Hi,
I think e-learning is effective if the program has a design to hold the interest of the participant. I have found those that I have to interact with are easier for me to stay engage with than the "one-way" instructional training format.

Depending on the content, I think e-learning is very effective for employees. My organinzation has an e-learning university where we can take training courses geared toward leadership skills, learning the tools amd practices of lean manufacturing, and root-cause analysis. There are even courses on anger management. If the design of e-learning courses considers the topic and the efficacy of learning online, training costs can be drastically decreased and other advantages realized.

I am generalizing, but a well designed eLearning course can be just as effective as a well designed instructor led course.

That being said, they can also be equally ineffective if treated as "events" - where event completion gets the big checkmark with little strategy on providing the support necessary to ensure people actually remember what they learned and begin applying it on the job.

www.salesforcealignment.com

Although e-learning has it place (depending on content, outcome desired & audience competence level), in the majority of cases, ILT (instructor led training) offers the highest quality learning experience.

Human interaction, interfacing and reinforcement allows for the greatest probability for comprehension and retention (not to mention the benefits of multi-sensory exposure).

Respectfully,

quote:

Originally posted by TheTrainingAssociate:
Although e-learning has it place (depending on content, outcome desired & audience competence level), in the majority of cases, ILT (instructor led training) offers the highest quality learning experience.

Trainers really, really want to believe this. But, research does not support it.

See for example Ruth Clark's research/books Efficiency In Learning and Elearning And The Science Of Instruction. She has done extensive meta-analysis.