Surprising ELearning Survey Results

By: Justin Ferriman • August 26, 2013
Filed Under:

elearning-study

Companies looking to get into elearning may find themselves at a loss at how to get started.  There are many ways to go about implementing a corporate elearning program, so you will want to make sure that you do it properly to maximize its effectiveness.

However, before even beginning a corporate elearning plan, it is probably a good idea to do a little market research so as to best plan the strategy going forward. Luckily, Corexcel (an elearning strategy consulting firm) has already done the market research.

In their study, 4500 resources were polled about various components of their elearning program. From this sample size, it was surprising to see that 40% of the respondents indicated that they did not have a program in place.  Despite the fact that elearning has been around for quite some time now, there are still many organizations that are not tapping into its natural advantages.

When looking into who are the users of most elearning programs, the highest reported demographic were newly hired employees.  This naturally makes sense given the use of elearning for orientation type training, and programs designed to each very specific job related activities or skills, especially if procedural in nature.

When it came to the type and format of the elearning, most reported that their programs were primarily for job related tasks, and they were an online presentation of recorded conferences or webinars.  Personally, these types of programs run the risk of being highly ineffective.  If you are thinking about turning webinars into required elearning training, try to implement some interactive components (quizzes, puzzles, etc.) based on the content.  Otherwise, you’ll run the risk of losing your audience.

Most surprising, the least reported demographic of elearning courses currently in use by the respondents to the poll were courses that were developed by a third party.  Even today, it seems that companies still haven’t caught on that getting elearning developed and implemented by an instructional design firm is not only cost effective, but saves a substantial amount of money in the long run.

I think it’s safe to say that although elearning is more popular than ever, there is certainly a significant number of companies who are ill-informed when it comes to elearning best-practices.  While the industry continues to pump money into new techniques, tools, and strategies, it appears to also be in need of a a campaign that better educates consumers 🙂 .

 

 

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter