The Business Case For ELearning [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Internet Learning Applications

Internet learning applications refer to components of an architecture. The applications provide the necessary tools for organizing, delivering, and managing content. The Internet learning applications fall into four broad categories:

Business operations

Content management

Delivery management

Learning management service (LMS)

Dividing the applications into four functional categories offers a framework for understanding their roles. The four functional areas map to the process of conception, development, delivery, and management. The areas also help to delineate roles and responsibilities and enable cross-functional collaboration. A flexible and scalable approach for e-learning allows best-of-breed functionality in each of the categories.

The following discussion offers a checklist of tools, systems, and applications to consider when deploying Internet learning. The discussion also outlines a host of tasks that should be the responsibility of learning managers within the organization's learning and development department. Depending on an organization's preferred business model, the following functions might be outsourced to or shared with other organizations.

Business Operations

Business operations include functions such as assessing needs, justifying costs, ascertaining the feasibility, evaluating results, and formulating instructional plans. From a systems, tools, and applications perspective, business operations should support the following services:

Learner experience

As part of business operations, the learning manager should define requirements for the user experience, such as use of downloads, video on demand, audio files, and simulation items and oversee the effectiveness of Internet learning solutions.

E-learning support

The E-learning support service should encompass all levels of support, including but not limited to learner support in the form of e-mail, an 800 call number, and online answers to frequently asked questions. The service should also provide support for all tools in the other administration and management areas.

Metrics

Metrics should be determined and tracked to evaluate satisfaction, penetration, usage, effectiveness, and relevance; the cost of training, tools, and processes; as well as their compliance with business objectives.

Online help

The online help service should be established to offer assistance for all Internet learning tools and services. It provides users and learners access to solutions for solving their problems themselves.

Security

The security function should ensure that access to applications and content relies on the users' and learners' roles. It also involves exam item integrity and confidentiality of learner performance records. In line with human resource policies within an organization, only supervisors should be allowed to view the employees' performance on online exams and assessments.

Business analysis

A cross-functional reporting tool offers the ability to provide reports on progress, usage, reusability of content, and overall business results for e-learning.

A key of function of business operations is to provide decision input to assess viability and marketability of learning programs. Three critical functions must be addressed under business analytics: gap analysis, return on investment (ROI) analysis, and cost analysis.

Gap analysis

The gap analysis function determines the difference between what learners need and want, as determined by job demands and performance evaluations, and their current knowledge based on assessment results. Data from the gap analysis will cue learning managers into which areas of content development are high priority and which programs are likely to be of most interest to learners.

Cost-benefit analysis

A thorough cost-benefit analysis of a learning program is essential. Even though the learning program may not yield direct benefits for the learning department, its potential impact on the enterprise or its ecosystem should be documented for justification. Although many organizations launch successful Internet learning programs without much formal cost justification, an implicit cost-benefit in those cases might have institutively been evident to senior management.

Cost analysis

The cost analysis function essentially addresses two processes: costing and cost-effectiveness. Costing deals with identifying and adding up the price of each component of a learning program so as to be aware of where and how much money was spent and where was it used. Over a period of time, it provides insights into cost-cutting and innovative changes in the process of how learning programs are created.

Cost-effectiveness of proposed programs, on the other hand, allows comparison of alternative options to help identify the one that might turn out as the most productive for an organization in the long run.

Content Management

Content management as a function should aim to make the development process convenient, consistent, and coherent for developers and learners. Content management involves enabling content providers to register, assemble, manage, and release learning content for delivery. One of the learning manager's key responsibilities should be to ensure that course authoring follows a common structure across the entire organization.

As course offerings increase in number, it is prudent to create content in three-to five-minute increments as reusable learning objects, including text, graphics, assessment items, videos, and executable files. Creating content in small increments permits reuse and repurpose without having to re-create content. If repurposing and reuse is indeed an organization's goal, the authors of the content should follow guidelines to ensure that the learning objects are tagged and described accurately for other authors to take advantage of later. Use of structured learning authoring tools enables the author to assemble these learning objects into a course or lesson offering. In addition to making content available, content management also involves providing access to authoring tools and applications such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft PowerPoint, or other tools.

Following are some of the content development tools, systems, and applications:

Workflow service

Workflow services ensure consistency of development across diverse authors. A workflow service helps to curtail any tendency on the part of authors to engage in scope creepexpanding the scope of the project over time.

Authoring tool

Authoring tool integration enables an author to incorporate past content, created elsewhere using a different tool, into new learning offering.

Registry service

Registry service ensures that the learning objects are tagged for later use and search by other authors. The learning objects are stored in a content storage system in a secure location for reuse and repurpose.

Object mining

Object mining services enable authors to locate learning objects that meet their search criteria.

Assembler services

Assembler services enable the author to drag and drop the desired learning objects from the object mining search result into a learning offering.

Content storage

Content storage services provide all the traditional library services for learning objects, including version control, notifications, history and reporting, and check-in/check-outs.

Content management enables managers to ensure that the development process is streamlined and the process remains efficient. By tracking the process and documenting best practices, learning managers can continually refine the process to meet the needs of the organization.

Delivery Management

When content is ready to publish, the delivery management function determines the best way to deliver it to users. Delivery management services include systems, tools, and applications used to support the following services:

Distribution management services

Business users should set up rules to help define how to manage content distribution. Through proximity management, the requested content is retrieved from the storage device that is closest to the learner. If the content is not retrieved immediately, it can be downloaded overnight for next-day availability.

Content presentation and request broker

When content is requested, dynamic delivery uses the learner's profile and preference to identify matching content. The request broker facilitates the transfer between internal and external applications and directs the learner to prepackaged content or to third-party vendor content, if needed.

Interaction results management

The delivery and distribution system tracks a learner activity while managing content delivery. The system reports those results back to learning management services (LMS) to track the history. The tracking is only temporary because all information pertaining to an individual is kept under the LMS.

The delivery management services make the promise of anytime-anyplace learning a reality for the learner. Through the distribution, presentation, and interaction results management, content becomes accessible to learners according to a predetermined service level.

Learning Management Services

LMS provides the user with the experience and the back-end systems to manage training transactions such as registration and validation. This is where learners access their e-learning environment and where their personalized tracking occurs. LMS manages all interactions here, including navigation, selection of learning offerings, and connection to delivery management services for delivery of learning offerings requested.

Following is a list of functions that LMS offers:

Personalization

The combination of a user's system profile and personal preferences provides the basis for personalizing the user experience and creating dynamically generated, personalized development plans. Profiles contain stored information about the learner, such as job title, organization, and location.

Search

By relying on a virtual repository at the back end, users can search or browse to find or add offerings. When a learner chooses to purchase an offering, the e-commerce capability within the LMS provides the payment functionality. When registration services receives notification of payment authorization, it notifies learner tracking services to add the offering to the learner's plan or marks the product for delivery.

Registration and tracking services

Registration enables learners to access offerings, register, and enroll in the offering from any portal location. A tracking feature tracks a learner's planned learning and progress through e-learning offering by recording the current status and history. Learners can modify their own learning plans, but they cannot modify learning plans proposed by their supervisors.

Assessment

Pre- and post-assessments are integrated with learning content to deliver a comprehensive curriculum that provides feedback to both learners and managers and adds value to the overall learning experience. Pre-assessments enable learners to study only the necessary material for a task at hand, thereby saving valuable time. Post-assessments provide results that are used to track completion status and are a key element for progress reporting.

Manager tools

Managers can access a learning plan or learning history for each of their direct reports. They can approve registration and add to their employees' future learning plans, and review employees' progress for both offerings and the related assessments. The manager tools can be tightly integrated with the corporate performance management system for greater effectiveness and accountability.

Evaluation

Evaluations enable LMS users to provide input for improved business operations or satisfaction with the tools, systems, and applications.

LMS serves as a means of management controls over the learning process. Availability, adoption, level of use, and performance of e-learning can best be assessed through an LMS system.