Why e-learning trumps traditional training

The seismic changes being experienced in many organisations, leading to the closure of companies or the downsizing of others, are sucking out the economic blood of affected countries.

To survive, thrive and stay ahead of the herd, organisations have to continuously monitor their market and evaluate their ability to stay relevant in an ecosystem wrought with wrenching changes.

To prepare staff to cope with changing times, continuous education plays a major role in keeping organisations afloat.

Equipping staff with the right skills injects efficiency, reduces costly errors often caused by ineptitude, and turbocharges the productivity of an organisation.

However, traditional training — where the staff is huddled in a room, trained and then return to their workstation — does not always equate to acquisition of lasting skills.

E-LEARNING

There is a body of research that shows that short-term training has no long-term skill retention. It is generally recognised that in 24 hours after training if learnt skills are not used, they are lost.

Most of the traditional training is also one-size-fits-all. Everyone is trained on the same skills in the same format, yet in most cases, the skills needed are different.

It’s like going to see a doctor for a health problem and the medic prescribes the same treatment prescribed to everyone else, yet they suffer different medical problems. That is ludicrous.

Technology, through interactive e-learning platforms, offers a solution.

Some of the e-learning management systems have artificial intelligence and virtual reality built into them such that when prospective learners sign up, they are assessed to find out their specific skills gap and are then matched to the right courses.

Learning is interactive and challenging, incorporating scenarios that mirror real-life experiences.

SKILL RETENTION

Besides, some of the training may be offered through a blended process where e-learning is enriched by live instructor-led sessions to reinforce certain topics and respond to learners’ questions.

More engaging multimedia content, greater access to instructors and classmates via online chat can contribute to improved retention metrics.

Lynda.com, for example, is a bellwether of the direction e-learning is headed. Whether you are a business executive, a computer coder, or a professional who wants to keep learning, the Lynda.com website — now called LinkedIn Learning — is often available at a public library for free.

Interactive, customised and self-paced training has shown that learners retain skills longer, yielding better benefits, and costs less.

FUTURE OF EDUCATION

Younger generations are also more inclined to getting the right skills to do a job, not necessary to spend several years in long-term training programmes.

Technology and pedagogy powering online learning have become considerably better over the last decade.

There is a growing number of cases where online education is outperforming its traditional classroom counterpart.

As business changes, so is the need to inoculate them against a turbulent future. E-learning is the future of education.

Wambugu is an informatician. Email:[email protected]