Learning Circuits E-Learning Trends 2004
By Ryann Ellis

In October 2001, Learning Circuits published its first-ever e-learning survey to gage the impact that technology developments, supplier consolidations, and the economy were having on e-learning efforts inside organization. Over the years, Learning Circuits has deleted and added questions to reflect changes in the industry. This year, we took the analysis a step further.

In August and September of 2004, Learning Circuits ran two separate online surveys. The first survey, “Learning Circuits Annual Trends Survey,” asked LC readers about their general use of e-learning. It focused on respondents’ current level of involvement in e-learning and budget dollars dedicated to e-learning. The second questionnaire, “Learning Circuits E-Learning Readiness Survey” asked respondents about specific tools they were using and to indicate management and employee support levels for e-learning.

Combined, the results from these two surveys shed light on developing trends among organizations using e-learning.

Current level of involvement

At first glance, it seems as though the level of involvement in e-learning decreased from 2003 to 2004. According to 122 respondents of “Learning Circuits Annual Trends Survey,” the number of companies that have been using e-learning for quite some time fell from 41.7 percent in 2003 to 35.3 percent in 2004. Meanwhile, there was an increase in the number of companies still exploring options or in the planning stages.

Likewise, the number of years that organizations have been using e-learning decreased in the 2004 survey. (See chart below for details.)

This data seems to contradict information from other industry surveys and analyst reports that say e-learning initiatives are gaining momentum. To garner insight, Learning Circuits reviewed and compared verbatim answers with those from previous surveys. The result: Workplace learning professionals seem to be more clearly defining e-learning in relation to an actual learning experience. They’re using such terms as Web conferencing, virtual classrooms, simulations, m-learning, and so on--rather than infrastructure and authoring systems, such as LMSs and LMCSs, which were mentioned in previous years.

Size of e-learning budget

According to the “Learning Circuits Annual Trends Survey” the amount of dollars dedicated to e-learning has remained at fairly consistent levels over the last fews years. However, there was a notable hike in the 60 percent and above range for 2004. (See table below for details.)

Types of e-learning tools and services

According to 164 respondents to “Learning Circuits E-Learning Readiness Survey,” 57.1 percent use asynchronous (self-paced) courseware and 32.4 percent use synchronous virtual classrooms to supplement traditional classroom-based training.

The leading tools that most organizations use to build, deploy, and support e-learning efforts include the following:

• online meeting software, 54 percent
• authoring tools, 51 percent
• learning management system, 46 percent
• survey/assessment software, 42 percent.  

When asked what e-learning support services their organizations provide in-house, either via electronic means or via personnel, course registration came out on top at 71 percent, followed closely by content development.

The survey also asked about the functionality of various tools and whether they interface with legacy systems. (See table below for details.)

How organizations use e-learning

When asked how their organizations use e-learning, respondents to “Learning Circuits E-Learning Readiness Survey,” ranked IT (end-user/desktop training) highest at 38.4 percent. IT training was followed closely by general business skills (35.7 percent), which covers everything from leadership training to sexual harassment training to diversity training. Customer service training and task-specific skills tied for third at 30.4 percent. (See chart for details.)

On a related topic, “Learning Circuits E-Learning Readiness Survey” asked what department managed or initiated e-learning programs. It was no surprise that training-related departments managed the majority of e-learning initiatives: training (57.3 percent), e-learning (7.8 percent), and HR (6.8 percent). However, more than one-quarter (28.1 percent) of e-learning initiatives originate and are managed from line-of-business functions, such as IT (4.9 percent) and sales and marketing (7.8 percent).

Organizational perception of e-learning

Overall, employees and managers are aware of e-learning and ay they are positive about using it to improve performance. According to “Learning Circuits E-Learning Readiness Survey,” 25.9 percent of employees are aware of e-learning and 50.6 percent of employees are interested in using e-learning. Similarly, 17.9 percent of managers are aware of e-learning and more then two-thirds (69 percent) are interested in using e-learning to educate employees.

However, both groups have concerns. Among employees, time commitment (30.2 percent) and technical competency required (24.4 percent) ranked highest. Level of self-discipline followed closely at 20.9 percent.

Cost to implement e-learning was the number 1 concern for managers (52.3 percent), followed by technology requirements (48.8 percent). Interestingly, a majority of managers (44.2 percent) are concerned that the organization’s culture would not support e-learning. 

Training staff capabilities

Learning Circuits asked respondents to indicate whether their trainer staff had received development on how to produce and support e-learning initiatives. The good news: 70.2 percent have participated in an online program as a learner.

In addition, more than half (54.9 percent) of respondents have received training on online facilitation skills. Also, 57.7 percent have been educated on multimedia design, and 46.5 percent have learned about general Web development practices. Finally, more than one-third (35.2 percent) have received training specifically on ISD for online courseware.

Bottom line

What can we conclude from this data? It seems as though the general e-learning practitioner is getting smarter and more specific about what he or she does. They’re defining e-learning in narrower terms--to cover the actual learning experiences (i.e., virtual classrooms, simulations, e-courseware) rather than the infrastructure systems that their organizations use to develop and support e-learning (i.e., LMS, LCMS, authoring tools).

In addition, an increasing number of employees and managers are not only aware of e-learning, but also are interested in using it. More important, even though technology and cost issues ranked as their highest concerns, managers are conscious of the culture issues involved in implementing a successful e-learning strategy.

Finally, e-learning developers are increasing their personal skill levels, which, hopefully, will raise the quality of future online programs.

Published: November 2004