Welingkar’s Distance Learning Division

Effective HR

CHAPTER-11

E-Training

We Learn – A Continuous Learning Forum

Objectives

• After completing this chapter, you should be able to:– Understand the meaning and significance of e-

training– Classify the e-training programs– Acknowledge the advantages and disadvantages

of e-training.– Know the meaning of blended training and its

relationship with c-training.

Nature and meaning of e-training

• Much e-training is praised and innovated, computers will never completely eliminate human instructors and other forms of educational delivery.

• E-training means the delivery of learning or training program by electronic means.

• E-training involves the use of a computer or any other electronic device to provide training or educational material

• E-training is the convergence of the internet and learning, or Internet-enabled learning.

Importance of e-training

• The continuous efforts of technology giants the world over have brought in user-friendly training or learning technologies at affordable prices which were unheard in the past.

• The workplaces and homes are being networked with sophisticated communication devices, thereby paving the way for information from anywhere in the world and at any time.

Importance of e-training

• The business and product lifecycles have compressed substantially in the ever changing world of business.

• Thus, when business cycles are shortened, organizations cannot afford to send their employees away from work for several weeks or months to undergo classroom training.

• Under these conditions organizations, by deploying the e-training solutions, want employees to learn and perform simultaneously.

Importance of e-training

• E-training solutions can bridge this gap by providing ready information to such distributed workforce anywhere and anytime, thereby creating an instant expertise.

• Traditional classroom training is quite expensive.

• Business processes and products are constantly changing, which creates the need for retraining people very often.

Types of e-training

• E-training can be classified as – synchronous and – asynchronous training

• depending on how the learning and teaching takes place.

Types of e-training

• In the synchronous approach, both learning and teaching takes place in real time even though the trainer and learners are physically separated from each other. – The advantages

• learning from anywhere without having to travel to a farther distance to reach a training center and the convenience of interacting with the trainer and other learners instantly.

– The disadvantages • learner has to find time to attend the classes in keeping the

appointed time and without having the option to learn whenever he wants or finds time.

Types of e-training

• In the asynchronous approach, the learning takes place with time delay as well as the trainer and learner are physically separated from each other. – The advantages

• The learner not only can learn from any place of his choice but also at a time of his own convenience. The cost of asynchronous training is quite lower than synchronous training.

– The disadvantages • there is no scope for an instant question-answer session and

listening to the perspectives of other learners. The learner is cut-off from other learners and the trainer, at the lime of learning.

E-training process

E-training process

• Needs Identification:– The idea of introducing e-

training should start with needs identification. Needs identification will have to look at the business case for investment in e-training as well as the need and comfort level of employees with specific reference to e-training.

• Design the program:– Once a clear need is

identified and the management accepts the proposal for investment to develop e-training programs, then the training managers have to look for designing appropriate programs based on the nature of learning as well as the characteristics of the learners.

E-training process

• Infrastructure:– After designing the program structure, the training

managers have to create the E-training infrastructure like computers, broad band connectivity, video conferencing and other devices.

• Launching:– Once all the development work is completed it is

now time for launching the program. A company should always start with pilot programs to test the suitability and understand the bottlenecks, if any.

Advantages and disadvantages of e-training

• Advantages:– Reduced cost and saved revenues– Learning times can be reduced, an average of 40% to 60%.– Expert knowledge is communicate, but more importantly

captured, with god e-training and knowledge management systems.

– On-demand availability enables students to complete training conveniently at off-hours or from home.

– Confidence that refresher or quick refresher materials are available reduces burden of responsibility of mastery.

Advantages and disadvantages of e-training

• Disadvantages:– Costs Involved: • Initial cost required of an e-training solution is larger

due to the need for technology infrastructure and costs associated with program development.

– Learner capabilities: • Learner capabilities matter a lot in the USC of e-training

techniques particularly of asynchronous training. An illiterate employee cannot be expected to operate computer and the Internet for training.

Advantages and disadvantages of e-training

• Disadvantages:– Cultural barriers:

• There are still people in this world, particularly among the working classes, who believe that use of computer and communication technology at work renders thousands of people jobless. Such unfounded beliefs may really work as stumbling blocks for the penetration of e-training across larger population.

– Trainer Personality: • Online training demands much more openness, flexibility,

concern and friendly attitude on the part of the trainer. The trainer has to compensate for the lack of physical proximity in every possible way.

Blended training

• After reading volumes of literature on various training approaches and attending many training seminars, the training managers often wonder which the best approach for effective training is.

• But there are no ready and easy answers to this

question. • In fact, there are several

instances wherein a mixture of traditional program with e-training meets the purpose of training.

• Here comes the concept of blended training.

Blended trainingBlended training is an approach

which combines e-training with other

traditional methods of training for delivering a

training solution.

Blended training programs in the

corporate training world is defined as

any possible combination of a

wide range of training delivery

approaches designed to solve specific business

problems.

“Blended Training” is the natural

evolution of e-training into an

integrated program of

multiple media types, applied

toward a business problem in an optimum way.

Blended training

• One of the simplest approaches is to create electronic content and surround it with human, interactive content.

• This approach of surrounding e-training with humans enables to create high interest accountability and real assessment of the results of the training program

• In order to make blended training more powerful, trainers look at all the media as options: – classroom training, web-based training, webinars, CD-ROM

courses, video, and simulations.