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I n s t i t u t e o f B u s i n e s s

M a n a g e m e n t

Submitted By:

Onkar Mandhan

Mehreen Jessani

Sania Anwer Shaikh

Samar

Section C

Submitted to:

Asim Iftikhar

E-Learning &

Virtual Education



E-Learning & Virtual Education

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Table of ContentsOrigin of E-learning ................................................................................................................................. 4

1960 - The early years ......................................................................................................................... 4

Computer based instruction................................................................................................................ 4

Intelligent tutoring systems ................................................................................................................ 4

The advent of the World Wide Web.................................................................................................... 5

The 21st century .................................................................................................................................. 5

Introducing e-learning ............................................................................................................................ 6

Defining e-learning.............................................................................................................................. 6

Virtual Learning ....................................................................................................................................... 7

Goals of E – Learning ........................................................................................................................... 7

Current Scenario – Overview of status of Virtual Learning in Organizations ..................................... 7

Current Forms of Virtual Learning .................................................................................................... 10

Which direction is virtual learning heading towards? ...................................................................... 12

Leading Trends in Virtual Learning ................................................................................................... 13

Virtual Classrooms ........................................................................................................................ 13

Peer-to-Peer Learning ................................................................................................................... 14

Blended Learning .......................................................................................................................... 15

Open Source Tools ........................................................................................................................ 16

E-learning versus instructor led training ........................................................................................... 17

Instructor led training ................................................................................................................. 17

Major Learning Tools in Current Practice ............................................................................................. 19

Why does e-learning matter? ............................................................................................................... 21

Drivers ............................................................................................................................................... 21

The knowledge based economy ................................................................................................... 21

A shortage of skilled workers ........................................................................................................ 21

Technology as enabler and driver of the economy ...................................................................... 21

The corporate university ............................................................................................................... 22

The global economy ...................................................................................................................... 22

Time-to-market ............................................................................................................................. 22

Cost savings ................................................................................................................................... 22

Need for flexibility ......................................................................................................................... 22




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Multidisciplinary operational excellence ...................................................................................... 22

Innovation ..................................................................................................................................... 22

Worldwide competition ................................................................................................................ 22

Why use e-learning ............................................................................................................................... 23

Advantages of e-learning .................................................................................................................. 23

Disadvantages of e-learning .............................................................................................................. 25

The value proposition ........................................................................................................................ 26

Cost/benefits of e-learning ............................................................................................................... 26

Implementation Approach .................................................................................................................... 29

VIRTUAL EDUCATION AROUND THE GLOBE ......................................................................................... 29

VIRTUAL EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN ....................................................................................................... 30

The Future ............................................................................................................................................. 31

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 32

Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 33




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Origin of E-learning

Although e-learning has been around for decades, it has seen exponential growth in the

last years, mainly because of the growth of the Internet. As a short introduction we present

a retrospective.

1960 - The early years

Soon after computers were invented, psychologists and educators noted the educational

potential of computers. Early computer-based instruction development focused on

automating relatively simple notions of learning and instruction. However, the early group

of computer-based instruction technologists split into two groups: the so-called applied

scientists (engineers) and the so-called advanced researchers.

Computer based instruction

The first group of scientists focused on automating the simple notions of learning and

instruction. During the decades, this group continued to develop and refine their tools, to

include complex instructional constructs. However, throughout the development phases,

costs were a major obstacle to the widespread use of computer-based instruction.

Initially, the migration and adaptation of computer-based instruction, based on mainframes

to minicomputer, workstations and personal computers, absorbed much of the energy of

researchers and developers. With each succeeding technological innovation, new

capabilities and features became available to enhance the technological supported learning

process. As the tools matured and personal computer proliferated, costs were dramatically

reduced. Recent instructional content incorporate multimedia capabilities and sophisticated

authoring features. These computer-based instructions are characterised by tightly bound

instructional content and logic.

Intelligent tutoring systems

The second group of researchers focused on the potential of information-structure-

oriented approaches to represent human cognition and learning. Rooted in the early

artificial intelligence studies of how we learn and master skills, this approach led to the

development of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). The functionalities of ITS are distinct from

the more conventional approaches. The functionalities requires ITS to generate instruction

in real time, on demand as required by the individual learners.

Furthermore, ITS must support dialogue or discussion between the technology and the user.

However, several factors also hindered the development of ITS technologies. The science of

human cognition was relatively immature, and the complex modelling and rule-based

systems require considerable computing power. The ITS systems are characterised by the

tendency to separate control logic from instructional content.




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The advent of the World Wide Web

The Internet and the World Wide Web has reset the agenda for both the groups of

development. As the internet developed, it provided a widely accessible communications

structure built on common standards providing easy access to information and knowledge.

CBI systems progressed from direct adaptations of CD-ROM to the Internet to Web-based

authoring systems, embracing the separation of content and control as server-based

learning management systems emerge.

The 21st century

Now, moving into the 21st century, the boundaries between an organization’s

management systems seem to blur. As we live in a knowledge driven economy, the human

resources systems (assessment, evaluation, career planning and development), knowledge

management systems (supported technologically by content management systems), and

learning management systems are said to be merging into holistic intellectual capital

systems.




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Introducing e-learning

E-learning is just one of the many terms which are used in literature and business about e-

learning. E-learning is defined by many people, in many ways, and as it is most important to

gain a clear understanding of what e-learning is, we present some definitions and relatedterminology of the e-learning world.

Defining e-learning

As there are many definitions available, we present here only a few of them to gain some

understanding.

Definition 1

Tom Kelly, Cisco: “E-learning is about information, communication, education and training.

Regardless of how trainers categorize training and education, the learner only wants the

skills and knowledge to do a better job or to answer the next question from a customer.”

Definition 2

M Danesh, “E-learning provides the potential to provide the right information to the right

people at the right times and places using the right medium.”

Definition 3

Brandon Hall: “…instruction that is delivered electronically, in part or wholly via a Web

browser through the Internet or an intranet, or through multimedia platforms such CD-ROM

or DVD.” Brandon Hall argues that, as the technology improves, e-learning has been

identified primarily with using the web, or an intranet’s web. Increasingly — as higher

bandwidth has become more accessible — it has been identified primarily with using the

Web, or an intranet's web, forcing the visual environment and interactive nature of the web

on the learning environment.




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Virtual Learning

Virtual Learning has become a part of many organisations knowledge management

systems over the past decade, with a variety of different methods being used. Knowledge

management is aimed at capturing, managing, and disseminating knowledge, in usable

forms, as a corporate intellectual asset.

Goals of E – Learning

E – Learning lessons are generally designed to guide students through information or to helpstudents perform in specific tasks. Information based e- Learning content communicates

information to the student. Examples include content that distributes the history or facts

related to a service, company, or product. In information-based content, there is no specific

skill to be learned. In performance-based content, the lessons build off of a procedural skill

in which the student is expected to increase proficiency.

Current Scenario – Overview of status of Virtual Learning in Organizations

At present, aspects like product features, quality, and pricing are more or less sameamong competitors leading to negligible or no differentiation or brand loyalty based on

product.

‘Knowledge base’ of the organization is the competitive edge now.

It’s all about knowledge management – “Quickly capturing and

disseminating best practices, radical improvements, and information on key

customers”.

There is a need for better virtual learning solutions which will allow

information to be well structured and organized and to be delivered in the most

efficient and fastest manner to the employees (The Herridge Group, 2002).

The current technology allows the organizations for tagging, storing, and

displaying precisely the right digitized information and learning at the job-site at

the moment of need through their learning management systems (LMSs).

The present learning management systems offer the functionality to

initiate and exhibit content and to manage the communication between

performers and the learning or performance resources (The Herridge Group,

2002).

Present web based learning tools like audio-video, teleconferencing

provide the base for effective virtual learning implementations such as CISCO’s

WebEx.

“What organizations know will provide them with their single most important edge.”

(Shank, 1997)




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Virtual learning is on verge of being revolutionised with the advent of new technologies

such as open source tools, mobile learning technologies, Smartphones, PDAs, and

personal learning environments. Hence, there is need of a radical improvement in the

ways in which the virtual learning can delivered be delivered successfully and

intermittently across all these platforms. According to a senior employee of CISCO, it is

very necessary that the present virtual learning platforms are extended across all of

these platforms which would foster collaboration and partnerships amongst the

learners. These new approaches to the design of corporate learning and performance

support are focussing on chunked, reusable content that relates directly to specific

performance requirements.

The recent advancements in the various technology areas of delivering information across

different locations and different platforms have converged to form virtual learning providing

access to content anywhere, anytime increasing the value of the learning experience.

Organizations across the globe have adapted to various variants of virtual learning and

consider virtual learning as one of their long term reusable learning strategies. Knowledge

management and performance management has become far more efficient and scalable.

Currently, according to a senior employee, CISCO uses a global learning platform which is

accessible to everybody, anywhere and has a central storage. The learning management

systems in CISCO normally use technologies like Saba. The training and learning is learner-centric and specific in nature. For instance, every CISCO sales employee outside the U.S has

to take the Foreign Acts training on the learning platform if he/she needs to sell any product

outside the U.S. But, different organizations use virtual learning and e-learning according to

their needs and business goals. These needs may vary for different organizations depending

on which industry and sector of market they belong to.

In January 2010 ASTD published a survey on ‘E-Learning Trends’ which was conducted in

November-December 2009 across 210 organizations. The most important question asked to

the organizations was ‘How does your organization uses e-learning’. The result for this

particular survey question is shown in the bar graph below (ASTD.Org, 2010).

“E-learning will not operate on traditional norms of what a standard education is;

rather e-learning will be about meeting the learner’s needs for improved

performance.” (Wentling et al., 2000)




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It can be inferred that e-learning is extensively used by organizations for various purposes

such as customer service training and sales force training. Rightly said by a senior sales

employee of CISCO, sales force training is very crucial for updating the sales skills of the

employees and also to educate the partners and clients involved in the whole sales

ecosystem. These data indicate that virtual learning has become an unavoidable strategy of

many of the global corporations. However, the changing landscape of technology and the

economic & business challenges have forced organizations to explore new frontiers.

0 10 20 30 40 50

Other

IT (network, infrastructure)

Enterprise Transformations

Salesforce Training

Product Updates & Rollouts

External customers/Clients

Task Specific Skills

Regualtory/Compliance IssuesIT(end user/desktop applications)

General business skills

Customer service training

%age of total number of organizations which participated in the ASTD Survey 2010

U s e s

How do organizations use e-learning?




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Current Forms of Virtual Learning

Virtual Learning has become a part of many organisations knowledge management

systems over the past decade, with a variety of different methods being used. This section

will outline what is currently available to organisations. Virtual learning is delivered,currently, in the following two ways (IBM.Com, 2010).

Based on these two generic ways of delivering information over the internet, there

are many tools and technologies which are currently being used in organizations for virtual

learning and training. Some of these are simple, and some are more complex depending

upon their degree of difficulty in implementation and the infrastructure required for

delivering them in a normal mode across various platforms. Examples some of these e-

learning technologies are shown below:




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It is not uncommon for these different methods of learning to be mixed together.

This can often reduce the limiting factors of one form of e-learning and increase the

availability of learning materials on different platforms. Moreover, it provides the learner a

wider range of options to access learning and training in a virtual environment. For example,

Google Wave can be used by collaborators to edit a document simultaneously in real timeand at the same time they can also carry on video messaging on some other application

such as VoIP.

These technologies or tools can be used for various training and learning purposes by the

organizations based on their specific business and performance needs. Though most of the

organizations, currently, use various tools for conducting in-house virtual learning and

training, the most popular tools can be identified from the 2010 ASTD ‘E -Learning Survey’

below (ASTD.Org, 2010).

Each of these tools/technologies have their level of interactivity which depends on various

characteristics such as the richness of the audio-video stream, ease of navigation, degree of

engagement, availability, portability and certainly, look and feel. There are different levels of interactivity (low, moderate, high) depending on the e-learning method that is chosen.

These are shown in table blow:

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Other

Learning Content Management Systems

Blogs

Video coferencing

Virtual Classrooms

Audio conferencing

Off-the-shelf coursewares/libraries

Web conferencing

Authoring Tools

Assessment/testing tools

Learning Management Systems

%tage of total number of organizations partcipated in the ASTD Survey 2010

T y p

e s o f T o o l s

What types of e-learning tools, functionality, infrastructure do organizations

currently use ?




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Which direction is virtual learning heading towards?

Virtual learning, or for the fact of the matter, e-learning has come a long way in the last

decade or so. There has been a tremendous transgression form the traditional computer-

based training systems to more dynamic and rapid learning management systems.

Furthermore, the arrival of Web 2.0, open source tools, virtualisation, SaaS, e-book readers,

tablet PCs and social media has thrown up several opportunities to harness information and

knowledge in the most cost-effective, optimized and efficient manner.

However, according to Gartner Education Hype Cycle 2009, the most interesting

opportunities are yet to come or are in their due course of their mainstream adoption. The

education hype cycle can be seen in the figure below (Jimdonovan.net.nz, 2009).




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Leading Trends in Virtual Learning

Virtual Classrooms

Virtual Classrooms have been one of the

most used synchronous method of

delivering learning and training in most

kind of local and global organizations.

This method allows the synchronous

teaching, lectures, simulation,

demonstration and peer

collaboration over the web.

The main benefit of virtual classrooms is that users who are disparately located can ‘come

together’ online to listen, view and interact with the live instructors and their fellow

learners in a scheduled event (The Herridge Group, 2002). The technology and

infrastructure required for establishment of Virtual Classrooms, in most of the cases is

available with the organizations and is affordable as well.

However, the transition to virtual classrooms is mostly because of financial reasons than

instructional. Organizations perceive virtual classrooms as the way to reduce travel time,cost of travel and importantly, the cost of replacing the instructor every time. Moreover, the

virtual classrooms allow the organizations to develop a repository of reusable learning and

training materials, hence increasing their knowledge base (The Herridge Group, 2002).

Are ‘Virtual Classrooms’ worth it?

Though virtual classrooms provide learner-trainer and learner-learner interaction, it does

not propagate personalization and collaboration of work and ideas as it might be in a regular

classroom. Hence, if the goal of the learning process is to advocate team-work and

collaboration virtual classrooms might not be the best answer. Moreover, the number of

learners that can possibly participate in an online virtual classroom and still have some level

of interactivity is, most often, lesser than that in the situation of face-to-face learning.

However, virtual classroom is cheaper to develop in comparison to the asynchronous web-

modules and in some instances, could be the best solution. For example-

Training on a new software deployment

Allowing access to a particular expert for a short interval with the technology and

facilitating a larger, geographically diverse group to participate.

Short discussion for a key change. Advocating collaboration and communities of practice.




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But still, virtual class rooms have their own share of challenges, some of which are:

1. The content should be properly designed for the learners, the module tasks, and most

importantly, the delivery mechanism.

2. 3. The facilitator should be appropriately trained and skilled in managing the learning

technology and engaging the audience.

4.

3. There should be a high degree of reliability in the learning technology.

4. The training material should be more rich and interactive in nature and should not be

just a cut and pasted content from an already existing classroom course.

Conclusively, virtual classrooms can be considered as a cost-effective method of delivering

learning with its own share of pros and cons.

HP’s Virtual Classroom for Toyota Canada Toyota Canada utilizes the HP Virtual Classroom for various types of training purposes both

in English and French. For every new car launch, a HP Virtual Classroom trainer starts going

through a power point presentation displaying the novel features, changes in the new car

and compares it with the similar releases from the competitors. Moreover, the product

specialists, throughout this process can ask questions by using the ‘hands-up’ feature from

the facilitator.

(HP.Com, 2003)

Peer-to-Peer Learning

Peer-to-Peer or P2P signifies inclusion of collaboration tools and developing collaboration

into virtual learning programs. P2P is a “networking technology that enables the sharing of

resource. The peers are the individual comput ers that make up the network” (Hoffman,

2002). This technology facilitates the virtual learners to share information and data by

allowing one computer to connect straightaway with another computer on a network




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without going via a file server. This inter-connection allows creating shared workspaces in

which learners can easily collaborate, communicate and exchange ideas (Hoffman, 2002).

Challenges of Peer-to-Peer learning

o To ensure accuracy & validity of the available information? Internet is a deluge of information- how to sift out the most relevant and meaningful data?

o To ensure privacy and data security on P2P links. To make it sure that only the

designated learner can access the information displayed (Hoffman, 2002).

Potential market for P2P: Collaborators and group learners dispersed across countries.

Blended Learning

Blended learning is the method

where the organization encapsulates

different modalities of training such

as instructor-led, face-to-face, self

paced learning into single combined

service. Most of the global

organizations perceive blended

learning environments as the solution

to provide the learners the vastness

of content, diverse style and thefastness of access to information and

knowledge

Blended Learning Offers:

o Social benefits from classroom training, focusing on learning that gains the most

from face-to-face interaction.

o Individualization benefits of self-paced, online learning for content that requires

minimum interaction.

o

Cost savings through minimizing the time away from the job andtravel/classroom/instructor expenses.

o Improved retention and reinforcement through follow-up mechanisms on the Web.

o Greater flexibility to meet the different learning styles and levels of the audience.

Challenges of Blended Learning

o Though organizations have blended learning solutions, they lack a clearly defined

strategy of implementing them for their particular needs.

o Organizations lack an evaluation technique for tracking the progress of completion

of tasks across various learning modalities within a single program.




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o The organizations need a clear cut strategy to make a smooth migration from the

traditional methods to blended approaches of learning.

o The organizations are always sceptical of migrating to a new learning technology

being wary of losing the existing comfort level (The Herridge Group, 2002).

What needs to be done

Develop a robust strategy for implementing blended approach.

Formulate tactical evaluation techniques to determine the existing platform’s

resilience to adapt and deliver blended learning. Determine and carry out a pilot study, beforehand, to know how the implementation

of blended learning might affect the learning process of the employees and their

overall performance.

Ensure that the transition does not impact the satisfaction levels of the learners and

the facilitators (The Herridge Group, 2002).

Open Source Tools




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At present, according to an estimation there than 40 vendors of open source LMS products

(few of the most renowned are Moodle, ILIAS, eduplone, Claroline and SAKAI). Most of these open source learning tools have their own extensive developer base and

dedicated communities and their effectiveness pose strong candidacy as alternatives to the

existing expensive commercial learning products. Some of the characteristics that are in

support of making a verdict regarding an Open Source learning applications are associated

to cost savings, stability, performance and access to code.

Moreover, for ensuring that users in the near future as well as the longer term have access

to the best available applications, these Open Source software applications should be built

on open standards (Carabaneanu, Trandafir and Mierlus-Mazilu, 2010).

E-learning versus instructor led training

E-learning is often compared to traditional class-room training or instructor-led training.

To make the case, advantages and disadvantages of the two are often compared.

However, it is not possible to plead against one or the other, rather to examine each

learning situation carefully and evaluate which method is best to be used, or even more

interesting to work towards a blend of both methods.

Instructor led training

Instructor led training is the classical formula of a teacher in front of a classroom full of

students. This method has proven its value over many years, and this way of training is

certainly not becoming obsolete.

There are however a number of (new) circumstances and trends where this traditional way

of training runs into problems:




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• Distance: the strength of a classroom-based training is the intense interaction

between the instructor and the students. But bringing together the people costs

time and money. In the growing competitive market situation, these costs are

often no longer justified.

• Audience size and response time: a traditional classroom-training requires an

instructor, and infrastructure. This is needed for a large group of students, but

also for a small group of students. In this last case, the traditional instructor-led

training is not an efficient solution.

Even with an infrastructure and teacher at hand, the traditional training methods

require some planning: planning of resources, of infrastructure, bookings for

hotels, it is often difficult, maybe impossible to set up training ‘now’,immediately when the training needs are there.

• Off-the-job time: Employees attending classroom training are off their jobs. In

some cases, additional personnel are necessary to replace people participating in

training. In the worst case, there are no replacement personnel and business

might be lost.

It could be argued therefore, to leave the path of traditional classroom training, to reduce

the extra costs of this training and replace the instructor led training by e-learning

altogether.

However, e-learning is not a cheap alternative for ILT. It should be seen as a system enabling

the building of capabilities across the enterprise. It should be the backbone of how a

company thinks together. If cost reduction is the only objective, then the results of e-

learning might be rather poor. E-learning is best used as one of the assets to create and

sustain a strategic advantage.

Research supports the intuitively appeal of technology based instruction. The speed with

which individuals can progress through instructions varies by factors of three to seven,

even in classes with carefully selected students.

On average, a student in a classroom asks about 0.1 questions an hour. In individual

tutoring, students may ask or be required to answer as many as 120 questions in an hour.

The dilemma presented by individually tailored instruction is that it combines an

instructional imperative with economic impossibility. With few exceptions, one instructorfor every student is not affordable. Instructional technology promises to provide most of




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the advantages of individualized instruction at affordable cost while maintaining

consistent, measurable, high-quality content.

Major Learning Tools in Current Practice

In current practice, organizations along with their in-house global learning systems also

use various web 2.0, social networking, VoIP tools for virtual learning and training across the

length and breadth of the organizational structure. However, each of these tools has its own

share of challenges, strengths and weaknesses. Some of these aspects of the major tools in

practice are shown below (Mason and Rennie, 2008):




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Why does e-learning matter?

As the industrial era gave way to information era, employees must now have critical

thinking skills to identify process improvements, works as a team, change processes,

products, tools and more. The average employee switches jobs many times, more thanseven times is said to be probable. The need to learn new information (in its broadest sense)

is unlikely to decrease. In this new knowledge based economy, the gap between the existing

knowledge of employees and what is necessary to know is growing day by day.

However, with the growth of the internet, online education is accessible to more people

than ever: people in corporations, schools and universities, government and other sectors

profit from its growth.

Drivers

In this information age, some drivers push e-learning technologies to the foreground. These

drivers, enabling and pushing e-learning to companies indicate that the future will be about

acquiring and acting on knowledge. As creating knowledge is the context for learning, the

two will merge. Not only will companies focus on learning management, to centralize and

strategically employ the benefits of their skills, they will also focus on their knowledge

management. In the process of converting implicit knowledge (know-how) and experience

into explicit knowledge (knowledge that can be shared with others, diffused within groups),

new, actionable knowledge needs to be created.

Marc Rosenberg states it as follows: “Providing access to information that contains the

collective wisdom of the company can be a powerful adjunct to training. So when we have a

learning need that requires instruction, we use training, and where there is a learning need

that more appropriately requires information, we can use knowledge management.”

The knowledge based economy

Information is everywhere, overwhelming us and difficult to find when we need to use it.

However, what is done with information is more and more important for organizations.

Knowledge about customers drives the product development of an organization. Knowledgeand experience differentiates one organization from its competitors, but only if the

organization is quick enough to take the advantage.

A shortage of skilled workers

Acquiring and keeping good and qualified people is harder than ever. Organizations have to

alter the way they look at employment, culture and benefits. Not only will employees

demand a clear career development, only organizations that will succeed in satisfying their

employees need for knowledge will succeed in the growing markets.

Technology as enabler and driver of the economy




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No matter what function an employee has, he or she has become in the first place a

knowledge worker. The information technology and telecommunications which are used on

a daily basis are driving the need for e-learning and at the same time creating the means to

accomplish it.

The corporate university

If knowledge becomes a corporate asset, then learning and training becomes a strategic

initiative and a corporate advantage. Corporate universities are not only a training aid for

employees, they are becoming profit centres, responsible for training ‘a corporate’s

complete ecosystem’ or customers, partners, channel partners and suppliers. Walter Baets

states is as follows: “More and more companies are starting their own (virtual) corporate

university. The accent is put on an integrated curriculum focusing on skills and

competencies, and closely related to company knowledge management.”

The global economy

As employees around the world work either at home or at the office, learning resources and

knowledge databases must be available 24 hours a day to cover every time zone.

Time-to-market

The time companies have to take their products and services to the market has been

drastically reduced. New product introductions, training in new technology, on-demand

tasks or skills references becomes a key asset in order to meet the organization’s objectives.

Cost savings

According to researches, corporations may save from 50 up to 70 % when replacing

traditional instructor led training with alternative electronic delivery.

Need for flexibility

When changes happen faster and faster, making a company flexible in every aspect is the

only way to survive.

Multidisciplinary operational excellence

Excellence in all processes and projects is necessary to compete in the current market.

Innovation

Constant innovation has to be driven from within the company, empowered by the

employees. The question on everyone’s mind should be: How can we do this better?

Worldwide competition




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In a global market, not only the market has grown, also the number of competitors has

grown exponentially. New strategies, differentiating an organization from another becomes

more important in the growing market.

Why use e-learning

Advantages of e-learning

o Flexibility, accessibility, convenience: Users are able to proceed through a program at

their own pace and at their own pace. Users can access an e-learning course anytime,

anywhere, and learn only as much as they need.

o Cross-platform: E-learning can be accessed by Web browsing software on any platform.

A training program can be delivered to any machine over the internet or intranet

without having to author a program for each platform.

o Browser software and internet are widely available: Most computers have access to a

browser, are connected to the organization’s intranet or the internet.

o Inexpensive worldwide distribution: There is no need for a separate distribution

mechanism.

o Ease of updating information: if changes need to be made to a program or

courseware after the first implementation, these changes are made on the servers

storing the program or courseware. Everyone worldwide can instantly access the

update of information.

o Travel costs and time savings: there are no travel costs for bringing remote

employees to a centralized workshop.




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o Training efficiency is increasing significantly . Not only from a qualitative

standpoint (i.e. pedagogical by the use of a new method, personalization, learner

autonomy, memorization and follow-up, operational by learning by opportunity and

the speed of the learning updates, and organizational by creation of knowledge sharing

community) but also from a quantitative standpoint (i.e. learning elapse decreases,learning cost may be reduced and learning effectiveness is increasing).




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In the paper Six Steps to implementing E-learning, some other key benefits are summed up:

No need for travel

• Alternative training mode from offsite personnel.

• Instructors are not held by geographic boundaries.

• More students can view a presentation at once.

Shorter Development Cycles

• Faster delivery of appropriate training to applicable staff members.

• Higher rates of student completion than found in self -paced training.

• A more efficient mode of offering penetrat ing data.

• Flexibility to modify or change content and to make it accessible on demand.

Cost Savings for the Corporation

• Reduction of internal training costs.

• Reduced time away from work for participants.

• Students retain knowledge better.

• LMS prov ides a tool for optimum intercommunication and data compilation.

• Dramatically reduce travel costs.

• Flat fee pricing structures give organizations unlimited access to training for one

year .

Disadvantages of e-learning

• Bandwidth limitations . Limited bandwidth means slower performance forsound, video and intensive graphics, causing long waits for download that can affect

the ease of the learning process. Future technologies will solve the problem

however.

• Loss of human contact . There is a general concern that as we move towards more

computer usage, a terminal will replace a friendly face. Gradual introduction of e-

learning or the use of blended learning may be the answer to this concern.




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• E-learning programs are too static . The level of interactivity is often too limited.

• E-learning systems take more time and more money to develop then

expected . This is indeed the case, as it is with any new technology that is

implemented. It is easier by starting with an easy program and building on success.

• Not all courses are delivered well by computer . Some training topics are not

best served by computer based training and require a more personal touch. Team

building issues and dealing with emotional issues are two examples.

• Quality of learning. Progress in the field of e-learning has been relatively slow

when compared to other ‘fields’. A lot of web-based systems are not better than

systems that were developed 15 years ago. Still, focus is often on how to develop a

lot of courses and not on how to improve the quality of learning.

• Resistance to change. Introducing e-learning initiative in an organization is not an

easy-to-do task. Resistance may be hard to overcome, lack of communication and

commitment from champions within the organization may jeopardize the chances

of a succeeding e-learning initiative.

The value proposition

Before we give a short note on the return on investment of e-learning initiatives, we give a

brief overview of the market statistics for the next years. It is said that training services,such as system integration, needs assessment, hosting, maintenance and online mentoring

will grow by 111 % by 2003.

Furthermore, the services are expected to double their current market share reaching 36%

by 2003. The delivery technologies such as LMS, authoring tools etc are expected to grow by

80%. In Europe, e-learning profits are expected to exceed € 350 million by 2004.

Cost/benefits of e-learning

Because the figure of the return on investment is based on a purely, quantitative approachof an initiative, the figure may often be disappointing, because the most impressive results

of an e-learning project are often to be found in more ‘softer’ criteria.

Often, organisations are recommended to make cost/benefits analysis, using four

categories:




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• Hard cost savings, which include travel and lodging costs, on facilities, instructor

fees, printing, distribution and storage costs which may be reduced.

• Hard revenue impacts , including the opportunity costs of not having adequately

trained personnel, the increased productive time on the job, a shorter time to

deployment of a new product or service, the increasing sales effectiveness of

selling partners and an increased revenue by introducing training ‘for fees’.

• Soft competitive benefits: knowledge transfer is more accessible, training delivery is

more consistent, knowledge may be certified on a large scale, expert can now

perform the job, and they do not need to teach classes, morale increases through

equal training capabilities.

• Soft benefits to individuals: which include just-in time activities are available,

employees know ‘where they stand’, which motivates them; learning prioritiesare clearly prioritised; progress is being watched an evaluated positively.

Often these ‘wins’ are quicker and more noticeable on the ‘soft’ scales – for clear indicators

that there is indeed a positive, quantitative result, a long term vision is needed when

planning and starting an e-learning initiative.

ADL suggests that technology based instruction (of which e-learning may be considered a

sub-part) may reduces costs of achieving a wide range of instructional objectives by 30 to60 percent. The time to achieve instructional objectives would be reduced by 30 percent

and student skills and knowledge would increase by 30 percent.

Furthermore, ADL claims that when using sharable content objects, investment costs may

be reduced by 50 to 80 per cent. Therefore, however, the sharable content objects must

meet the following requirements:

• Durable: the objects do not require modification as versions of system software

change.

• Interoperable: the objects operate across a wide variety of hardware, operating

systems and web browsers.




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• Accessible: the objects can be indexed and found as needed.

• Reusable: the objects can be modified and used by many different development

tools.

As not many tools adhere to these standards yet, it is however difficult to say if these

estimates indeed are correct.

It becomes clear that e-learning does provide opportunities to either save money

(rather in the long term) and to create a learning environment throughout the

organisation, in which knowledge is shared among all employees. whole of an

organisation:

It is indeed correct to state that delivering the right knowledge at the right time to the right

people impacts the

• Executive management: the data to optimise the organisational effectiveness, to simulate

and react to business opportunities is available.

• Finance: the ROI of the training/education investment may be calculated by correlating

learning with the business outcomes.

• Legal : the organisation is in compliance.

• Human resources: the tools are there to manage training, employee development and retention.

• Sales: the product/industry/customer knowledge that correlates to sales successes and

failures is accessible.

• Marketing: brand building is possible based on the quality of the people and the product

• Engineering: the knowledge transfer tools to facilitate innovation and collaboration are

available.

• Training: it is possible to change from a cost to a profit centre.

• Services/support : it is possible to ensure customer satisfaction by having the right

knowledge available.

• Channel management : the time to market may be accelerated by providing instantaneous

global product launches.

• Production: skill gaps and competencies are assessed and closed, making it able to achieve

certification.




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Implementation Approach

When introducing e-learning into an organization, management support is necessary. In

many studies, it is described as the key player for making an e-learning project successful.

Here, we give a brief description of an implementation approach only. In Appendix C, asummarized version of Brandon Hall’s Six Steps Guide to Implementing E-learning is

presented.

After developing a clear vision of what and how e- learning and the organisation’s business

concepts are related, a preparation phase may start. During this preparation phase, it is

important to discover e-learning.

This pilot project reveals probably the do’s and don’t for the organisation. Next a full

implementation phase may take place, during which e-learning will be deployed

throughout the organisation. Finally, the initiative must be supported throughout theorganisation, by delivering and updating content and giving support to the users.

VIRTUAL EDUCATION AROUND THE GLOBESIEMENS

Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. offers a variety of e-learning and e-classes through

Siemens Medical Academy.

IBM Extreme Blue Project Team, conducted during the summer of 2008, in creating avirtual education centre (VEC) in Second Life. The purpose of the VEC is to educate IBM

employees, business partners and customers about products offered by the IBM storage

and server technology organization.

Showcasing this project at the e-Learn conference would provide the team with an

opportunity to demonstrate the VEC, gather valuable feedback and input from researchers

and developers at the conference, and identify future collaboration opportunities.

Online Examples……..

http://www.siemensmedicalacademy.com/

http://www.siemensmedicalacademy.com/




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VIRTUAL EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN

In Pakistan, virtual education is relatively a new concept and it got formal

acceptance with the establishment of the ‘Virtual University of Pakistan’ in 2002.

The virtual university of Pakistan was established by the Government of Pakistan

to provide quality education throughout the country as well as overseas. The

official document of the Virtual University of Pakistan states that its mission is to:

1. Provide world class education at an affordable cost across the length and

breadth of the country through a uniform educational environment without

differentiating between large cities and smaller towns

2. Offer academic programs that are equivalent or better in content and quality

to those offered by leading institutions of higher education in the country.

3. Admit students solely on the basis of their educational qualifications

regardless of race, colour, gender, religion, disabilities, geographical locations or

age.

4. Provide its students with a rich and challenging educational experience that

fosters their personal growth and supports their transition to responsible

adulthood in a rapidly shrinking world.

5. Integrate liberal studies and professional education to give its graduates both

breadth and specialization.

5. To give its graduates education that enables them to comprehend the complexity

and dynamism of contemporary global processes and empowers them to guide

those processes in constructive directions. It provides extended, affordable, quality

higher education to all areas of Pakistan, based on the excellent telecommunication

infrastructure.

It would have a great impact on the socio-economic growth of Pakistan. Renowned

professors and experts in various disciplines from major national universities and

institutions develop the Virtual University courses and deliver lectures to VU

students. They have extensive experience in the field with foreign qualifications.




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The Future

According to Market Data Retrieval (MDR) two thirds of colleges and universities offer long

distance learning courses and the number of institutions offering accredited degrees have

increased to 55%. New varieties of E – Learning have emerged with help and push from

emerging technologies.

Besides distance learning now there is distributed learning. This term describes the

educational experiences of individuals and groups that are distributed over geographies and

cultures using variety of media delivery methods.

This has moved education beyond the classroom to more interactive information by joining

learning and experience together. This is developing into learning communities with their

own focus on various branches, cultures and sub-cultures. It is a mind boggling explosion of

information that is now available with lot of imagination and little effort.

With collaborative tools E – Learning is moving into virtual classes and virtual communities

where the old methods of practice and test have melted into new interactive teaching-

learning methodologies. Tuition on line has taken a new meaning where a varied help is

now available both free and paid for on demand on any subject instantly. This has relieved

pressure both on the teacher and the students.

Future learning is now eLearning: Introduction and Planning - 4 - focusing on learning

beyond the classroom and curriculum. Companies need to upgrade employees by offering

re-training programmes. These are both costly and time consuming. By designing theseprogrammes and content via E – Learning methods both time and money are saved. The

innovative method is also self promoting as it increases the curiosity level of individuals for

self promotion and career enhancements.

In the technical field too doctors and other professionals are getting a fair chance for

keeping abreast of developments and discoveries and even participation in these activities

through interactive delivery processes. Looking further, this being the global market era, the

consumer is being made aware of immense openings, opportunities and bargains through

this method. Medical tourism is one recent example of e-Learning where serious

information and fun have been mixed for delivery of marketing content.




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Conclusion

Virtual education is an emerging concept that uses information and communication

technologies for its delivery. It is an alternate to the formal system of education. It can cater

large students’ body at all academic levels. It is flexible and convenient to the learnersproviding them exposure with emerging technologies.

It is necessary to keep pace with knowledge explosion extending uniform opportunities of

quality education to all segments of the society. It fulfils the students’ need of higher

education at their doorstep. It enhances the performance level of the learners through self-

directed study. It offers need-base, informative and updated courses. Furthermore, it is a

viable source of professional development in knowledge society.

It integrates the nation extending the opportunities of higher education, uniform

curriculum; technology based instructional methodology and equal opportunities of highereducation to all. It develops census about socio-cultural development acting as an agent of

social change. It can collaborate and promote cultural values to keep pace with the changing

world in global village.

Therefore, it can be used in reducing cultural conflicts among societies and nations. In

Pakistan learners do face some problems such as password problems, computer vision

syndrome (CVS), fingers’ joint pain, backache, dizziness & headache and electricity failure.




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How to Design Effective Blended Learning, by Julie Marsh and Paul Drexler, November 2001,

brandon-hall.com.

• Ravet S. & Layte M., Technology - based training – a comprehensive guide to choosing,

implementing, managing, and developing new technologies in training, Gulf Publishing

company, 1998, Houston, Texas.

• www.elearningmag.com – an online magazine about e-learning.

• www.brandon-hall.com – an independent site, providing information about e-learning.

• www.brandonhall.com/public/pdfs/sixstepguidebook.pdf - a six steps guide for implementing an

e-learning environment in your company.

• www.brandonhall.com/public/pdfs/monash_survey.pdf - a survey conducted for an academic

study on how organizations use e-learning.

• www.forbes.com/specialsections/elearning/ – a complete article by Brandon Hall, about the

economic; corporate and e-learners drives behind e-learning; including a benchmark study of best practises.

• www.lakewoodconferences.com/whitepaper1.htm - an online-learning white paper written by

Saul Carliner.

• The Web and distance learning: what is appropriate and what is not, Report of the ITiCSE ’97

Working Group on the Web and Distance Learning.

• www.askintl.com/index.cfm/1,0,852,4797,666,0,html , The Distance Learner’s Bill of Rights, by

Eric Park – Eric Park’s report on user expectations and e-learning.

• knowledge.contentbox.com – a solution’s provider site, with lots of news and articles.

• E -learning solutions, IT Works seminar by Luc Marolt (Anderson).




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• www.elearningmag.com – a site devoted to e-learning containing lots of resources.

• www.brandonhall.com/public/faqs2/faqs2.htm - a list of FAQS concerning e-learning.

• www.brandonhall.com/whitpaponcha?html – a paper describing how to successfully implement

an e-learning initiative (connecting e-learning implementations with change management).

• http://www.alcatel.be/training/customer/whitepaper1.pdf - Learning in the e-world, an Alcatel

whitepaper on e-learning.

• www.brandonhall.com/public/marketguide/marketguide-062101.pdf - an overview of the key market players in the e-learning market.

• www.masie.com – a big player in the e-learning market.

• www.informationweek.com/826/prelearning.htm - a comprehensive article about e-learning in

organisations.

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• ADL – Shareable Content Object Reference Model, version 1.2, The SCORM overview, avialable at

http://www.adlnet.org.

• Enhancing enrollment of employees in e-learning, Jo Honoré, June 2001, Synavant.

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