Virtual learning has more than evolved in one way. From its basic mode of teaching students through online means to its now more comprehensive, intricate and not mention expensive trainings for employees in various lines of work. The ever changing demographics and search for talents will always spark a battle between competitors of the same industries and so having an ace in the hole or a trick up their sleeves is nothing but essential for these companies.

However, in order for them to keep their edges sharp and their guns loaded, the power of identifying and coursing what trends, shifts and other upgrades in technology is available will become a valuable asset for any company. In the elearning industry some current shifts now include:

Content Control – it is important for any elearning online company who aims to more than just compete to know how to control and update their content. Interactivity is of course key to bridging the information to the users; however, if the content is poor it is reasonable to conclude that the result will be as well. One should not expect high quality performance from a learner if what was fed to him was not good enough from the beginning.

Content control can be associated with the software upgrades. The learning application should be able to carry and improve various tasks like quick editing, material change and flexibly assigning roles and duties to users that could be modified to the user’s advantage. Other tasks could include the increase of multi lingual versions and make information in the content available in databases and frequently asked questions. Most of these tasks are directed to the management and is a clear sign that elearning has also become a management system in itself.

Evolution of Perspectives – elearning online is a constant development with the acquisition of data from the surroundings or a given material and so are its processes. If formerly, the use of learning systems were bound by paper and pen, now the quest of going beyond phones, videos, and radios is on in search for better and faster ideas in making online learning fast and marketable. Webcast was a product of such quests with some companies now using various solutions in presenting cost effective tools for Webcast. Another example of this is the use of blended learning wherein there is a mixture of both a conventional classroom type of education as well as an online one.

Human Resources Development – an offshoot on the growth of learning institutions, the human resources department will of course develop and improve in its own methods since the training is strictly reserved for qualified applicants and personnel. The human resources have become more and more in demand to the point that its role can be associated with the role of the manager. HR procedures will now unavoidably have management processes since it will dictate some of the organizational arrangements to be done with the talents. They will be the ones to identify which talent is suited best for what purpose and where will these talents be allocated to. Although not entirely a management process, the workforce plan will come to their hands since they will be the ones to know best on which talents to develop or reallocate.

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Pointers for Supporting Elearners

Have a complete view of the prospective learners. It is important to understand where the starting point is for the learner. For example, a learner who is completely computer illiterate would hardly understand a training program that concentrates on a specific software application like, say, MS Office.

In order to asses the learner or student, a questionnaire or an interview with the learners might help the developers in figuring out how to create an efficient curriculum based on the learner’s abilities.

• Validation from the company. Experts suggest assigning an e-learning champion to lend support and assure employee trainees that the company cares about their training and appreciates their efforts. This way, the employee feels valued and would exert more effort in learning the new skills the company needs them to know.

• Orientation before training. In college, freshmen students undergo orientation to familiarize themselves with the new learning environment. In electronic learning, orientation plays a similar role for trainees. Pooling people with similar skills or for example, computer background and explaining the training objectives and expectations before starting the training program will greatly increase the level of success.

• Support from upper management. Aside from the e-learning champion, the manager or the boss should take the initiative to know how the trainees are doing. If management shows how much they appreciate the employees, it would boost their morale and increase motivation to learn.

• Schedule and time frame. The company should allot enough time for trainees to learn. They shouldn’t expect their employees to use their free time for the training. The company and employee should be clear about the objective of the learning process and that is to increase the value of the employee’s services thereby increasing the value of the company.

The success of elearning is dependent on many factors. A combination of initiatives from the company, the employees and the facilitator, if any, is needed to achieve optimal results from this kind of training.

Learning new skills usually require a teacher or a mentor to guide the learner during the process. Elearning technology seemingly rendered the teacher, mentor or trainer obsolete. This maybe true to simple tutorials where learners can learn at home but for more complex corporate training sessions, the presence of a trainer will still be a significant advantage.

Executives, always seeking to find new ways to increase profits while cutting costs, are realizing the potential of technology assisted learning to grow their business. Especially for corporations who have branches and locations in different parts or the world, new learning technologies like web-based software programs are the best fit for their business.

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With the fast development of online elearning, over 65 percent of education organizations use LMS (Learning Management System) for education and more than 83.8 million registered elearning users are received online education courses as of 2010. It has become a sensitive as well as import topic for teachers to gather their teaching resources and impart knowledge to students with elearning tools, indicating better elearning communications.

The key to the success in elearning communications is how to activate, control and track students’ interests in learning. It sounds comprehensive but once you catch up with the popular ways of online education, you can guide your students to use tools, learn knowledge and share their ideas.

Here are the five things that teachers need to learn before you create solid and positive elearning communications with students.

1. Social Media

Teachers now have more options to contact and exchange ideas with students besides blog, wiki and forum because of the popularity of social media. The largest online community Facebook, is not only the place where you can find old friends and schoolfellows but also a good place for communicating between teachers and students. Teachers can announce an event, a lecture or a vote in advance and invite their students to take part in, so that you receive many feedback to catch up with student’s thoughts and optimize courses. The mircoblog, like Twitter, allows participants to send instant messaging to share ideas with others. Having a Twitter account will be a great way to make real time updates of what your students are thinking and doing.

2. Screencast

Online education might be the effective distance learning solution via text delivery, the screencast technically generates another possibility to make elearning communications more vivid and interactive with multimedia. Teacher can use screen recording software to create screencast to teach students courses online, share knowledge on blogs or streaming video sites. With the help of the comprehensive features these tools offer, teachers can edit their screencasts with Flash objects, add narration and publish the demo as interactive Flash video. Some screen recorders can publish the video courses with SCROM/AICC compliance so it is very convenient to share the videos on LMS.

3. YouTube

The streaming video site like YouTube is a great place for teachers and students to share and communicate their ideas in teaching and learning. There are many educators uploading their videos to YouTube, and they have established a comprehensive video channel for education. Students can find many interesting open courses in this channel, and it is also a great venue for teachers to communicate with others. You can encourage students to create and upload their work in the form of video. Majority of them love to see their work posted online and are eager to share with their friends and family.

4. iTouch

iTouch is not just simply a portable media player anymore. You can find many educational apps on it. According to the research of feedback from college libraries, many librarians begin to use portable devices as one part of Book Library Management System. And the practice proves that iTouch apps can be a communication bridge between educators and students. These educational apps can provoke curiosities of students and activate their study interests on the subjects which they dislike in the past. Another usage of iTouch is that it can be a portable textbook. Teachers can record their lesson in either videos or audio file and store them in iTouch so that students can watch or listen to the lessons any time and any where.

5. Slideshare

Slideshare is one kind of “online PowerPoint presentation”platform which allows people to post and share their PowerPoint presentations. For teachers, you don’t have to worry about whether your presentations can not be viewed by your students if they don’t have PowerPoint installed on their computers because people can view the presentation in the web browser. Besides the browse and embed features, there are some slideshare sites allowing students to download the PowerPoint as video so they can watch it on iPad and other portable devices. One more, the PowerPoint video converter can burn the course videos on DVD for backup as well as portable multimedia.

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Although elearning online is currently a popular educational alternative, a lot of students still have qualms with regards to their success after finishing their online course. As a matter of fact, what these people don’t realize is that achieving an elearning education degree opens the doors to many opportunities that allow them to compete with graduates of traditional on-campus education for jobs or careers on equal footing. However, there are still a lot of factors that come into play when it comes to ensuring success with an online education degree. Here are five ways that can help you guarantee this success:

1. The choice of Straight Accredited College or University – When pursuing an elearning online learning experience, the important first step is to choose the most appropriate institution for your education degree. Before enrolling just anywhere, make sure to do the necessary research and check the background of all the institutions that you’re considering. It is important to find out whether or not your school of choice is accredited by the appropriate and authorized accreditation bodies. This is because without this, the education level of approval will be worthless to you and your goals. Be wary of schools that promise quick degrees but are in reality not worth the paper they’re printed on.

2. Weigh Costs Versus Benefits – There are a lot of people who do not pay enough attention to this. The fact of the matter is, usually, the cost per credit per hour can be rather steep. However, it is worth the benefits that you can reap afterward. Elearning online courses can lead you down a path towards more income opportunities. Evaluating the actual advantages will students be able to appreciate the experience of completing an online course.

3. Degree Validation – It is important that your degree is validated by employers. A lot of them are unfortunately skeptical about online degrees, especially since fake institutions are rampant nowadays. They literally sell degrees and this only means that people can pretend to have gained the skills and knowledge necessary to accomplish a function or job. Put potential employers at ease by verifying your online degree at an accreditation agency of the U.S. Department of Education.

4. Discipline, Determination and Time Management – Majority of the work involved in online learning is self-initiated or independently accomplished. Failure in elearning is mostly associated to the students’ lack of discipline, determination and time management skills. Admittedly, it is very easy to lose focus when there’s no one to supervise the learning experience. This is why it is important to possess these three qualities in order to complete the online course successfully.

5. Make Use of Educational Technologies Available – Unfortunately, the only way to get an online degree is if you have access to the technology necessary to take part in it. It is important that you can use this high-quality technology because if not, then you’re just wasting your time. It would be a better idea to go with on-campus education. Be sure to take advantage of all educational technologies that are available to you such as virtual libraries and other online materials and resources that can assist you in your endeavors.

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Elearning is growing in popularity everyday. Companies are able to utilize it for corporate training solutions among many other uses. It has also been a great boon for the academic industry. One can find all the benefits of elearning online everywhere. However, there are not many who would admit to the disadvantages of electronic learning. Here is a list of both the advantages and disadvantages just to show a more balanced perspective.

Time Element
Cons
Students as well as trainees will be subjected to time pressure when going through most courses. However with elearning, an entire syllabus is further shortened. Therefore, one of two things can happen. Either the syllabus is crammed into a whole online course or lessons are shortened and some are cut out. The latter is most often what happens. This of course can affect the quality of a course.

Pros
The advantage here is that online learning will be a lot more practical. A lot of electronic courses can be finished at one’s own pace. Although it may take longer for some, the fact still remains that in this fast moving business environment, practicality takes precedence over everything.

The Stress Element
Cons
There are many conveniences to electronic learning (which will also be discussed later). However, despite all of these, there is also a stress element. Students and trainees often turn to elearning online because they already have a full plate and they do not have enough time to go to traditional classroom type of education or training. This means that most electronic learning trainees and students are exposed to a significant amount of pressure and stress which can lead to lower performance in either work or learning.

Pros
The stress element is a given to most any kind of learning environment. The good thing about online learning is that it is a lot less stressful compared to the traditional classroom education or training for students who are familiar with the technology and who are independent learners.

Keeping Up With Technology
Cons
There are still some people who are not familiar with computer technology. Online learning has most often been hailed as the best solution for providing education to far flung regions where people are poor and cannot afford to go to expensive schools far from their homes. The question here is if they are familiar with the technology or not.

Pros
The challenge here is to train them and to help them master the technology before they can start learning. The good thing here is that the “technologically challenged” will be able to learn and familiarize themselves with the technology at the same time.

The Impersonal Medium
Cons
This issue is perhaps where most of the debate against electronic learning takes place. A lot of people believe that there is no substitute to face to face teaching. A lot of things will always be lost in translation if the medium of communication is as cold and impersonal.

Pros
There are some elearning online courses that feature face to face correspondence between teacher and student or trainee. Of course, that is they are not really face to face but only virtually so through the use of cam and voice chat.

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Businesses, for example, can take advantage of these courses to improve their internal procedures and build a staff of highly qualified individuals. There are many companies that offer different curriculums and solutions, and finding the right one for the company should be a detailed process.

There are some eLearning solutions that were made to help employees be more productive and use their time more effectively. These courses are focused on time management, teamwork, and problem solving skills.

Then there are some other eLearning programs that target the management staff. They teach skills that deal with leadership styles, conflict resolution, and performance management. These are the skills that will take an average manager and create someone that is reliable and very effective.

The best eLearning solutions will create an environment where everyone on the staff can learn the skills and acquire the knowledge they really need to contribute to the company. That doesn’t mean that every solution will work for every company, and the company should always monitor the process and make sure that the employees and managers are showing some kind of progress.

Most modern eLearning tools allow companies to carefully monitor the amount of progress everyone is making. These learning analytics provide actionable insights that will help the company decide whether or not it is in its best interests to continue with the program.

These learning analytics will also provide a way to optimize the time with the system and make sure that the eLearning solutions are accomplishing everything they intended. A company can’t waste time with a program that is ineffectual, and these tools will make sure that money and time is spent wisely.

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I thought afterward. What about building a business online? Well that’s was a dilemma too. I did not know one idea about building a business on line at all. So what was I to do?

Well I had to find out away of learning how to do internet business. I did not just want someone’s technique for earning money on line. I wanted a comprehensive education in business. I want that full education in internet business.

I started looking around and I at last found my asnwer to geting that education. It was just what I was looking for. It was a business module about internet marketing taught in colleges all around the courtry.

I realy got excited after I found out that I could take the curriculum on line and in my home. A real college business education on line in my home. I could do it on my time schedule and still gain knowledge of every thing.

I found E-learning,my answer to my obstacle. I went and found out all about it. I found eLearning a 12-week online education choice that takes you, step-by-step through the process of building your very own winning, thriving Web business with Prestigious universities and colleges (ex., Penn State, Baruch College, The Citadel Military College). ELearning now delivers the same experience and results online, to you, in your home.

Is eLearning Right For You? Take This Self-Test.

1. Do you prefer the reassurance and sure progress of hands-on instruction?
2. Do you appreciate the discipline (and sense of accomplishment) of scheduled weekly progress?
3. Do you enjoy working with people in a small group (people who become friends) and progressing with them?
4. Do you want your specific questions answered directly and completely?
5. Do you like the idea of graduating with a business and a clear roadmap ahead?

If this sounds like you, then eLearning is for you. Its hands-on and easy-to-understand online course will keep you on a steady week-by-week track to business-building triumph.

In Today’s financial system, The Right Skills Are All-Important eLearning Builds Skills That Last a Lifetime.

E-business education is crucial to building a new revenue course that can last the rest of your life.

The way to do that, of course, is to build your own e-business. E-businesses are far less risky than offline ones. Can you imagine starting an offline business for less than $1,000?

Get out from under the dependence upon your employment. Why? First, you’ll always be dependent. Next, you don’t know how long it will last. And third, unless you adore your job, why not earn income at something you love?

See, in today’s economic times, the wisest strategy is to invest in your own growth. ELearning will show you how to take ownership of your potential.

And eLearning has helped others do exactly that – people who have established that financial freedom and personal fulfillment are truly within their grasp with the help of eLearning.

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Through recent years, elearning software solutions technology has been steadily developing. It has gone from its meager beginnings down into a great industry. More and more people have started to accept it as a mode of training and education. The use of this new technology on business training processes has become so widespread. This is because everyone has realized that the benefits of this technology will help them get ahead of the competition. Now, what makes a good electronic learning software system?

The best electronic learning platform will have one or a combination of these three core systems: the LMS or the learning management system, the LCMS or the Learning Content Management System, and finally, the TMS or Talent Management System.

LMS is basically created for the learners. It centers on finding out the needs of the learner and what areas he or she needs to improve on. It also zeroes in on the next step that the trainee will want to take to increase his or her professional skills.

LCMS is designed to manage the content of the learning courses. Elearning software solutions centered on this are strong on content creation and delivery despite the different platforms it will need to deliver the content to.

TMS is designed for the employee. It is designed to determine which employees are the best candidates and which of them should have compensation changes.

In the end, the most important thing is that these systems are utilized in perfect concert with each other. Also, the technology is never really the same for every company. What works for one company may be quite useless to another. This is because the goals of these companies for electronic learning will vary. This goal should first be determined in order for the company to realize which systems should be implemented and how. Of course, the budget of the company and its hardware resources should also be considered. Are any of these elearning technologies viable for them? Which would be the perfect fit considering the goals and the resources? This choice is very important and it will leave the company’s development team will have a great responsibility on their hands. They will have to cover research, curriculum development, content, management of the designers, subject matter experts, and the online trainers if any will be used.

Though the technology has a big part to play, of course it will also boil down to how willing the employee is to learn via this mode of training. There are after all some who are not open yet to this new form of education. Creating a culture of technological acceptance and familiarization is important to help motivate one’s workforce towards acceptance of elearning software solutions. After all, they will all sooner or later have to join in the wave of the future. Our increasingly technologically developing business society shows no more room for close minded traditionalists. For better or for worse, companies are now accepting that elearning has now become as much a part of businesses as the computer and the internet.

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Using eLearning techniques and resources for business and personal training involves the use of web-based training materials. These training materials often include slide presentations, videos, audios, question and answer or multiple choice modules that have been specially designed for people to work through a course or program of materials at their own pace and on their own timetable.

ELearning presents both students and instructors with an approach to learning that differs greatly from the face-to-face sessions they are used to. It is often designed to supplement these sessions and make them more effective by focusing the group on basic information that will be covered.

ELearning should not be seen as a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Because elearning is more individual-centric rather than instructor-centred, an adequately experienced trainer can modify and adapt what they deliver, as they deliver it, to give extra help to those who need it. They can also answer more advanced questions from those moving through the material more quickly.

ELearning is not just the use of PowerPoint slides or transposed instructional manuals. It is a method that utilises a full range of the available technologies to facilitate learning. This method of learning utilises computer networks to deliver learning content.

Most importantly this approach enables interaction at all levels – between student and student, student and curriculum material, and student and instructor. This generally makes the learning process more fruitful from both teacher and student perspectives.

ELearning is about a whole different approach to education as compared to more traditional methods. It places the student firmly at the center of their own learning and gives them much more control of the content and pace of learning.

The role of the instructor is to be available at the side of the elearning student as a guide. In some cases instructors find it difficult to adapt to this new approach. They must let go of the “I am the font of all knowledge” approach which has been drummed into them by their academic background.

The traditional student/instructor model has been one where the person who supposedly has all the knowledge (the instructor) dispenses this knowledge to a relatively passive audience of students. Elearning renders this traditional model obsolete and ineffective. Once the student is empowered to interact with the course of study his or her own insights and experiences become a valuable addition to the learning process.

On its own, eLearning can meet a variety of learning needs. It doesn’t matter whether they are aimed at a specific company initiative or part of an ongoing employee development curriculum. In today’s business environment there is often very little time to spend on general training or even adequate specialized training for new initiatives.

Staff training often takes a back seat to simply moving ahead with high priority assignments. Because of the flexible way in which eLearning courses can be designed and offered, small topics can be accessed, reviewed and absorbed much more easily by today’s busy professionals than is the case with the more traditional structured approach to training.

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The 10 steps that will be discussed are:

1. Defining and maintaining a realistic project scope throughout the development process.

2. Defining and documenting the business case/need for the training course.

3. Identifying and recruiting business sponsors/champions.

4. Identifying and recruiting team members to assist in the course development.

5. Identifying and selecting the eLearning vendor.

6. Developing the eLearning course.

7. Testing the eLearning course.

8. Deploying the eLearning course.

9. Ensuring that there is sufficient technical support.

10. Adding content to future versions of the course.

STEPS TO DEVELOPING A SUCCESSFUL ELEARNING COURSE

1. DEFINE THE SCOPE OF THE ELEARNING COURSE

This may seem like a logical place to start and most companies do start at this point. Unfortunately, most companies do not document the course scope and as the course grows so does the scope. Considering that this may be the first time that you have developed an eLearning course, combined with the fact that you will be working with a new vendor my recommendation would be that you limit the scope of the project. Keep it simple and allow for expansion once the first version of the course is deployed. Generally the second version of the course will require additional functionality based on end user’s input and feedback. You will also most likely need to add content based on feedback.

One of the keys to successful course development is to stick to the original scope for the first version and to share this scope with the user community when you deploy the course. Don’t get distracted by comments from the Beta testing group that are outside the scope of the course. As I mentioned it is important to document the scope during the course development as Beta testing may be several months later, at which time you may be a little fuzzy on the exact scope of the initial project.

2. DEFINE BUSINESS CASE/ NEED FOR THE ELEARNING COURSE

Once again make sure that this is done right up front. Having a clear and defined business case/need for the project will be important during all phases of the project. Having a document that you can reference (and point naysayers to) will be invaluable to you. You can also use the ideas that you developed for the business case in your deployment letter to reinforce the value of the course to the target audience.

3. IDENTIFY BUSINESS SPONSORS/CHAMPIONS FOR THE ELEARNING COURSE

This is not only an astute political move, but business sponsors will also be an excellent financial and political resource during the development, testing and deployment phases of the project. Try to get business sponsors from diverse functional areas as there will most likely be cross organizational interactions that can be smoothed out by having the right mix of business sponsors on board.

4. IDENTIFY AND RECRUIT TEAM MEMBERS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ELEARNING COURSE DEVELOPMENT

Before describing any of the details for this step I would like to make it clear that it is essential to identify and assign project leader/s for the project. Who will be the main contact between the eLearning vendor and your company? Who needs to be copied in on emails? Who is ultimately responsible for making the final decisions? I would recommend assigning one team leader. It is great to have technical people within your organization that can help your eLearning vendor with technical questions that they may have regarding your software and hardware standards. However, ultimately the team leader in consultation with the group experts needs to make the final decision. If you don’t have a central contact/team leader your eLearning vendor may become confused about who they should contact with questions that they have.

Use your business case/needs document and message to promote the course and recruit team members prior to the actual selection of an eLearning development vendor. You will need a wide range of expertise in your team including content providers; content verification and translation members; IT support such as networking, Learning Management System (LMS) staff and helpdesk. In addition, you should recruit a test audience based on the target deployment locations. These members of the team will be useful throughout the development process if you are using an eLearning vendor that develops prototypes. Regardless of prototypes, the test group will be essential during the Beta testing phase. Ensure that you select members that represent all your deployment sites. Members should also represent your user demographic in terms of technology setup. So ensure for example, that if most of your intended users have access rights restrictions on their computers that your test group represents this audience.

5. IDENTIFY AND SELECT YOUR ELEARNING VENDOR FOR THE ELEARNING COURSE DEVELOPMENT

Although this document describes this as one step, it is in reality a rather involved process. Please read CMC’s white paper entitled “Selecting an eLearning vendor: A guide to making an informed decision” for a detailed overview of the vendor selection process in the eLearning industry.

6. DEVELOP THE ELEARNING COURSE

This step generally involves numerous interactions between the customer and the eLearning vendor. The process should not be dictated by the eLearning vendor, but rather you should be actively involved during the development process. The critical factor to consider during the vendor selection process is whether the vendor is flexible enough to meet your eLearning needs. Most often the development process requires regular interaction between the client and the eLearning vendor. This is an important consideration prior to beginning an eLearning course as in most cases the team leader and members will need to dedicate a significant amount of time during all phases of the course development.

7. TEST THE ELEARNING COURSE ACROSS THE VARIOUS DEPLOYMENT SITES

Prior to deploying the course you need to do extensive Beta testing. Depending on the media/program/platform that is used for deployment your testing needs will change. The main thing to bear in mind with Beta testing or prototype testing during the development process is that you need to replicate the final deployment conditions of your target audience as closely as possible. This relates to issues such as rights management, firewalls/security, internet access, software configuration, server bandwidths etc.

8. DEPLOY THE ELEARNING COURSE

Prior to deployment, you need to send out a deployment letter to your target audience describing the course and what the minimum technological requirements are, the location of help files and the main contact person/s regarding specific issues or feedback suggestions. If the deployment letter is not very specific you will get feedback from users that could easily have been avoided. For example, if people don’t realize that the disc that they received is a DVD rather than a CD they may try to play the DVD on their laptop which only has a CD drive.

In addition to sending the deployment letter to all end users, it is also advisable to send any course specifications and help files to all of the local helpdesks to assist with technical issue resolution and support. You may also want to ask the eLearning vendor to put together a document that describes the main technical features and requirements to the local Help desks. This will be most valuable for course deployment on your corporate intranet or LMS.

9. FOLLOW UP TO ENSURE ADEQUATE TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR THE ELEARNING COURSE

After deployment, follow up to ensure that users are getting the technical support that they require. If you are using an LMS for deployment you can follow up to see how many people have registered and completed the course and then compare these figures with the number of technical issues that you are facing. Generally, you will need to provide technical support to 5-15% of your end users depending on the complexity of the course and the deployment arena.

10. DETERMINE WHAT ADDITIONAL CONTENT CAN BE ADDED TO NEW VERSIONS OF THE ELEARNING COURSE

Once your course has been in the field for a couple of months get some feedback from your user community to see if there is a need to add or correct any content. If your course is successful you will most likely get content suggestions very early after deployment. Although suggestions and changes are great because they will most likely strengthen the course and broaden your audience’s knowledge base, it is important to create, maintain and update a comprehensive change control system. It is important to track such data as content changes, graphic design changes, course numbers, course descriptions, scripting and functional changes.

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