Trainers, know your place!
London (UK), November 2009 - (by Bob Little) IMC (UK) Learning Ltd has revealed research that looks at the barriers organisations encounter when providing training/learning. It also reveals attitudes towards adopting eLearning tools, as well as organisations' current use of new and emerging technologies for training. The research shows that 83% of respondents agree that enabling employees to learn is very important and say their organisations have defined training systems in place. Some 32%, however, agree that employees have little, if any, time for organised learning as they are too busy working for the survival of the business.
Other findings are:
- 75% of respondents' organisations use or plan to use eLearning tools; while 14% stated that they do not use or plan to use them.
- Externally hosted learning management systems (LMS) (21%) and virtual classroom applications (21%) are used significantly less by respondents' organisations than self hosted LMS (41%), authoring tools (41%), off-the-shelf eLearning content (38%) and discussion forums (45%).
- 42% of respondents highlighted indirect costs of training, such as time off work to train, as a large barrier to increasing training in their organisations; while 30% pointed to the disruption of work patterns.
- Switching from classroom to online learning where appropriate is seen as important for improving training provision by 43% of respondents.
- 46% of respondents believe that online learning helps organisations reduce the overall cost per head of training employees, while 42% agree that online learning introduces flexible learning practices without the loss of employee productivity. Some 42% also believe that appropriate off-the-shelf eLearning content is hard to find.
So, people believe that training/learning is a good thing but business survival comes first. ELearning is a good option, especially if it can be done with minimum disruption to actual work, but appropriate generic eLearning is hard to find. This is further confirmation that yet another generation of trainers and training technologists has failed to convince those who run the business world that training/learning has a direct impact on business competitiveness and results. The research merely affirms that old business maxim: "Trainers, know your place!"
For over 20 years, Bob Little has specialised in writing about, and commentating on, corporate learning - especially elearning - and technology-related subjects. His work has been published in the UK, Continental Europe, the USA and Australia.
You can contact Bob.
