I guess I'd have to have more information about the courses and how they determine what "successful completion" is. I've seen some really lousy attempts at validation in my day.

How would you define a good validation, if you were designing just such a program?

Sierra,

perhaps all SHOULD go to training for all the holistic reasons that we want them to want to go to training for. (tough to follow, I know). However, the cold hard realities are that with a spoonful of sugar, the medicine goes down quite easily. The debate could roar on for centuries and I don't have centuries to give. So- I have seen this done, and it seems pretty effective; it is a hybrid:

Reward people for training AFTER HOURS and on weekends. Especially easily done in an e-learning environment...accrue points for courses completed with X% success rate after 6pm (local time) and on weekends and holidays. The courses are a requirement, and CAN be completed during the workday. But rewarding them for course completion AFTER HOURS encourages that employees are working on their day jobs during the day and on professional development after work. If they are doing this, they are motivated and aggressively seeking completion points for that trip to St Kitts or the new iPod!

sf,

Boom

I have been in training for quite awhile. While our company does not pay people for training we sometimes make it mandatory. Without training being mandatory, we would have alot of empty seats. Hopefully, people will realize that the training can benefit them and they come without being dragged in. I have trained for the U.S. Navy, State Gov't and private industry. I see a general lack of enthusiasm for training in general.