The E-Learning Industry

According the Garter Group and the University of Pennsylvania, here are some eLearning trends that will influence the growth of e-learning over the next ten years:

1. Application Service Providers offer more quick start options. Governments, companies, and learning institutions that don't want to reinvent the wheel can lease or purchase turnkey e-learning systems

2. Companies integrate e-learning into their infrastructure. As more organizations deploy departmental or company-wide intranets to increase communication and productivity, savvy managers use the same tools to release e-learning programs into the wild

3.Churning skill sets require e-learning initiatives. With job descriptions and daily tasks evolving faster than schools can produce qualified job candidates, many employers rely on constant, on-the-job training to remain competitive.

4.E-Learning cuts the cost of high quality content. By developing classrooms without walls, e-learning programs can reduce the costs of participation without negatively affecting the compensation for renowned lecturers, researchers, and presenters.

5. E-Learning levels professional playing field around the world. e-learning connects students in rural communities to urban experts, and vice versa

6. Gamers bring interactive skills to e-learning. Human beings love to learn through experience. Many e-learning providers have discovered that they can use video game technology to develop fun, engaging, effective simulations

7. Governments deploy e-learning at all levels. Governments around the world have discovered that e-learning programs can dramatically improve the quality of life for citizens while reducing the financial burden on taxpayers.

8. Partners and collaborators use e-learning to get everyone on the same page sooner. Strong e-learning systems allow team members at collaborating companies to understand shared objectives. Workers can quickly learn about the inner workings of technologies and techniques.

9. Wireless technology helps e-learning initiatives "cut the cord." Today's wireless technology allows educators and development specialists to reach even further into rural areas, farms, deserts, and rainforests. With radio, satellite, and Wi-Fi signals beaming two-way information from distant locales, people can participate in an almost endless array of learning opportunities.

Learning Delivery Methods

An interesting graph about eLearning Technology caught my eye...






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Slowly but surely, we are starting to see eLearning turn the tide. Instructors are branching out to appeal to all learning styles (visual, auditory, kinestetic). Blogs, Podcasts, Communities of Practice, and Wikis have jumped even more in larger corporations than in smaller corporations.

The classroom still dominates as a delivery method and is actually going up.

Synchronous (virtual classroom, virtual meetings, etc.) and Asynchronous (self-paced, online courses/course ware) are both going up a little, but actually shows slower rate of growth than classroom.

What jumped out at me is that mobile learning hasn't quite caught on yet...

Blog Assignment 1

Let's face it. If you're working for any kind of company, it is a must that you stay on top of your skills at all times or you can yourself out of a job in no time. Honing these skills involves training. But it can be a pain in the hind-side in finding time to incorporate going to physical sessions outside the workplace. The use of computer and web-based training modules gives employees flexibility in completing these sessions in their own time. In some cases for employees, its just more interesting and intriguing being involved with other co-workers in the comfort of your own home. My uncle is a counselor in alcohol and drug prevention. Recently, he had to go to a training seminar at Clemson University. He informed me that he absolutely hates going to events as such. Ironically we've been discussing the Google wave application. I gave him a demonstration in working in the "wave" environment and he instantly fell in love with it! Mainly because he was able to have the same experience at home verses driving three hours to Clemson!