The Business Case for E-Learning

A Working Definition

Synchronous or Asynchronous?

Comparison with Instructor-led training

The advantages of E-Learning

A Working Definition of E-Learning

Many people think that E-Learning is training over the Internet. Although this is often true, E-Learning can be much more than that, including:

• Training conducted through the Internet

• Training conducted through a local or corporate intranet

• E-Learning can even be saved onto a CD or DVD and viewed by learners off-line through a web browser

• And combinations of the above

The simplest definition is "any form of training that uses a computer network for course delivery, interaction, or facilitation and a browser for learner interaction." As higher bandwidth becomes more common, E-Learning is identified primarily with using the Web, or an intranet's web, to take advantage of the Web's visual environment and interactive nature.

E-Learning is also called distance learning, web-based training, and computer-based training. For this course, we use "e-Learning" and "E-Learning" interchangeably (and, hopefully, consistently!)

The key distinction between "old fashioned" correspondence courses, poorly designed e-Learning, and well designed e-Learning is interactivity. Well designed e-Learning includes many different opportunities for learners to interact with the course software, instructors, and other students. Designing courses with that interactivity is both the art and the magic of good e-Learning.

Click here to continue the discussion about when and where learners will learn on-line.