| |
Why Content is King in E-Learning
By Dee Burtraw
It is estimated that over 70% of workers in the federal government will be eligible for retirement within ten years. Not that they are alone. All the long time blue chip companies have a similar problem. From IBM to GE To Bank of America, the demographic bubble of baby boomers is about to burst into retirement. How are they going to replace all that experience? They’ve already started. Dupont introduced a new company wide electronic learning program that increased worker efficiency over 35%. The net result of that effort allowed them to postpone building a new plant. What a return on investment! Every company that survives in the next economic cycle will efficiently transfer the knowledge their employees need electronically. How? By developing a corporate learning strategy that among other things assesses needs and correlates content to enterprise goals and course evaluation. Across the landscape first generation electronic learning that is merely a computerized version of an old fashioned educational approach bores participants to death. Second generation electronic learning creates synergies between content and multimedia technology that excites learners and therefore motivates them to participate in the knowledge transfer experience. Imagine the excitement that third generation electronic learning brings to participants where the combination of HD and 3D technology have already been measured to improve learner retention by as much as 40%.
Content in e-learning is defined as learning experiences that contain objectives, learning activities and assessments in a web based format. It must engage learners with a higher power than that of venues such as teacher led instruction or self-paced programmed learning. E-learning content has the power to engage the learner because of its ability to leverage “multimedia” to interactively introduce and to subsequently reinforce business learning points. Media rich e-learning engages learners in an experience that motivates them to complete the training that increases business performance. Well conceived e-learning reduces learners’ feelings of isolation and anonymity that results in dissatisfaction, poor performance, and dropouts (Hirumi and Ley, 2000, April).
The content of television advertising sells influence in a buying decision, and the content of video games sells satisfaction in the accomplishment of progress towards an arbitrary goal. E-learning, on the other hand, conveys specific knowledge to an intended audience. The end game has to come back to the notion of revenue streams vis a vis reductions of cost. If television advertising and video games do not create targeted revenue, they are terminated. Since e-learning does not promise revenue growth, but a lowering of cost via an increase of knowledge and efficiency, its termination would come when the objectives defined for its success (expected outcomes), are unacceptably off the mark.
Assuming that an e-learning initiative has been structured with the correct estimation of audience composition and organizational learning objectives, what must its content achieve to be successful? First, it must reach out and grab its participants’ interest with any mechanism it can divine; audio, video and streaming media, personalized skills intrigue, humor, assessment, application exercises, case studies, simulations and virtual collaboration. As a simple directive, it must engage interest. Second, it must transfer knowledge. Without individual engagement the conveyance of knowledge is impossible. Therefore, success for e-learning is demonstrated by way of measuring the change in levels of designated competencies between the inception of interaction with an e-learning segment and its conclusion.
BBR Associates helps its clients to develop customized interactive learning content. Its principals have expertise in state of the art e-learning technologies, adult learning principles, instructional design methodologies and evaluation. If you want to be sure that your e-learning content is effectively absorbed by your target audience, contact us.
About the Author
Dee Burtraw is the firm’s workflow specialist. An expert in graphic layout and intra/inter office procedures and communication, he has served clients varying in size from entrepreneurial start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.
For additional information:
Contact: Dee Burtraw
Company Name: BBR Associates, LLC
Telephone: 203 710-2640
E-mail: dburtraw@bbrassociates.net
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/11357.html
| If you wish to add the above article to your website or newsletters then please include the "Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/11357.html" as shown above and make it hyperlinked. |
| |
|
