Paper Product Inc.

R E C O M M E N D AT I O N O N E - L E A R N I N G

Recommendations on E-Learning
Merits and Demerits

August 26, 2012 Manjunath C 1301079

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 2 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................. 3 TRENDS IN E-LEARNING....................................................................... 3 MERITS OF E-LEARNING .................................................................................................................... 4 DEMETITS OF E-LEARNING ................................................................................................................... 5 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................................. 6 RECOMMENDATIONS.....................................................................................................................................6 EXHIBITS......7

Recommendations on E-Learning

This report focuses on corporate training, merits and de-merits of e-learning and provides recommendation if e-learning can be introduced as part of corporate training in Paper Products Inc., in investing time and money. E-learning refers to representing information using electronic media in education. It is the use of technology to enable learning from anywhere and anytime.

Trends show that adults over 25 represent nearly half of higher education students, who are employed and want more education to advance their careers. Online courses open up new horizons for working adults, who often find it difficult to juggle conventional classes with jobs and families. Enrolment in courses offered online by post-secondary institutions is expected to increase from 2 million students in 2001 to 5 million students in 2007. Also, corporate spending on e-learning is expected to increase to $18 billion which is approximately 4 times its current expenditure.

Online learning requires no commute and is appealing for employees who travel regularly. E-learning is a cost effective way to get better educated employees. It saves companies training costs in addition to saving employees time.

Experts believe that online learning will never be as good as face-to-face instruction. Some other disadvantages include lack of management oversight; lack of motivation; problems with technology; lack of student support; individual learning preferences; poorly designed courses; substandard/inexperienced instructors.

E-training has proven to be cost effective. It can save companies training costs while it saves employees travel time. Also, considering the many advantages it provides, it would be highly recommended that Paper Products Inc., adopt it in its training program and have company managers supervise e-learning. Company should develop a culture that takes online learning just as seriously as classroom training. For effectiveness, online learning must be broken into short chunks with lot of pop quizzes and online discussion groups.

Recommendations on E-Learning

The concept of e-learning is rapidly becoming an established part of the fabric of higher education. E-learning refers to representing information using electronic media in education. It is the use of technology to enable learning from anywhere and anytime. Technology mediated teaching and learning is enriched by instructional technologies and online interaction that enables the integration of in-class, distant learning. Exhibit 1 shows the expenditure on learning and Exhibit 2 shows the percentage share of different methodologies like e-learning, classroom and other means.

Trends show that adults over 25 represent nearly half of higher education students, who are employed and want more education to advance their careers. Online courses open up new horizons for working adults, who often find it difficult to juggle conventional classes with jobs and families. Enrollment into courses offered online by post-secondary institutions is estimated to increase from 2 million students in 2001 to 5 million students in 2007 as shown in the Figure1 below.

Figure 1: Refer Exhibit 4 for estimated data for the years in between.

Corporate e-learning has grown into a $2.3 billion market, making it one of the fastest growing segments of the education industry. Corporate spending on e-learning is expected to more than quadruple by 2006 to $18 billion as shown in the Figure 2 below.

Recommendations on E-Learning

Figure 2: Refer to Exhibit 3 for data on the expected spending.

Online courses provide a good alternative for working adults, who often find it difficult to juggle conventional classes with jobs and families. It helps employees to get educated better. It is one for best was to get good employees as adults over the age 25 represent nearly half of the higher education students and majority of them are employed ans want to advance in their career. For many e-learners, studying at home is optimal. Online learning requires no commute and is appealing for employees who travel regularly. E-training reduces the cost incurred as it is cheaper than the conventional face to face instruction. E-learning is already bean adopted by many corporates and their results show that there is cut in the spending for employee learning program after the introduction of e-learning. It cut IBMs training cost by $350 million because online courses do not require travel. At IBM, around 200,000 employees received education or training online and their Basic Blue course is 75% online content which is used by new Managers. The same is shown in Figure 3. McDonalds trainers can log into Hamburger University to learn such skills as how to assemble a madeto-order burger or properly place a drink on the tray. Pharmaceuticals companies such as Merck are conducting live, interactive classes over the web, allowing the sales reps to learn about the latest product information at home rather than fly them to a conference center. Corporate e-learning has flared into a $2.3 billion marker, making it one of the fastest growing segments of the education industry. 80% of companies prefer developing their own online training courses in-house. But creating even one customized e-course can take months; involve armies of experts, and cost anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000. Thus most companies buy generic courses on such topics as how to give performance appraisals, understanding basic business ethics, and so

Recommendations on E-Learning

on. Employers can choose from a wide selection of non-customized electronic courses.

Figure 3: IBMs Basic Blue course is 75% online content, used by new Managers.

Experts believe that online learning will never be as good as face-to-face instruction learning. A recent report from the Chronicle of Higher Education found that institutions are seeing dropout rates that range from 20% to 50% for online learners. This research did not adequately explain why the dropout rates for e-learners are higher. Too often companies dump courses on their employees and wonder why they do not finish them. Corporate e-learners said that their top reason for dropping a course was lack of time. Many had trouble completing courses from their desktops because of frequent distractions caused by coworkers. Some said that they could only access courses through the companys intranet, so they could not finish their assignments from home. Besides lack of time, corporate e-learners cited the following as e-learning disadvantages: lack of management oversight, lack of motivation, problems with technology, lack of student support, individual learning preferences, poorly designed courses and substandard or inexperienced instructors. Recent study by GE Capital found finishing a corporate online course was dependent on whether managers gave reinforcement on attendance, how important employees were made to feel, whether employee progress in the course was tracked. Another obstacle to the spread of online corporate training is the mismatch between what employees really want and what employers can afford. Employees generally need customized courses that are tailor made to a firms product and to its unique corporate culture.

Recommendations on E-Learning

Trend through online learning enrollment and corporate spending shows, E-Learning is a way forward for corporate learning along with a blend of face to face interactions where ever necessary. E-training has proven to be cost effective. It can save companies training costs while it saves employees travel time. A study of corporates on learners reported that employees want the following from their online course: college credit or certificate, active correspondence with an online facilitator who has frequent virtual office hours, access to 24-hour seven-day-a-week technical support and the ability to start a course any time. Sun Micro Systems found that interactivity can be a critical success factor for online courses. Company study shows that only 25% finish classes that are strictly self-placed. But, 75% finish when given similar assignments and access to tutors through e-mail, phone or threaded discussions. E-learning to be more effective the course must be presented in small chunks, online discussions groups and other interactive features that let students demonstrate whatever they have learnt. Even though there are shortcomings majority of these can be overcome by providing sufficient time for the employees to complete the course, online facilitator who has frequent virtual office hours and access to 24-hours seven-day-a-week technical support.

E-training has proven to be cost effective. It can save companies training costs while it saves employees travel time. Also, considering the many advantages it provides one with, it would be highly recommended that Paper Products Inc., adopt it in its training program. Paper Products Inc. should work on the shortcomings of e-learning to provide its employees an opportunity to enjoy the benefits e-learning has to offer. Company managers must supervise the e-learning just as they would do for any other initiative. Time and money has to be spent in designing the courses and sufficient time should be allotted for employees to complete the course. Motivate employees to complete the course by providing incentives for enrollment and successful completion of the course. By making sure the instructors of the course are well trained, companies can minimize the demotivation factors for the employees. E-Learning courses that are offered must be available to access from anywhere and anytime. Providing access to 24-hours seven-day-a-week technical support to solve problems related to technology. For on-learning to work, companies must develop a culture that takes online learning just as seriously as classroom training. For many e-learners, studying at home is optimal. Whenever possible, companies should offer courses through the internet or provide intranet access at home. Having

Recommendations on E-Learning

employees studying at their own time will more than cover any added costs. For example, rather than fly trainers to 7000 dealerships, General Motors University now uses interactive satellite broadcasts to reach salespeople the best way to highlight features on the new Buick.

Exhibit 1: Expenditure in billions spent on Learning

Source: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/trainsta.html Exhibit 2: Percentage contribution of different methodologies towards Learning

Source: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/trainsta.html

Recommendations on E-Learning

Exhibit 3: Projected corporate e-learning growth year on year from 1995

Source: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/trainsta.html Exhibit 4: Online Enrollments of students taking at least 1 online course

Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/01/08/survey-finds-online-enrollments-slow-continuegrow

Recommendations on E-Learning