Is e-learning replacing face-to-face training? | BusinessCloud

Photo: Samantha Caine

Samantha Caine, client services director at Business Linked Teams, says the future is in a blended approach.

E-learning is a valuable tool.
Photo: BusinessCloud

The question of whether e-learning is replacing face-to-face training is one of the burning questions of the moment in corporate training departments around the world.

Organisations are looking for ways to maximise the effectiveness of their training while reducing costs.

Samantha Caine, client services director at Business Linked Teams, says e-learning can help firms address the challenge of rolling out desired behaviours and skillsets consistently across global workforces.

“Organisations need an approach that can overcome language barriers and cultural differences and help them deliver their global business objectives,” she told BusinessCloud.

“What they don’t need are unproven approaches that lean too heavily on new ideas, or old approaches that are no longer effective in today’s global marketplace.

“It’s possible to train sales teams and future leaders of global organisations with e-learning and the rationale for pursuing this path is clear.

“Firstly, training departments are increasingly challenged by the business to deliver development programmes that are more efficient in terms of both from cost of the training and the cost of the employee time for each training participant.

“Secondly, there is a strong demand from workforces for training that effectively embraces the technology that they have in their hands. The training must reflect the ways in which workforces have become accustomed to using this technology, taking in short, sharp inputs of information in a ‘just in time’ manner.

“Thirdly, online solutions have plenty of appeal for organisations rolling out technical training. It’s true that some processes can be learnt better online, especially where there are only ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ ways of doing things.”
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Source: BusinessCloud