How Do You Measure e-Learning Initiatives and Results?
When embarking on the journey of e-learning, one of the most important steps is to track, measure, and report the e-learning activity. There are a myriad of items demanding attention, from building curricula through buying or building content, to constructing the infrastructure to make the content available to the intended audience. However, the important data, derived from accurate tracking and the related preparation of strategic and informative reports, drives the engine that supports ongoing improvement of e-learning initiatives, validates the business case, and engenders support for the overall effort. If you have offered classroom learning and tracked data related to those activities, you are very familiar with the type of basic information that is collected. You may assume that much of what was collected and reported on in instructor-led training (ILT) will be applicable to e-learning. You may also assume that you will be able to implement your tracking and reporting strategy quickly and painlessly. As you start the process, it soon becomes clear that while there are some similarities to measuring classroom learning, there is much more that needs to be considered when measuring success with your e-learning strategy.