E-Tips

E-Everything: A Crash Course

If you are like me, you are hearing a lot these days about how the internet is changing business in all sectors of the economy. Changes are happening right now, and at lightening speed. The implications are: get on board, or get left behind. The internet is driving down prices, increasing speed of delivery, and making a lot of money for somebody, somewhere. It is all more than a little confusing and intimidating.

Recently, I attended a conference titled "The Promise of E-commerce" sponsored by ISA, Instructional Systems Association. A number of nationally recognized experts presented workshops on web-based learning and E-commerce. For this month's e-tip, I want to share a few ideas I took away from the conference. Hope this brings some clarity.

E-Learning

• The Blend Trend
  Some companies are finding that the best approach involves what has been called, the "blend trend." With this model, instructor led training is followed up with a web based program.



• Technical Skills vs. "Soft Skills."
  E-learning works for technical skills training, but not for soft skills training. Instructor led programs work better for soft skills training.



• Preference for Instructors
  In one world-wide study, 90% of people surveyed preferred instructor-led training.



• Low Usage
  Companies that install e-learning sites on their intranets as a resource for employees have found that few people take advantage of these educational programs.



• Low $ Return
  One small training company reported spending $30,000 developing a rich educational site, only to receive less than $1,000 in revenue.



• Make it Mandatory
  With internal corporate e-learning programs, only mandated initiatives work. For example, one company required their salespeople to take an on-line course, and pass a test at the end. They said simply, you must pass this course before you can receive your next commission check. Guess what? There was 100% compliance.



• Historical Trend
  Technical training has a long history of automated instructional formats: audio tapes, interactive video, CDROM, and now, e-learning.
  

E-commerce

Research:

• Before developing web-based commerce, it is critical to get a composite of your typical users. Find out what they come for and make it easy for them to get it. One poor example was a car company that kept it's advertising slogan prominent on every page, but made it hard for visitors to learn how to order parts.

Speed

• The promise of internet commerce is speed, but one study showed that ordering on line takes the same time as ordering via an 800 number.
• Pages must load fast. Visitors will wait about seven seconds for a page to load, then they are gone.

Streaming Video

• Streaming video as an educational tool is not there yet, said one expert at the conference. Well, that all depends. We have partnered with a company called Athenaonline.com to create four streaming video educational segments, and it works very well. Each segment is limited to five minutes. You can see our segments at http://www.athenaonline.com/drgilbert You must have Apple's Quicktime to view these pieces. You can download Quicktime for free at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download

One small training vendor sells about $200 worth of merchandise off his page every day. He reported that people will buy hard products like books and tapes on line, but not intellectual property of educational value.

So, what can we make of all this? Perhaps it is the paradoxical advice that in the age of internet speed, go slow. The jury is still out on e-learning. There is lots of hype flying around. In a down economy, e-learning looks very economical, yet it must be planned well. Perhaps the "blend trend" is the way to go. Think of soft skill e-learning as an adjunct to instructor-led training.

The results seem clearer for e-commerce. People will buy off the web, but you must know your audience and make it easy for your customers to buy.