aspect of e-learning," says Peter Martin, senior vice president of equity research at Jefferies & Co., a global investment banking firm based in San Francisco. "Long-term, as companies evaluate their ongoing business and emergency planning, they'll incorporate e-learning as a way to reduce travel and limit their employees' time outside the office. More and more, they'll move toward holding meetings in a collaborative format over the Web."
 This view is corroborated by the results of a new study done by Eliot Masie, an online learning expert who heads The MASIE Center (www.masie.com/survey/). The survey - whose results were published Sept. 21 - queried 1,609 training and human resource professionals from 25 countries around the world; 86 percent were U.S.-based and 14 percent international.
Among the key findings: About 45 percent of organizations indicated an increase in the use of digital collaboration tools, such as audio, visual and Web-based conferencing in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Furthermore, 55 percent of companies had changed their policies vis-a-vis employee travel, either tightening procedures, freezing travel altogether, or allowing employees the personal choice of whether to travel on business or not.
All of this augurs well for e-learning, which is gathering steam not just in the U.S., but abroad. "This is one of the few industries positively affected by the terrorist attacks," notes Conny Weggen, research analyst at WR Hambrecht & Co.
E-learning is being employed not only in corporate America, but also in academia, the non-profit world and the U.S. government - with the military serving as a prime example. The trend is towards a "blended" approach, that combines the best of e-learning with satellite TV, Web conferencing, CD ROM, videotapes, mobile learning and traditional classroom instruction, giving users a plethora of choices and the opportunity to customize learning to their unique needs.
In higher education, e-learning has caught on like wildfire. IDC, a Framingham, Massachusetts-based firm that forecasts worldwide information technology markets and trends, noted in a recent report that "nearly 47 percent of U.S. colleges offered some distance learning last year, making an estimated 54,000 university-level courses available online." By the end of 2004, IDC predicts that about 90 percent of U.S. colleges will offer e-learning. In tandem with this, spending on distance learning technologies will surge amongst colleges and universities, growing at a 20 percent compound annual rate, from less than $300 million in 1999 to $744 million in 2004. In addition, investment in distance learning by these institutions will reach a whopping $2.2 billion in 2004, up from $900 million in 1999, according to IDC.
And that's just the higher education segment of e-learning. IDC predicts the corporate business skills market will reach over $16.8 billion by 2004, with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 17 percent. Factor in the K-12 (kindergarten through 12th grade) markets and all the potential international markets, and you have a very promising outlook indeed, for those who want to invest in this sector.
 For corporations, the cost savings to be gained by adopting e-learning can be enormous. At Marriott International Inc., for example, Gerry Hudson-Martin, vice president of the firm's Enthusiastic Learning initiative, says that e-learning is consuming an ever-larger share of their training budget. Marriott uses a blended approach featuring some live training classes, some computer-based training (CBT) and some online "nuggets" of knowledge. Ranked as one of the world's leading hospitality companies, Marriott has 153,000 employees and more than 2000 hotels in over 50 countries and territories.
Ever since the company cut back on traditional classroom training in favor of e-learning, the cost savings have been "pretty dramatic," says Hudson-Martin. "We've saved millions of dollars." Marriott was able to save 30 percent on training costs for its business systems, and more than 50 percent for its desktop training.
The firm is also able to do more at lower cost. "We're doing more than you could ever do in a traditional classroom," Hudson-Martin points out. "In the first nine months of this year, we ran 9,000 people through 300,000 classes."
"This training is crucial to the company's competitiveness," he concludes. "Being able to train so many people in such a short time helps us lower costs significantly, and be more competitive."
GENERAL MOTORS REVS UP ITS E-LEARNING INITIATIVE
FORTUNE 500® companies in a variety of different industries have adopted e-learning initiatives as a key competitive advantage.
 Consider the case of General Motors Corporation. Each day, more than 7,000 General Motors dealers in North America can tune in on TV broadcasts via satellite to learn how to sell and show the new TrailBlazer Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV). Using the company's interactive distance learning channel, 1,400 service technicians can figure out how to maintain the new Duramax engine in GM's medium trucks, which came out in August of last year. The sales force can role-play selling new vehicles to customers, thanks to technology that permits simulation of real-life experiences. At General Motors University (GMU) Online, there are nearly 1 million Web hits monthly, and nearly 70,000 enrollments per year. Employees can create Individual Development Plans, track their individual training histories and use Web-based tools to align their training with development strategies in 16 different functional areas of the company, including communications, finance, engineering, health and safety, manufacturing, sales, service and parts. GMU offers state-of-the-art education to the company's 88,000 managerial, professional and technical employees around the world.
This presents a dramatic contrast with the way training used to be done at one of the world's largest automakers. "In the old days," explains Donnee Ramelli, president of General Motors University, "we'd have to drag 1,400 people out of their dealerships to 20 traditional brick-and-mortar destinations. They'd be away from their jobs for several days." Today, thanks to GM's e-learning initiatives, much of the training can be done without anyone leaving the dealership. And it's cost-effective: For every $1 of e-learning that the company adds, it estimates that it saves $2 for traditional classroom tuition, and another $1 for travel time or lost personnel time.
 E-learning has become imperative at a time when budgets are going down for most organizations, even as expectations for continued improvement of employees' skills are on the rise. Online learning - coupled with satellite broadcasts on TV - affords "a huge productivity benefit," says Ramelli, noting that the quality of e-learning teaching material - along with the technology to deliver it - has improved enormously in the last few years.
"The latest set of browsers have helped give you many options as a learner," he says. "You can hear a professor lecture for three to five minutes; or go through a problem or simulation and solve it; or read about key aspects of the material in a text format."
And the training can be delivered as fast as employees need it. Consider this scenario: Becky, a financial professional at GM, is told she has to run a project next week using new financial tools. She has a project management course scheduled 3 months from now, but can't wait that long to get the information. So what does she do? Becky goes to the Website at GMU Online, clicks on the project management course where she learns the basics of how to put together a project action plan. She sees deliverables, lists of key contacts who can help her get more information on the topic. Some of it is customized content for GM, while some is generic off-the-shelf information. Bingo: Becky is ready for her Monday morning meeting with her project team.
"What the Internet and the World Wide Web show us is how to get urgent learning in the hands of self-directed people who need it now," says Ramelli.
 Another learning initiative at GM, eBootCamps, began in May this year and trains wholesalers and dealers around the country in the niceties of e-business, using e-learning, coupled with some instructor-led training. Seminars take place in hotels around the country. "Everybody who's attending the class is physically there, but we're using the Internet to deliver the material, not PowerPoint slides," says Dale Brill, dean of e-commerce at GM. "We show them how to create brilliant Websites, how to do e-marketing, how to tie in their Website to the store itself."
The cost savings have been tremendous. Formerly, a traditional classroom-based session cost $5.5 million to $7 million, including travel costs and hiring a third-party vendor. In contrast, the new eBootCamps cost just $700,000 to $800,000 each. Plans are afoot to roll it out in Europe and South America next year.
THE MILITARY EMBRACES E-LEARNING
The military has been one of the government's most avid users of e-learning. The Army, for example, rolled out eArmyU in January of this year. Its goal is to allow enlisted men and women around the world to further their education, and permit them to acquire an Associate's Degree, a B.A., or even a Master's Degree. All the programs are accredited, and the Army has partnered with more than 20 colleges to deliver coursework. Participating institutions include Central Texas College, the University of Alabama, Indiana University, Penn State University World Campus, Northern Virginia Community College, and Fayetteville Technical College.
More than 8,000 soldiers at three Army installations are currently using the program, and plans are afoot to expand it to nine installations next year. Coursework includes fields such as computer science, law enforcement and business management. Students log on to an interactive portal, at www.eArmyU.com, where online counselors are available to assist them with coursework.
eArmyU met with "an absolutely incredible response when it was rolled out," says Paul Boyce, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Army. "Soldiers waited in line overnight with sleeping bags when the first laptops were issued." Typically, enlisted personnel in the Army have only high school degrees, so access to higher education represents a real step forward for them in their careers. Each soldier receives a laptop computer, a printer, an online account and 100 percent tuition assistance. All they have to pay for is their phone bill. The lead time for setting up the program was "a matter of months," says Boyce. The Army brought in an arsenal of 11 different e-learning vendors to help them execute the project.
Although e-learning creates an exciting new method of education, the Army continues to deliver training via the traditional classroom approach, as well as through books, videotapes, and modeling and simulation of such experiences as operating a tank or flying a helicopter. E-learning, says Boyce, augments the existing educational blend nicely. "Our current blend of educational offerings best meets what the customer desires," he says.
E-LEARNING GAINS MOMENTUM AROUND THE GLOBE
 E-learning is taking hold not only in the U.S., but abroad, as more and more companies roll out these initiatives to a global workforce. The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), a leading non-profit trade group, notes that although the U.S. still leads the world in e-learning, there are more and more international conferences being held in this field.
The United Kingdom is moving quickly in this area, as are the Netherlands, the Scandinavian region and Australia, according to Nick van Dam, chief learning officer for Deloitte Consulting in Chadds Ford, PA. Furthermore, China looms as a huge market for e-learning. Van Dam, who has helped transform Deloitte's worldwide training program to more of an online approach during the past two years, says: "Our people in China are hungry for learning. If we give them any e-learning content, they jump on it. It's very exciting."
Organizations that want to implement an international e-learning program need to address four areas, says Brandon Hall, a leading independent researcher in the field (www.brandon-hall.com): cultural issues; translation and language issues; technological issues; and administrative issues. Connectivity is a major concern. Some nations of the world do not have access to the Internet, so companies will need to look at alternatives to the Web-based delivery mechanism. Japan, for example, "has a lot more wireless bandwidth available than we have in the U.S.," Hall points out. "So if you want to reach your Japanese employees, you may need to consider some wireless e-learning options."
Crossing cultures can prove to be another formidable hurdle. Jane Massy, an e-learning consultant in Europe, notes that Germany's very strong educational tradition and highly structured training system aren't terribly amenable to change. There is also a resistance to independent learning, since the German approach involves learning in groups. So Massy advises: "If you are going to utilize e-learning [there], it has to be understood that it's in that context, and you're going to have to do consensus building, and get agreement across the whole of the training and work systems on how e-learning is going to be utilized."
WHAT LIES AHEAD
In the future, m-learning - or mobile learning, delivered via handheld, Internet-enabled devices - will be a powerful means for delivering chunks of information, just in time, right when employees need them.
For some time now, Motorola has had a keen interest in this field, not only in developing m-learning technology and selling it to others, but also in utilizing it within the firm's own learning initiative. Jill Brosig, director of learning and development for Motorola University in Schaumburg, Illinois, says that contrary to what many people believe, m-learning will not consist of "individuals watching a talking-head professor on a 2-inch by 2-inch screen on their cell phone for eight hours. That's not practical." Instead, m-learning - or "m-solutions," as the firm likes to call it - will take the form of "knowledge nuggets" coming across the screen, tailored to that particular user's needs and job description.
Wireless methods of transmitting knowledge will be particularly useful in parts of the world where Internet access is expensive - such as Europe and Asia - or non-existent, as is the case in many countries of the developing world. Indeed, in terms of technology and customer acceptance levels, Europe and Asia are two to three years ahead of the U.S. in their receptivity to m-learning, says Brosig.
In generational terms, m-learning is also catching on among young people at various colleges in the U.S. At the University of South Dakota, for example, incoming students are now being issued Palm Pilots as part of their orientation kit. It's partly for use as a communication device - but partly for m-learning, Brosig says.
 Another new development in the field is the Learning Content Management System (LCMS) - which promises to complement the existing Learning Management Systems (LMS). The LMS provides an electronic infrastructure to take care of the administrative tasks of running an online learning initiative - such as registering students, tracking their progress, and archiving their grades and test scores. The LCMS takes this one step further: It allows you to keep your learning content in one repository, where you can quickly retrieve what you need and serve it up to the right end users.
Industry guru Brandon Hall describes LCMS as the natural evolution of e-learning. Now that learning is being broken down into chunks or nuggets, there has to be a way to keep track of it all. Plus, LCMS offers "some very interesting capabilities, particularly for personalization of learning to meet the user's need," he adds. "The LCMS can take a user's profile and serve up unique content based on the particular needs of that individual." The convergence between the LMS and LCMS will be an important trend in the industry, predicts Weggen at Hambrecht.
Finally, a shakeout is currently underway in the e-learning business, but Wall Street analysts say that will be good for the industry in the long-term. Weaker firms are falling by the wayside as stronger players surge ahead. "Stronger companies are buying up weaker ones, and currently, we see lots of merger and acquisition activity in this field," says Weggen. "They're all trying to find good acquisition targets right now."
Despite the drying up of venture capital in the wake of the dot-com meltdown, the strongest e-learning companies are still getting venture funding, says Brian Ruttenbur, senior vice president in equity research at the Nashville,Tennessee-based investment banking firm of Morgan Keegan. About 20 e-learning companies have raised venture capital so far this year. The difference: "Last year, if you were a business student and had a business plan, venture capitalists would throw money at you. Today, you've got to have real revenue, real profitability, and an experienced management team." In the end, consumers will benefit, as fewer but higher-quality e-learning companies remain in the field.
Companies need to keep going in this direction by all means, Hall concludes. "It's like the transition from typewriters to word processors. People need to move forward aggressively in this area."
"There's a great deal of energy and excitement in the e-learning business," summarizes Pat Galagan, editor-in-chief of magazines at ASTD. "It's still very much in its adolescence." And she predicts there will be great things to come.
SmartPros Ltd.
SmartPros is a leader in continuing education for professionals. Since 1981, the company has provided mandatory and continuing education products, creating over 4,000 hours of content. SmartPros provides relevant education and training courses, information and other content to professionals in corporate accounting, public accounting and engineering in a variety of media, including the Web, CD-ROM and video.
Janet Duncan, Certified Public Accountant, at IBM in Raleigh, N.C., has used FMN Online to hone her skills and keep her professional certification up-to-date. In North Carolina, Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) are required to take 40 hours per year of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits. "I've been able to get that training by using FMN Online," says Duncan. "It's an excellent way for people like myself, with a busy work and family schedule, to maintain current financial skills without having to set aside an 8-hour day to take a stand-up, live course." Instead, Duncan can get the education she needs on her personal computer or laptop, at home or in the office.
SmartPros produces a monthly series in both video and Web-based streaming media, entitled the Financial Management Network (FMN), for corporate finance and accounting professionals including FORTUNE 500® companies; CPA Report, for professionals and firms in public accounting; and SmartPros Advantage, an online package of over 250 "skills-based" courses. In addition, its accounting portal at www.smartpros.com and free accounting newsletters contain a wealth of information for the professional.
www.smartpros.com
1.800.621.0043
Monster.com
Marking its foray into the learning space, Monster.com recently unveiled MonsterLearning (www.monsterlearning.com), a unique online resource for managing learning as it relates to career advancement. Monster.com is the first online career site to provide a variety of learning tools, opportunities and information in one comprehensive location, empowering individuals and corporate learning seekers to take control of their career development.
MonsterLearning debuts with MonsterLearning Search (ML Search), the first of several products designed to enhance career and professional growth. With the demand for learning on the rise, ML Search provides individual and corporate learning seekers looking to gain new skills or knowledge the opportunity to explore and research all their options for career-related learning.
This one-stop search engine provides free access - anytime - to a universe of learning opportunities from top earning providers, offering online and offline courses and other instructional products and services. Fast, targeted searches can be conducted two ways. "Search All Learning" allows seekers to search an extensive selection of learning opportunities by keyword and/or subject, learning type (e.g. courses, certifications or seminars) and delivery method (e.g. online, books, or classroom). Alternately, "Search Classroom Courses" enables seekers to focus their search specifically on learning opportunities in a classroom or in a combination of classroom and online.
www.monsterlearning.com
Advanstar
For the past 11 years, the e-learning Conference & Expo was the only event that provided conference content to the three end user segments of e-learning products and services: corporate, education and the government/military. The conference program is divided into three "forums" to help define content for attendees. Visit www.elearningexpos.com to find more information on conference sessions and schedules. If you are interested in attending, please call 800-829-3400 or, if you would like information on exhibiting, call 714-513-8421. e-learning 2002 will be held April 8-11, 2002 at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The Business of e-learning Briefing, presented by The MASIE Center, will be located with e-learning 2002. For more information on the Briefing, please call 518-350-2200.
www.elearningexpos.com
1.800.829.3400
THINQ
Shaw's Supermarkets faced a formidable task. The company needed a cost-effective way to educate their 30,000-plus associates, track their progress and advance their careers. Headquartered in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, the grocery store chain has 185 stores in five New England states. As is the case at many supermarkets, Shaw's workforce is largely transient or part-time, which can make maintaining consistent store records a challenge. The company was also required to teach its employees a number of courses mandated by the government, including curriculum from the Occupational Safety Hazard Administration (OSHA) and classes on prevention of harassment and discrimination, workplace violence and diversity.
By way of a solution, Shaw's turned to the THINQ TrainingServer® Learning Management System (LMS), for an easy way to keep track of training and certifications on a company-wide basis. THINQ's system identifies the right learning plan for each employee, helping to retain associates and so lower turnover.
Shaw's wanted a learning management system to do more than deliver training. The company wanted its system to draw a road map for each associate. In addition, Shaw's wanted to switch from a paper-based tracking system to an electronic one, and to have the ability to monitor absenteeism. THINQ's solution allowed the company to do just that.
"THINQ impressed us with its dedication to making the solution a success," says Keri Borba, training specialist/instructional designer at Shaw's.
www.THINQ.com
1.888.414.9977
TEDS
With millions of users in more than 90 countries, TEDS is recognized as a global leader in e-learning and learning management. The TEDS suite of learning management software products provides organizations with the infrastructure, tools and support to maximize and strategically plan workforce performance. TEDS enables its customers to take control of learning, performance and certifications, and create an enterprise learning community of employees, customers, suppliers and vendors. TEDS call this People Resource Planning™.
TEDS' growing list of customers include Applied Materials, BellSouth, Celanese Acetate, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, DaimlerChrysler, Dominion Resources, Eastman Chemical Company, Ericsson, Florida Power & Light, GE Capital, GE Medical Systems, InterGen, KeyBank, Marriott International, Nissan North America, Nortel Networks, Philips Medical Systems Division of Royal Philips Electronics, Qwest, Sandia National Laboratories, T. Rowe Price, Telcordia Technologies, Thiokol Propulsion and Verizon.
TEDS was the first with global learning management and e-Learning installations. In 1996 Texas Instruments rolled out TEDS to more than 36,000 users in 30 countries. TEDS is used by GE Medical Systems to train their customers around the world in the operation of GE's state-of-the-art diagnostic and patient-monitoring equipment. Ericsson is now installing TEDS as their worldwide learning management system, with their North American and European Training Centers' rollouts complete.
"Experience, speed of installation and customer satisfaction are TEDS' hallmarks," says Joe Ellis, TEDS CEO.
www.teds.com
1.540.783.6991
Centra
APL - a division of Neptune Orient Lines Limited (NOL Group) - ranks as one of the world's oldest and largest global container transportation companies. Its fleet of container ships serves a broad array of routes covering the trans-Pacific, trans-Atlantic, Latin America, Asia-Europe and intra-Asian trade lanes. State-of-the-art employee education is critical to ensuring that APL's people have the skills and the knowledge to manage the business of filling, moving and delivering more than 450,000 containers worldwide. Moreover, the Group as a whole has 12,000 employees working in 60 countries, speaking many different languages. The challenge was how to make the most of that talent and experience and provide effective training without flying people all over the world.
"We wanted to be able to share the expertise of our employees, regardless of where they were or what kind of infrastructure was available," explains Sigrid Peterson, Corporate Dean of NOL Global Campus, based in Oakland, California.
"We wanted to be able to share the expertise of our employees, regardless of where they were or what kind of infrastructure was available," explains Sigrid Peterson, Corporate Dean of NOL Global Campus, based in Oakland, California.
"Centra's system gives our employees access to learning and information with the simple click of a mouse. We think of it as providing training that is 'just in time, just for you and just enough' wherever people are in the world," says Peterson.
www.centra.com
Written by: Mary Gotschall
Edited by: Sigrid MacRae
Designed by: Monique Delage
Produced by: Mary Beth Nolet
If you are interested in advertising in the next E-Learning section, contact Laurie Evans, Project Manager at laurie_evans@timeinc.com or call 212.522.1253.
Reprints of this section are available in quantities of 100 or more; custom reprints can also be created. To obtain a reprint order form, please fax your request to Randi Bergman at 212.522.0999 or send an e-mail to randi_bergman@timeinc.com.
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