Most people, firms or Companies, when in need of
coaching or training either go to College, School, or conduct in house training
classes or they use manuals and self-study guides.In some conditions
however it is advantageous to use Web-Based coaching and training or different sorts
of e-learning rather than the traditional
standard coaching.
Questions that
could be asked regarding this are:
- What are the advantages of E-Learning?
- Are there any disadvantages?
- How one can make the decision?
This
article will help you to seek answers for these questions by going
through the advantages and disadvantages of using e-learning as a training
option.
What are the advantages of eLearning?
E-Learning has
advantages over on campus studies for the employees in a company, clients using
a product, or students studying in a school.
These
advantages contain:
E-Learning is better than reading the
manual guides
Many working
people do not have enough motivation to sit down and teach themselves by
reading to them manual guides. Manuals are usually more effective for reference
than for learning. Self-study guides can be a helping factor cannot be a
substitute for a complete learning programme. On the other hand, WBT (Web Based
Training) attracts the student's attention and can even be enjoyable to use. It
absolutely would work better than simply learning from a manual.
Cost-effectiveness
The major
consideration for any training programme is its cost. As the number of people
being qualified increases, it becomes more cost effective to develop in house
training programmes rather than sending out people to have trainings from
classes. Providing online training is especially suitable for the companies
that employee huge number of staff and they need to updates their skills
through further trainings. .
Online Learning is more practical
Additional
condition is when the people to be trained are broadly distributed. Travel time
and costs to send them to a class could be expensive option and sending
trainers to them could not be applied. Getting staff trained online would be
more practical option for the companies under these circumstances.
Standardized
Since different
tutors and instructors have different ways of instruction, all personnel may
not be getting the same level of training. Consistent standards can be
maintained through e-learning. E-Learning assures standardization of training
and content presented. This ensures that the whole experience of training was
equal for all the personnel’s who attended the online course.
What are the disadvantages?
There are some downsides
for using e-learning:
Essential access to a computer
Students should have
access to computers either at their homes, at work, or at
some coaching site where they could have their web based training
through the computer. Generally computer access is not easily
available.
Need access to the Internet
In the case of WBT,
students are also required to have access to the Internet. This can be a
problem for training field personnel who are placed in remote locations where
internet is not available, in this case they might have computers but won't
readily access the Internet for the just-in-time training or guidance.
Must have enough skills for using computer
Personnel need to
get training through e-learning must know how to use computer. At least they
must know how to use a keyboard and a mouse. To the minimum some people are at
least trained for using the WBT system.
Personnel Confrontation
Some people have
fears about using computers, while others hesitate from using any form of
computer communication. They feel that it is very unfriendly and do not want to
go ahead with this form of learning.
The E-Learning System
The e-learning must
be designed in such a way that it is engaging and keeps learners' interest
intact, students' attention is maintained from start to finish. Poorly designed
system on the other hand can cause dullness or even can lead student to confusion
and poor concentration.
Costs Versus value of training
Most of the
decisions for the Businesses are based on potential return-on-investment (ROI).The
businesses decide whether training their personnel and/or customers is a
value-added activity for them and how this training should be conducted. Which
routes should be adopted for this whether or not e-learning
is the best route to take.
Other factors to consider
- Cost and practicality of sending students to class
- Accessibility of computers and literacy of learners
- Development amount against quantity being skilled.
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