Elearning is constantly evolving, and so are its uses in both academia and the corporate world. Looking at the trends of elearning provides useful insight into what is working and what is not. Every year, Elearning Magazine administers a survey to their readers asking for their input into some of the more key areas of elearning. Their study has shown that over the past year, the most important training programs are as follows:

1. Compliance
2. Product Training
3. Professional/Industry Training
4. Desktop/IT Training

Number one doesn’t surprise me much as it is often the easiest to create elearning for (and ultimately the most cost effective given that they are pretty change adverse). There is still very much a need for compliance training to be developed as some organization still rely on dated methods. I would estimate that professional/industry training begins to gain some ground though as more people are looking for certifications through distance learning.

Another part that I found interesting from their survey is that  respondents indicated that they plan to invest nearly 240% more into elearning in 2013. This was a similar pattern found in the previous year’s report, and the data is backing it up as a reported $1.46 million was spent in 2011 compared to the $3.5 million spent in 2012.

I’m going to make a guess that we’ll see somewhere in the realm of $4.1 million in 2013. This is merely speculation though as I anticipate the mobile learning industry will drive much of the continuing growth. New technologies and specifications (such as TinCan API) are leading the charge, giving the rise to a boatload of startups all over the world.

As many instructional designers and elearning professionals know, this industry is growing every year, it’s really starting to turn heads. The likes of Google are now entering the elearning industry, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see others follow, and the overall demand for skilled instructional designers and technologists to grow. Exciting times we live in!