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Managing a training department can be a difficult balancing act. You are expected to provide the volume of services required by the organisation to meet identified learning needs, to deliver those services effectively and to deliver them at an appropriate cost. All at the same time. In this article, Clive Shepherd shows how, by employing online learning appropriately, you can maintain this balance while forging ahead and providing a better service - delivering more learning, better learning and cheaper learning.
Three ways to improve cost effectiveness
Like any other manager, the person responsible for training in an organisation is always looking to improve cost-effectiveness. There are essentially three strategies that the training manager has to choose from, without allowing an imbalance to occur:
1. reduce costs (while maintaining current levels of effectiveness and volume)
2. improve effectiveness (while maintaining current levels of cost and volume)
3. increase volumes (while maintaining current levels of cost and effectiveness)
With any of these strategies, you can, effectively, 'have your cake and eat it' - you make gains without associated losses. There are many tactics that the training manager can employ to realise these strategies, but only one option that has the potential to crack all three nuts:
nut 1: cheaper learning (reducing cost)
nut 2: better learning (improving effectiveness)
nut 3: more learning (increasing volume)
Used well, just maybe online learning can provide us with the best of all worlds.
Cheaper learning
How should costs be measured?
It's impossible to make a fair comparison of costs if you are selective about the costs you count. To see whether online learning can save you money, you must account for costs at all stages in the project lifecycle:
- analysis
- design and development
- promotion
- administration
- delivery
- evaluation
It's also important to take account of indirect costs, which are nearly always the largest factor:
- internal salaries and benefits of trainers, administrators, etc.
- the use of internal facilities
- student time and expenses in travel and training
- the opportunity cost of student time
How can online learning help to save costs?
There is a number of ways in which online learning could save costs:
1. by reducing the time it takes to learn
The Hudson Institute of Indianapolis reviewed 20 years of research on CBT and found an average 40% time reduction.
In studies of six major companies, the Interactive Multimedia Association identified that training comprehension was 38-70% faster.
2. by reducing travel and accommodation costs
3. by reducing delivery costs
As an example, British Telecom claimed recently that it had already saved £1m through the deployment of online learning, even though it is only 1/7th through its roll-out.
Better learning
How can effectiveness be measured?
Kirkpatrick (1975) identified four levels at which the effectiveness of training could be measured:
1. the reactions of learners to the training they have received
2. the extent to which learning occurred in line with the objectives for the training
3. the extent to which what was learned was applied back on the job
4. the difference that the application of new learning made to business results
Whilst all of these are important, the higher levels are what count most, although a great deal more work is required to gather valid and reliable results.
In what ways can online learning help to improve effectiveness?
The analysis by Thomas Russell, of North Carolina State University, of 248 different research reports, summaries, and papers relating to the effectiveness of different media consistently showed 'no significant difference'. It appeared that the quality of the design and implementation was more important than the medium.
However, the findings of the Hudson Institute were that students learn 30% more from computer-based instruction. The Interactive Multimedia Asssociation study showed learning gains 56% greater and content retention 25-50% higher.
How is that these gains in effectiveness can occur? It appears to be a combination of four factors:
1. individualisation
2. immediate constructive feedback
3. active learner involvement
4. an appeal to multiple senses
More learning
Why is volume important?
There are times when it would be extremely beneficial to increase the volume of training that you deliver:
1. when a large number of people has to be trained in a short time
This situation can occur when there is a major business change, such as the introduction of a new system. There is unlikely to be sufficient capacity in terms of trainers or facilities to train the whole population in the time available. If online learning materials are prepared in advance, they can then be delivered to virtually any size of audience simultaneously.
2. when there are many unmet training needs
It is not uncommon for a large proportion of identified needs to go unmet, particularly those that are in the minority.
3. when you want to reach new audiences
Perhaps you are looking to increase the reach of your training services. For example, Seb Scholler, of Sheffield College, saw online learning as a way of reaching out to new and untapped markets, not necessarily within the normal catchment area of the college.
In what ways can online learning increase the amount of training that takes place?
The main way that online learning can help to increase the volume of training is by improved accessibility - providing what is wanted, when and where it is wanted. With traditional training, you go to where the place where the training is conducted at a time to suit the trainer. With online delivery, you can choose to learn at home, at your desk, in a learning centre, or just about anywhere you happen to be travelling on business.
A study conducted on behalf of the UK Department for Education and Employment by Epic Group plc, in the Spring of 1999, showed that the number one driver for introducing online learning was accessibility. Incidentally, the same study also showed that, within five years, online learning would account for over 20% of all training, while the classroom would drop from over 50% to 30%.
So, with the help of online learning, training can be made more cost-effective without making sacrifices. What's more it can contribute in all possible ways:
- reducing cost
- improving effectiveness
- increasing volume
However, as we have seen, online learning is not a panacea and, where used injudiciously, it can actually harm the cost-effectiveness of our training. Care must be taken to add online learning to the mix of methods at our disposal and to use it only when it provides the best chance of achieving the results we require.