White Paper
.
Fred Erickson
President & CEO
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc
Table of Contents
What is eLearning? ................................................................................................ 1
Knowledge Capital ............................................................................................... 1
Why do we want eLearning? .............................................................................. 2
eLearning Effectiveness Assessment .................................................................. 3
Learning Styles........................................................................................................ 4
eLearning Types ..................................................................................................... 6
Synchronous eLearning .................................................................................... 6
Asynchronous eLearning .................................................................................. 6
Blended eLearning ............................................................................................ 7
Reusable Learning Objects .................................................................................. 8
eLearning components ........................................................................................ 9
Learning Management System ....................................................................... 9
Content Delivery Servers (CDS) ..................................................................... 10
Content Development/Authoring Tools ....................................................... 10
Content Management Systems (CMS) ........................................................ 11
Community/Collaboration ............................................................................. 11
RLO Repository ................................................................................................. 11
Contribution Repository .................................................................................. 11
Standards .............................................................................................................. 12
Just-in-time Learning ........................................................................................... 12
Distributed eLearning .......................................................................................... 13
The Players ............................................................................................................ 14
Summary ............................................................................................................... 16
eLearning Primer
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
What is
eLearning?
eLearning is the application of technology to improve, supplement or
replace the standard methods of training. eLearning can be done through
many types of media like CDROM, electronic books, or web based tools.
For purposes of this discussion, we will limit the scope to web based tools.
Knowledge
Capital
Knowledge Capital, that intangible commodity held firmly between the ears
of your employees, is rapidly being recognized as the most valuable asset in
business. CFOs worldwide are trying to figure out how to measure and
track knowledge capital as an asset to the company. Learning is the key to
maintenance and growth of knowledge capital within an organization.
A methodology, designed at CFO Magazine's request by Prof. Baruch Lev
of New York University's Stern School of Business, pierces the knowledge
capital veil in more detail. Top companies in 20 industries were ranked
according to their levels of knowledge capital, from a high of $211 billion at
mighty Microsoft Corp., down to $332 million at our smallest knowledgerated company, Adolph Coors Co. At our median company, $21 billion of
knowledge capital amounted to three times book value.
Knowledge Earnings are earnings attributable to knowledge capital.
Knowledge earnings are the portion of normalized earnings over and above
expected earnings attributable to book assets. Knowledge capital represents
the present value of all future knowledge earnings, discounted at an
appropriate rate.
As many companies evolve from the old to the new economy, measuring
knowledge capital will become an increasingly important mission.
"Managing knowledge capital will be critical for organizations to create a
sustainable, competitive advantage," says Harvard University accounting
professor Robert Kaplan. "Today, the long-term success of organizations
comes from their knowledge-based assets--customer relationships;
innovative products and services; operationally excellent processes; the
skills, capabilities, and motivation of their people; and their databases and
information systems. Physical assets may be important, but they are unlikely
to be as effective a competitive weapon as knowledge assets."
Fred Erickson
1
fred@KnowledgeCapitalAlliance.com
eLearning Primer
Why do we want
eLearning?
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
There are many benefits and a few potential downsides to eLearning.
Growth in Knowledge Capital is a result of learning on the part of the
employee. This learning can come from structured training programs
(including eLearning) or skills and knowledge accumulated on the job.
eLearning becomes a very effective way to grow, maintain and measure
Knowledge Capital.
Most companies can justify eLearning on the savings in travel and
instructor costs alone. Most companies spend between 30% and
70% of their overall training costs on travel related expenses (airfare, hotel,
meals, etc.).
In addition to these costs, there is a large opportunity cost associated with
having the personnel out of the business. According to Giga, the same
training course can be accomplished through eLearning in about 50% of
the time of an instructor led training course (ILT). This reduction on time
is typically based on the ability to better structure the learning material and
teaching the learner in a mode which best fits their individual learning style.
What is it worth to have your people back for 50% of the time they would
normally be spending in training (plus the travel time)?
In most companies, training is done best at the headquarters location and
the effectiveness diminishes as the distance from HQ increases. Scheduling
instructors, facilities and students often cause problems for deploying
training to the ‘field’. eLearning can solve many of these problems.
Instructor led classes can be done electronically without the need for travel
and facilities. Many web based training classes can be done by the students
on their own time schedule. eLearning can provide a consistent learning
environment across an extended enterprise.
With eLearning, any number of learners can receive the instruction at the
same time, therefore reducing the amount of time necessary to train staff.
There’s no need to hire multiple instructors to teach classes at different
locations. This can make the personnel across the entire enterprise more
productive in less time.
According to Giga, Cisco has examined it’s return on investment (ROI)
based on a year of e-learning and has the following impressive figures:
Fred Erickson
2
fred@KnowledgeCapitalAlliance.com
eLearning Primer
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com

Training certification costs for ISO 9000 re-certification for one year
decreased from $1.4 million to $16,000 through the creation of an
eLearning course available to all learners.

For every 1,000 e-learners, the company saved $2.4 million in travel,
facility and instructor charges.

Sales training for 8,000 people saved $54.2 million by using e-learning
rather than three weeks of classroom learning.
Cisco believes these figures reflect a conservative estimate of first-year
savings alone - and that total savings could be twice as much.
Critics of eLearning talk primarily about the lack of human interaction in
the traditional classroom environment. There is a lot to be said for the
collaboration between students and teachers and students as an adjunct to
the learning process. Many eLearning companies are attempting to utilize
electronic means to provide some of the same collaboration capabilities.
Chat room and threaded discussions groups are some of the tools used for
this. Some students perceive training to be a benefit for the opportunity to
travel (the guy in Boston in January having the opportunity to go to
Phoenix for a week of training). This is another issue management will be
dealing with to make eLearning effective in their enterprise.
eLearning
Effectiveness
Assessment
Fred Erickson
According to Giga, there are 4 primary levels of assessment, which can be
done for eLearning. The purpose of the assessment is to determine the
actual productivity gains from the learning/training course.

Level 1 - Training evaluation: These learner evaluations need to be built
into the end of the course to understand what the student has learned.
The questions should be insightful to get reactions to the course
content, the instructional design, authenticity, and value of learning.

Level 2 - Testing: This level assesses how much information the learner
gained from the experience. It can be a test, or some kind of an activity.
Results are often part of the learner’s record and are also used by
developers to identify areas of the course for improvement.
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eLearning Primer
Learning Styles
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com

Level 3 - Performance: This is the area that determines if the e-learning
training was effective. It is also the area that is most difficult to assess
because there is never a one-to-one match of learning experience to
performance, since factors other than the training influence
performance. Set up a continuous evaluation procedure to keep
account of work quality, productivity, speed, behavior, certification and
other factors that managers or other supervisors may have noticed.

Level 4 - Business results: Organizations want to know how the
training affects their overall business. Extensive observations, product
evaluations, innovations, tenure, employee attitudes - all difficult to
measure but essential in determining training effectiveness — allow an
organization to make some reasonable conclusions about the business
impact of e-learning.
Forrester Research, in a report dated August 2000 entitled ‘Online Training
Needs a New Course’ has provided research on the retention rates of
learners using different modes of learning. The following graph depicts the
results:
Many eLearning companies are using the results of studies like this to create
eLearning models which can offer better retention rates than comparable
Fred Erickson
4
fred@KnowledgeCapitalAlliance.com
eLearning Primer
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
classroom training. By combining the aspects of ‘seeing & hearing’ through
the use of audio, video and animation, ‘collaboration’ through the use of
chat, threaded discussion groups, audio & video conference and ‘doing’
through the use of simulation models and tools, retention rates of over 90%
may be possible.
This information represents a cross section of learners. Each individual
learner has a unique learning style. It may be possible to determine the
learning style of each learner before they actually participate in the training
course. Through a series of learning modules in different media formats
(text, audio, video, simulation, etc.) and corresponding assessments, the
learning style(s) of the student could be determined and the balance of the
course could be ‘tuned’ for that style.
The following diagram shows a possible methodology to determine the
learning styles of the student. The following steps are depicted:
1) Pre-assessment – The student is tested for existing knowledge
about the subject (which can be any subject of interest to the
learner and not necessarily related to the course content to be
learned).
2) The student is presented with a learning module based on an
abstract.
3) The student is assessed to determine their retained learning on this
topic.
4) The student is presented with a learning module based on an
analogy.
5) The student is assessed to determine their retained learning on this
topic.
6) The student is presented with a learning module based on an
example.
7) The student is assessed to determine their retained learning on this
topic.
8) The student is presented with a learning module based on a
simulation which allows them to ‘do’ whatever is being taught.
9) The student is assessed to determine their retained learning on this
topic.
Fred Erickson
5
fred@KnowledgeCapitalAlliance.com
eLearning Primer
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
10) The results of the individual assessments are tabulated to determine
how the student actually learned the best. This result can then be
passed to the content system which can deliver the balance of the
training in a mode which best fits the learner.
PreAssessment
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Example
Based
Learning
Content
Subject C
Subject C
Assessment
q
q
q
q
q
eLearning Types
Subject A
Assessment
Abstract
Based
Learning
Content
Subject A
Analogy
Based
Learning
Content
Subject B
q
q
q
q
q
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Simulation
Based
Learning
Content
Subject D
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Subject D
Assessment
q
q
q
q
q
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Subject B
Assessment
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Learning
Style
Assessment
Results
To Content
Deployment System
Tune content based
on learning style
Synchronous eLearning
The term ‘synchronous’ refers to events that are synchronized, or
coordinated, in time. Synchronous eLearning is a method to extend the
reach of instructor led training. For synchronous eLearning, the instructor
and students must be together, virtually, at the same time. This can take
many forms. Often it is done via an audio conference call or, in some
cases, a videoconference. Some synchronous eLearning is done in a one-
Asynchronous eLearning
The term ‘asynchronous’ refers to events that are not synchronized, or
coordinated, in time. An asynchronous eLearning course can be created at
any time and taken at any point in time. A Computer Based Training
(CBT) course on CDROM is an example of an asynchronous course. The
‘instructor’ creates the course and the students can take the course at any
time over any time period they desire. Literally thousands of asynchronous
eLearning courses are available via the Internet today. Most of these
courses are focused on Information Technology (IT) skills but a growing
Fred Erickson
6
fred@KnowledgeCapitalAlliance.com
eLearning Primer
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
number of ‘soft skills’ (management, sales, leadership, etc.) is becoming
available. Later generations of these courses are utilizing audio, video and
graphics animation technologies to enhance the learning experience. Many
of the learning platforms have tools to allow collaboration and
communication between students and between students and mentors
(instructors). Chat and threaded discussion groups allow the participants to
simulate the classroom environment to some degree. Some learning
platforms allow the students to contribute to the course content. For
example, the student completing a Java course may be able to contribute a
code example back to the course for future students to use as a reference.
Asynchronous eLearning can provide great value when time and place are
obstacles to effective learning.
Blended eLearning
Blended eLearning is often referred to as the ‘space and place’ model of
learning. Space refers to the Internet or like medium and place refers to the
traditional classroom or virtual classroom. This is an approach to learning
which mixes the best parts of Instructor Led Training (ILT) or synchronous
eLearning and asynchronous eLearning. If the presence or virtual presence
of an instructor can add value to the learning experience, those courses or
modules are taught that way. The balance of the learning experience is
done via asynchronous technology. In a blended environment, the
‘homework’ reading can be more effectively accomplished through an
interactive, multi-media eLearning course. This adds to the overall learning
experience. Many universities are using a blended model for learning. The
Duke Fuqua School of Business CrossContinent MBA program is a great example of this. Scattered over the 20
months of the program, students spend 9 weeks in a classroom. The
balance of the learning is done via asynchronous technology.
Fred Erickson
7
fred@KnowledgeCapitalAlliance.com
eLearning Primer
Reusable
Learning Objects
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
Reusable Learning Objects or RLOs can be simply defined as the smallest
pieces of instruction that can stand alone and still have meaning. Typically,
a RLO is a 5 – 15 minute course module covering 1 specific topic. The
module will typically include:

Module topic or objective

Module dependencies (pre-requisites, etc.)

Pre/post assessment test

Learning content in various media formats (text, audio, video and
graphic/flash)

A tool or simulation, which allows the user to apply the content just
studied

A contribution builder to allow the student to put examples back into
the object (code snippet, simulation result, etc.)

Content specific collaboration to allow all learners of the content to
collaborate and share questions and answers
Each of the above components of the RLO is sometimes called a Reusable
Information Object or RIO. A RIO may be a video clip or a flash
animation file or an assessment test. These objects can be reused to
formulate other RLOs.
RLOs are stored in an Reusable Learning Object Repository. There are
currently no standards for the RLO Repository. Each vendor of RLOs has
built proprietary repositories to contain their unique objects. At some point
in time, the standards bodies will create and publish definitions for the
interface with the repositories to allow the RLOs to exist virtually in
cyberspace and be referenced by the learning system. Many issues need to
be addressed when designing a RLO repository. Content can consist of
many media types (text, audio, video, flash, tools, simulations, etc.). Some
of these files are huge and best stored in a file repository instead of a
database. Smaller objects like text, etc. can best be stored in a database for
quick and easy retrieval.
One of the issues related to RLOs is user interface. If the UI is an integral
part of the RLO, each module of a course could have a different navigation
structure and look & feel. This could be very confusing to the students.
The solution to this problem is to have the RLO adopt the UI of the
content system and just provide the media assets.
Fred Erickson
8
fred@KnowledgeCapitalAlliance.com
eLearning Primer
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
The following drawing depicts a typical RLO.
Module Topic & Objectives
Module Dependencies
Pre & Post
Assessment
Learning Content
Tool or
Simulation
Text
Audio
q
q
q
q
q
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Video
Contribution
Builder
Graphics
Content Specific Collaboration
eLearning
components
eLearning solutions are typically broken down into a few different subsystems:
Learning Management System
The Learning Management System or LMS is the system which manages
the users and content access. Functions of an LMS include:
Fred Erickson

Publish online course catalogs

Automate course registration and e-mail notification.

Report student activity in terms of amount of time spent, scores, areas
that need improvement, average time per topic, proficiency of users in
each topic, change in performance of users as they progress through
the course, etc.

Map employee skills against job skill and competency requirements
through skill gap analysis.
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eLearning Primer
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com

Integrate and communicate with other systems through standard
interfaces to ensure interoperability between the learning management
system and content delivery servers.

Manage courses and student data across departments and the
enterprise.

Integrate with the organization’s other systems including HR, ERP and
financial systems.

Provide content management tools to update curriculum to ensure the
most relevant and timely materials.
Content Delivery Servers (CDS)
Content Delivery Servers allow the delivery of multi-media rich content and
assessments to the learner. Access to the CDS is controlled by the LMS.
The CDS typically tracks detailed course statistics, assessment results and
employee activity at the learning object level, such as time spent on an
activity, number of tries on an assessment question, and courses started and
completed. The LMS will typically only track this information at the course
level. In some systems, the CDS may provide the framework for
navigation, bookmarks, etc. In systems where the content is media rich
(lots of video), multiple video servers are deployed to balance load across
geography. Some of the CDS products allow users to receive the
courseware regardless of the plug-ins available in their browser. Typically,
the audio, video and Flash components are replaced by text if the plug-in is
not available. This is useful in corporate environments where plug-ins are
not allowed. Some systems utilizing streaming video (RealMedia or
Windows Media) utilize multi-bit-rate encoding which allows the video
player to handshake with the server to determine the optimal transfer rate
based, typically, on the line speed (T1, Cable Modem, 28.8K dial up, etc.).
Content Development/Authoring Tools
The content authoring tools allow the courseware developer to create the
actual course syllabus, content, tools and assessments. Many of these are
GUI based systems which allow the creation of custom content without the
need for programming skills. Typically, other standard tools are required to
produce audio, video and animation sequences which are then inserted into
the course module with the authoring tools. MacroMedia Flash is one of
the most widely used technologies in the eLearning area. Very animated,
Fred Erickson
10
fred@KnowledgeCapitalAlliance.com
eLearning Primer
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
enticing presentations can be created with minimal bandwidth
requirements. Flash, however, does require a browser plug-in which creates
difficulty in some corporate environments with strict standards for user
configurations.
Content Management Systems (CMS)
Content Management Systems are just starting to show their faces in the
eLearning world. The purpose of a CMS is to aggregate Reusable Learning
Objects (RLOs) into a course module and complete course. The CMS may
have the responsibility to create the course syllabus from the group of
RLOs selected. This is done by looking at the RLO topics and
dependencies and creating a list of topics in the proper order to meet the
dependency requirements. RLOs can exist in a single physical space
(server) or scattered across virtual space (the Internet). Ideally, the objects
will be referenced and not collected into a single location. This allows the
objects to be updated at the source without the need to distribute the
updated modules to multiple servers.
Community/Collaboration
Community and collaboration is handled in several ways. Some of the LMS
products have chat and threaded discussion groups built in. Some of the
content delivery servers also have this functionality. In the cases where the
functionality doesn’t exist in either, stand alone systems must be
implemented to handle the tasks. There are many ‘off the shelf’ products to
handle these functions. There are also many technologies which can
enhance the community experience. Video conferencing, application
sharing, shared whiteboards, are some examples of the technologies which
may get put to use in building on-line learning communities.
RLO Repository
The RLO Repository is a container for the objects. Please refer to the
above discussion on RLOs for more detail.
Contribution Repository
The Contribution Repository is a place (server) to store the contributions
made by the students back into the course. An example might be the
snippet of Java code written by a Java student which is attached to the
module for the next learner’s benefit.
Fred Erickson
11
fred@KnowledgeCapitalAlliance.com
eLearning Primer
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
Community
LMS
CDS
CMS
Chat, Discussion
Groups
Learning
Management
System
Content
Delivery
Server(s)
Content
Management
System(s)
Registration
Syllabus
Permissions
Video
Reusable
Learning
Object
Integration
Testing
Audio
Tracking
Flash
Workflow
Text
student
student
RLO
Repository
RLO
Repository
Reports
Content
student
Student Contributions
Standards
Contribution Repository
Several standards are emerging in an attempt to create cross platform
interoperability. The intent of these standards is to define the interface
between components of the eLearning environment (LMS to CDS, CDS to
RLO, RLO to RLO, etc.) There are 4 primary standards bodies for
eLearning:

AICC AGR 010 – Aircraft Industry CBT Committee AICC Guidelines
& Recommendations 010 - Web based computer managed instructions

ADL-SCORM - Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative - Sharable
Content Object Reference Model

IMS – IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc.

IEEE LTSC - IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee
A description and comparison of these standards is the subject of a followon whitepaper.
Just-in-time
Learning
Fred Erickson
Asynchronous eLearning has enabled the ability to provide just-in-time
(JIT) learning. Just-in-time learning can be defined as getting just the
learning you need exactly when you need it. With this technology, learning
can be integrated with working instead of being a separate training event.
12
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eLearning Primer
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www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
Imagine the scenario where a computer hardware sales rep has just received
an order for a service offering which he has never entered into the order
management system before. Instead of trying to find a supervisor or peer
who knows how to do this (which ineffectively uses several people’s time),
he pops open a browser window into the JIT Learning system and types
‘service order entry’ into the course module search box. The search result
shows a course module entitled ‘Entering a service order into the order
management system’. Clicking on this link takes him to a 5 minute multimedia course on the entry process and screens. Part of this module is a
simulation of the order entry process which allows the sales rep to
experience the order entry process. JIT learning may happen many times
during the day. Learning is provided when the user needs it to more
effectively perform a job function.
JIT learning can be described as context sensitive help on steroids.
Distributed
eLearning
Fred Erickson
As the adoption of interoperability standards becomes more prevalent
among the eLearning vendors and content providers, the need to have a
single eLearning system is diminished. Most LMS and content providers
offer a hosted solution for their systems. Most of these systems can
handshake with any course which is compliant with one or more of the
standards (typically AICC). A complete eLearning environment can be
created by utilizing a hosted LMS solution which has links to best of breed
content from many content vendors (hosted on their own sites). This
scenario can have many benefits:

The costs of deploying and maintaining an eLearning solution are
eliminated.

The requirement to update the content on your own servers is
eliminated.

The costs to switch vendors for LMS and/or content are greatly
reduced.

The ability to add or remove courseware is enhanced.

The need to be locked into a single content vendor is eliminated.
13
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eLearning Primer
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
Contribution
Repository
Contributions &
Collaboration
Hosted
Knowledge
Community
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
Learners
Learner 1
Content
Content
Learner 2
Authentication &
Content
Hosted
LMS
Hosted
Skill
Soft
Hosted
Smart
Force
Content
Learner 4
Content
Hosted
Pensare
Content
Learner 3
Hosted
Knowledge
Net
Custom
Content
The Players
Fred Erickson
There are literally, hundreds of eLearning vendors. At one time, there was
a fairly clear distinction between the LMS suppliers and the CDS suppliers
and the content providers. Many of the major vendors are expanding their
product sets to include most of the required functionality and courseware in
an attempt to provide an end to end solution for their customers. This list
may be obsolete as soon as it is printed. There is a lot of consolidation
going on in the industry as well as some players who may not be able to get
additional funding to continue their business.
14
fred@KnowledgeCapitalAlliance.com
eLearning Primer
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
Here is a partial list of the players and an attempt to categorize them:
Company
Blackboard
Centra
Category
LMS – Higher Ed
Synchronous
eLearning
Click2Learn
http://www.click2learn.com
LMS
DigitalThink
http://www.digitalthink.com
CDS
Docent
http://www.docent.com
LMS
eMind
http://www.emind.com
Content/CDS
Generation21
http://www.gen21.com
LMS, CDS
GForce
http://www.gforce.com
Learning Portal
InterWise
http://www.interwise.com
Synchronous
eLearning
KnowledgeNet
http://www.knowledgenet.com
Content
KnowledgePlanet http://www.knowledgeplanet.com LMS
Learn2
http://www.learn2.com
Content, CDS
LearnFrame
http://www.learnframe.com
LMS
MindLever
http://www.mindlever.com
LMS
NetG
http://www.netg.com
CDS
Ninth House
http://www.9thhouse.com
CDS
Pensare
http://www.pensare.com
CDS
Placeware
http://www.placeware.com
Synchronous
eLearning
Quisic
http://www.quisic.com
CDS, Content
Saba
http://www.saba.com
LMS
SkillSoft
http://www.skillsoft.com
Content
SmartForce
http://www.smartforce.com
Content, CDS, LMS
Thinq
http://www.thinq.com
LMS
UNext
http://www.unext.com
CDS
WBT Systems
http://www.wbtsystems.com
Synchronous
eLearning
WebCT
http://www.webct.com
LMS – Higher Ed
Webex
http://www.webex.com
Synchronous
eLearning
Fred Erickson
URL
http://www.blackboard.com
http://www.centra.com
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fred@KnowledgeCapitalAlliance.com
eLearning Primer
Summary
Knowledge Capital Alliance, Inc.
www.KnowledgeCaptialAlliance.com
eLearning is still an art. The entire industry is in its infancy. There is a
huge opportunity for both the eLearning vendors and customers to
radically change the world of education. Since reading typically yields a
10% content retention rate, text books in school will become a thing of the
past. In the future, students will split their time between instructor led
training (physical or virtual classrooms) and their ‘homework’ which will
involve some form of asynchronous eLearning to replace the current text
books. Time to accomplish the homework will be reduced by 50% or
greater with a 70% increase in retention rate. The opportunity exists to take
a 4 year college program to 2 years or less and increase the overall
effectiveness.
Just in time corporate education will allow for the increase in knowledge
capital across the enterprise. Workers will have the opportunity to learn
new things to help them in their jobs, several times each day. As this
happens, there will be a measurable increase in the knowledge assets of the
company. These new knowledge assets will yield increased knowledge
earnings which translate to a much stronger bottom line for the company.
eLearning as a business is growing rapidly. Unlike the recent dot com
debacle, eLearning is growing on a very sound business model. eLearning
helps everyone. People can learn faster and more efficiently. Companies
can reduce costs and increase profits. With this ‘real-world’ business
model, eLearning will continue to grow and have a significant positive
impact on the world.
Fred Erickson
16
fred@KnowledgeCapitalAlliance.com