Member Article

Why is the training sector so unwilling to embrace online learning?

We do pretty much everything we need to do online, but is online learning being ignored by those who could make the most of it?

As a society, we have become almost entirely reliant on our devices to get anything done. We conduct our social relationships online, shop online, we watch TV online - it genuinely seems like there’s little real-life experience which can’t be replicated through a screen. There does appear to be one holdout, though - the education and training sectors are reluctant to take too much of their resources outside of the traditional bases.

The Open University aside - as of last year it was the largest academic institution in the UK - remote learning is something which lecturers and professors are entirely reluctant to adopt. Online resources are creeping into college and university syllabi but, on the whole, e- learning is frowned upon. So what have faculties got against it?

The drawbacks of online learning

According to a Quartz survey, less than 30% of higher education professors in the United States support online education. While the materials are interactive, the inability to directly communicate with a teacher in real-time has led some to criticise the impersonal nature ofthis form of training.

Of course, much of this may be down to the existing habits of both students and staff, and a mutual understanding between the two may be necessary for real progress to be made. As one digital learning dean told the Financial Times, “Students on our degree programmes grew up with Google…but the very best way of learning the art and science of management and business will always include face-to- face interaction in a community of the curious.”

Likewise, Activia Training concedes that using e-resources as a small-scale training tool can be financially beneficial to businesses. However, when it comes to developing new lifelong skills which apply company-wide, their belief is that these are always best-presented in a conventional, more formal classroom context.

E-learning - to be feared or accepted?

Speaking to the New York Times last month, Randall Stephenson, the CEO of AT&T, said that “People who do not spend five to ten hours a week in online learning will obsoletethemselves with the technology.” However, this is as much a task for management to keep on top of as it is for their employees. “Preparing people for change,” the Harvard Business Review noted recently, “isn’t only the job of universities.”

The media has already drawn attention to how higher education is making use of socialmedia as a tool for online learning - though the Association of Colleges have given somesensible suggestions on how best to use sites like Facebook as a teaching professional. As e-learning becomes more frequently-used by major establishments - both in education and the workplace - the arguments against its use seem to be losing traction, despite the misgivings of the old guard.

Particularly in the training sector, keeping up to date with best practice is essential, so not having to rely on outmoded course materials can greatly improve knowledge in the workplace. Online learning resources do have undeniable benefit. and the speed with a training course or syllabus can be updated can provide a responsive, living-and- breathing education.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Caitlyn Stevens .