Trends in E - Learning

Based on research from the Gartner Group, the University of Pennsylvania, and other prestigious think tanks, we can identify ten vital trends that will influence the growth of e-learning over the next ten years.

1. Application Service Providers offer more quick start options. Governments, companies, and learning institutions that don't want to reinvent the wheel can lease or purchase turnkey e-learning systems. As e-learning processes become more standardized, clients benefit from shared research and development expenses, lower costs, and fast deployment. Even organizations on low budgets can implement open source e-learning platforms like Moodle on third party servers in a matter of hours.

2. Companies integrate e-learning into their infrastructure. As more organizations deploy departmental or company-wide intranets to increase communication and productivity, savvy managers use the same tools to release e-learning programs into the wild. Professional development directors can easily integrate learning modules into staff communications, while human resources directors can add similar tools to web-based benefits and payroll systems. Not only does this emphasis on learning encourage workers to participate in more training, the modular nature of e-learning content allows employees to learn at their desks in smaller chunks.

3. Churning skill sets require e-learning initiatives. With job descriptions and daily tasks evolving faster than schools can produce qualified job candidates, many employers rely on constant, on-the-job training to remain competitive. E-learning programs help companies push new skills and critical improvements to line-level staff members quickly and efficiently, without the lag time of classroom or retreat-based training.

4. E-Learning cuts the cost of high quality content. Ivy League institutions like the University of Pennsylvania once traded on their exclusivity to justify the high cost of enrollment. Today, even the Wharton School of Business understands the value of repurposing classroom content for distance learners around the country. By developing classrooms without walls, e-learning programs can reduce the costs of participation without negatively affecting the compensation for renowned lecturers, researchers, and presenters.

5. E-Learning levels professional playing field around the world. Workers in niche industries once had to travel to specialized learning centers to discover the best practices in their field. Today, e-learning connects students in rural communities to urban experts, and vice versa. We are only starting to see the effects that quality education is having on business and industry in developing countries. Likewise, small businesses can access the same caliber of high-level information and insight that was once only available to Fortune 500 companies with large human resources budgets.