In the past couple of weeks I've complained about some questionable e-learning practices. Now I realize I'm ready to declare war. Ready to declare war on ineffective e-learning. Not all elearning, mind you. Just the bad stuff.

In one recent post I spoke out against rapid e-learning being faster and cheaper, at the expense of being better. In another, I warned about turning out courses that don't have enough of a strategic foundation.

But here's the real problem: too many elearning professionals are working from a disadvantage. They're being held responsible for results, but they've either got too little time, too few resources, or too little e-learning experience to be as successful as the wish they could be.

So please, for the moment, allow me to continue to complain on behalf of all elearning professionals. And next week...I promise...we'll start talking about how to win the war against ineffective elearning.

Here's my top five complaints:

1. Missing out on better, by concentrating only on faster and cheaper (read)
   
2. Churning out tactical solutions, without the strategies for ROI (read)
   
3. Designing training without understanding the vision of your customer
4. Continuing to use the page as a measure of learning
5. Expecting learners to be successful, not through practice, but by reading
   

Now, you can check the posts on the first two declarations (click on the list above) but I owe you some explanation on the last three.

The Vision Of Your Customer

Our customers (internal and external) see the world through the prism of their own problems, for the most part. Okay...that's human nature. So why then, do we continue to design e-learning from our point of view, rather than theirs. Why do we put things in terms of what the company needs, or bury important buying information in techno-babble? We need to design and write from the other person's perspective.

The Page As A Measure Of e-Learning

Pages began with books and fliers and newspapers...all methods of communication, for the most part. PowerPoint borrows from that same linear progression of ideas. Why? Okay, for assembly of a complicated widget, sure. But for anything conceptual? Linear is too often an impediment to learning.

Reading, Not Practice

Why do we think reading about something should automatically make it clear. Why would knowledge suffice for experience? The natural way we learn from the time we're born is by doing things. Try. Fail. Try again, fail better. Bad e-learning does not incorporate learning by doing, or practice.

Okay...that's my war on ineffective e-learning. I could actually list a lot more complaints, but let's keep it simple for now, and next week we'll move on to a  solution that we call x-learning.

Please take a look at the work on our site. If you'd like to find out more about what we might do for you, click here.  

It's easy for our jobs to get in the way of what we do. There's so much work to be cranked out! But as always, work should be about quality, not just quantity...and ultimately it has to be about results. We can't afford to put as much time and money into e-learning as we do, if we don't get a good return on our investment.

ROI is the WHY behind strategy. So your first checkpoint on effective e-learning is: are your courses supporting a well articulated strategy? Unfortunately the usual answer is, at best, only a partial "yes".

Check your own experience: is 90% or more of your sales training just product information? Or is it focused on how to sell the right product to the right cusotmer? Too many times, that's not the case. And while sales training is an easy example, we could be talking about any course that's fat on what and lean on how, why and practice.

This post would be way too long if I were going to cover HOW to incorporate strategy. It's more about WHAT you can be doing strategically, to improve both quality and ROI. But I promise, week-after-week in the coming months we will be talking a lot about the HOW-TO of integrating strategy into your courses.

Let's return specifically to sales training as our example for implementing e-learning strategy, allow me to introduce these additional questions:

• Do you understand your customer's point of view and are you training from that direction?
• Are you reusing e-learning content to help customers sell themselves?
• Is part of your effort working to create word of mouth (WOM) in the marketplace?
• And finally, does your e-learning support brand preference that leads to repurchasing?

If it never occurred to you that these strategies should be driving your e-learning efforts, that's okay. But when you're measured on the results of your program, as more and more of us are, this might be just the improvement you've been looking for. See you next week!

Please take a look at the work on our site. If you'd like to find out more about what we might do for you, click here.  

Seems to me that faster and cheaper were the focus of much e-learning in 2009. But NEWS FLASH...faster and cheaper are NOT learning outcomes.

If you believe all the ads and emails, then webinars and converted PowerPoints are the pinnacle of e-learning. And I get it, there are a lot of managers out there who think the results they want are faster and cheaper. But they're taking a short-sighted approach to business outcomes, and while they may be getting communication results, they most certainly aren't getting the learning results that they're looking for.

Most communications are meant to inform employees. But it takes real learning to change behaviors and drive business results. So, in your company, are you just using up resources to inform people...or are you making the kind of investments that literally improve the organization?

Think about your own experience. Isn't this the improvement a webinar makes over instructor lead training? ...no one knows how many phone calls and emails you took care of during the presentation! And when you get online to read page by page in that converted PowerPoint, don't the drag and drop memory exercises make you feel a bit like a chimp in a learning experiment?

I thought e-learning was the next wave. I thought it was a giant improvement over classroom. If that's it, why does so much e-learning seem more like e-reading and e-listening?

In 2010, let's hold off a bit on faster and cheaper, and set our sights on BETTER. Let's take a look at how we can develop immersive simulations and game-like content that:

• Allows learners to explore well-organized content in the order and at the pace of their choosing, rather than being linear.
• Provides a chance to experience new information and concepts in a way that lets them practice, get feedback and learn in a safe environment.
• Focuses on changes in behavior and business results, rather than simply communicating.
  

Please take a look at the work on our site. If you'd like to find out more about what we might do for you, click here.