With the burst of the Internet bubble, many had placed their hopes on e-Learning as the next “new new” thing. From 2000 through mid-2001 analysts and technology gurus alike hyped the new technology. Expectations finally crashed in mid-2001 with many new e-Learning players exiting the field as their venture capital funding dried up and customers did not appear in the large numbers expected.

Everything changed after September 11, 2002, however. Companies radically cut back on sending their employees on trips and were forced to consider alternatives to classroom training in distant cities. At the same time, we experienced a mild economic recession forcing companies to consider how to deliver services on a cost effective basis. All of these forces helped make e-Learning a viable force. Many organizations began to redouble their efforts to explore the new medium.

At the recent February 2002 Techknowledge Conference in Las Vegas, a spokesperson for New Horizon Learning Centers, a computer training center business, reported that use of online e-learning had risen from 5% of their total training delivered to 15% since the events of September 11. Many other industry players confirmed this general trend as well.

This apparent trend reversal is best summed up by the comments made to us by a sales person from Lectora Publishing: “Last year people were asking me about benefits of e-Learning and what these tools are used for—basic questions. Today buyers are much more sophisticated—they are quizzing me on subtle product features and how those features compare to other competitors. They are very knowledgeable now and in such a short amount of time from a year ago. And they are buying!”

In February, 2002, The American Society of Training and Development released the results of their annual industry survey that showed a significant increase in e-Learning adoption as well for the first time in several years. So there finally appears to be a slow but impressive curve building around the adoption and growth of the medium, without all the attendant hype of the last several years. Relative sobriety and sanity may have finally settled in.

What’s been holding e-Learning back? Although there are approximately 4,000 e-learning courses in the marketplace, most analysts agree that the single thing holding higher adoption rates back is the quality of the e-Learning courses themselves. “95% of the courseware out there is dreck,” one of the keynote speakers commented at the Techknowledge Conference. The new medium hasn’t yet found its own voice. Most of the e-Learning courseware in the marketplace today is warmed over text based Powerpoint slides or recycled “talking heads” stock footage video clips that do not add value to the learning tasks at hand. There is little creative effort being dedicated to simulation and interaction. As with the newly-invented cinema medium at the beginning of the 20th. century, e-Learning has only begun to develop its own voice.

More compelling than anything are the simple facts that several studies have shown that with certain applications e-Learning can compress eight hours of classroom teaching into a single hour of online learning. Moreover, the learning experience is available on a time demand basis 24/7 anywhere the Internet is available. These same studies show that student retain and experience the same levels of learning as they do in conventional classroom environments. Does this mean that e-Learning will replace the conventional classroom? Of course not. Most industry professionals agree that a blended model combining traditional classroom learning with e-Learning employed as a supplement to the course will emerge as a dominant model over the next few years. At the same time, however, we will see very accelerated e-Learning growth in targeted applications where new course creators are able to create compelling, engaging and interactive content on a cost-effective basis.

Want more on the subject? Check out www.lguide.com and www.brandonhall.com. Both offer excellent materials on the state of the marketplace.