Feature Special

The Corporate e-learning wave

e-Learning is fast becoming the preferred mode of content delivery for corporate training. According to IDC forecasts, the e-learning market, which was about USD 7 bn. in 2004, is likely to witness an exponential growth and touch the USD 28 bn mark by 2008. The global market for corporate e-learning will grow nearly 30 percent compounded yearly over the next four years. The e-learning market in India is expected to grow at a rate of 17-18% annually. Today in India, Wipro, Satyam, Accenture, Convergys, ING Vysya Bank are some of the giants in the e-learning mode. According to a survey, 8 out of 10 Indian companies are actively looking at implementing e-learning solutions within their organizations.

What is e-learning?
e-Learning refers to any program of learning, training or education where electronic devices, applications and processes are used for knowledge creation, management and transfer.

e-Learning is usually characterized by
Rich learning interface: Today, the innovations in presentation technology are only as far as the creator’s imagination. e-Learning modules are characterized by creative content and even more creative presentation.
Personalized training programs: The pace and content of the training program can be in line with the trainee’s schedule. This makes it especially convenient for corporate and industries.
Training from work place/home: The e-learning programs are delivered to the trainee’s doorstep, so to speak. There is a considerable saving in time and cost required for the formal training programs.
Virtual Classroom: e-Learning modules usually simulate the classroom and interaction environment with bulletin boards, chat rooms, electronic black boards etc. These ensure that the trainee does not miss out the viewpoints offered by other participants.

Benefits of corporate e-learning
For Corporate sector, this mode of learning provides a simple yet complete solution to satisfy the training needs of their manpower resources. This mode helps them to ensure continuous training of their employees at lower costs, and provide targeted training programs. Organizations are benefiting from a comprehensive, customizable and dynamic training program with very little training overheads. When organizations are spread across multiple locations, which are away from the main business hubs, e-learning can provide a high reduction in the cost factor. This mode also helps in providing uniform quality of training and qualifications across geographical locations.

India Inc and e learning
The growing and flourishing India Inc. provides a fertile market for this mode. The increasing accessibility of internet/ intranet has promoted this. Learning Outsourcing is also growing fast. Akin to the other IT sectors, an educated and tech savvy human resource and better infrastructure accompanied by cost advantages is promoting the e-learning boom.

This has led to a niche sector of companies involved in providing elearning products, content and also to manage the entire training needs of organizations. The bigger Indian players are Tata Interactive System, Hurix, NIIT, Maximize Learning, Brain visa, Praxis Technologies, etc. Lion bridge has also become a big player in the marketplace after acquiring an Indian e-learning firm Mentorix in 2003. Harbinger knowledge products, Pune has brought out the Rapid Interactivity Authoring (RIA) tool, which allows users to adapt a unique library of instructionally sound high-quality customizable interactivity models to suit their training courses. 24x7 learning solutions has its suite of learning management systems products, content development and consultancy services. Gurukulonline has launched a web conferencing solution - eMeet for this market.

Services in the e-learning scenario
Content development
Information is the key feature for any e-learning program to succeed. This content can be based on pre –existing modules or tailor made for individual customers. While the main stream and IT areas offer many well-structured off the shelf content, this is often found to be lacking in other areas. Many corporate also prefer tailor made or customized programs in line with their organization culture and needs. There is a huge market for these products, which is specifically conducive to startups. Though many players are in this field, there is still a lot of untapped potential. There is also a very high demand for people who can develop multi-lingual courseware that addresses various topics. A Gartner survey says that one of the top 10 positions among Global 1000 companies of the future will be that of an online learning designer.

Learning management systems (LMS)
A learning management system is a software that manages the entire gamut of the e-training operations including:

• Eliciting and recording training needs
• Customizations
• Formulation of the training groups
• Managing enrollment
• Tracking the pre-requisites and qualifications required
• Tracking the qualifications and certification
• Analyzing the gap between the required and actual skill levels
• Recording and analyzing the effectiveness of the training program

Learning Content Management systems (LCMS)
A LCMS is software, which helps instructional designers, subject matter experts, project managers and reviewers to collaboratively work together on high quality content. It facilitates the authoring, creation, assessment and maintenance of the content.

Authoring tools
The authoring tools are used by content developers to provide interactivity, virtual reality interfaces, simulation, multimedia solutions, 3D and 2D modeling tools and integrate it with their content

Digital teaching aids
Digital teaching aids like talking boards and whiteboards are an integral part of the e-learning process that provide increased interactivity.

Many business observers predict that the e-learning boom may be as big as the BPO/ outsourcing boom. The Indian industry is all set to make this prediction come true….