Categorizing Facets of Training

This post is part of a series concerning the differences between traditional classroom learning and online training or “e-Learning” and the various aspects of each.

We talked last post about some of the negative aspects of online training. So how can an eLearning company work around them? Can all of them be mitigated?

Essentially I addressed interaction/collaboration, service issues, and content as three possible weak areas of online training in the last post. I also touched on how they can be alleviated, to some degree. But here, I’d like to get a little more specific.

Interaction and collaboration are probably the hardest aspects of education to replicate in an online environment. I’ve talked in the past about possible methods of accomplishing this, and posed the question, “Do the other benefits of online training outweigh the potential interaction lost by not using a traditional classroom setting?” As I have previously mentioned, this question is at the heart of the debate between eLearning and traditional classroom education. But it may be difficult to understand just how important this question is. It is the “be all, end all” for companies deciding which method of learning to use. You may think that this would be cost, which is true, to a certain degree. But for a company to have a successful training program in the long run, it has to effectively educate students. So, the company must decide whether the cost and other benefits from using eLearning outweigh any potential educational value lost by not using face-to-face learning. Will in-person learning always be a required part of education? Can education effectively take place if it is exclusively online? The debate continues, with no end in sight.

I won’t spend much time on connection and service issues, as I covered them thoroughly enough in the last post. Companies just need to be careful when choosing a provider and providers must be watchful that their services remain intact and secure. Similar problems exist for classroom learning, so I don’t consider this to be a major issue.

Content was also addressed extensively in the last post. The traditional classroom setting and an eLearning environment differ in the ways content is used. In the last post I mentioned that I thought there was greater potential for content on the online side due to the wonders of technology. Certainly this can be applied to classroom training, but I think that it’s much easier to use in an online course.

Although I believe that eLearning has better potential in terms of educational content, I, like many education professionals (of which I am not), am still on the fence about the debate over face-to-face learning versus online training. I think that some training will require in-person interaction for many years to come, possibly forever. As I have talked about in pervious posts, I believe that the best solution is an intuitive blend of live, in-person training with a rich and enthralling eLearning environment.

Well, I didn't provide you with concrete examples. I will devote the next post to them, in order to illustrate the points made in this one and the last one.