Info@CRKI

President Bush declared a war against terrorism and the new villains as he called our military forces into action. He appointed a Director of Homeland Security and traveling through airports became a lot more involved. Our leaders said we should all get on with our lives.

For many of us, this is easier said than done. The travel industry was hit first and is still reeling from the blow. People cancelled meetings, training sessions, vacations, and even family gatherings rather than fly. Many people went into a "nesting" mode and don't want to stray too far from home. Airline and hospitality workers were laid off in huge numbers. Retail sales fell and people stopped their daily routines. Add these items to an already weak US economy, and we have the makings of a full-blown recession.

And yet through all of this, people still have many training requirements. How about your people? How can you deliver them the training they require in these uncertain times when budgets are being cut and people are reluctant to travel?

We believe the Internet can offer part of the solution to the problem. Internet training was gaining popularity prior to September 11th because of the economic considerations. Many of CRKInteractive's clients were already moving to distance learning or "e-Learning" because of the savings that could be realized from fewer overnight stays and the related travel savings. Add to this the appeal to employees of not having to be away from their families and homes and you have a classic "win-win" situation. The company saves money in delivering a training program and the employee doesn't have to travel.

Sound too good to be true? When we were asked four years ago to investigate an e-Learning training delivery for a large computer software client, we were too skeptical. How effective could the training be if people were not physically in the same room? How could we make sure they attended the training and were paying attention when we couldn't see them?

Well we were pleasantly surprised with the results of our initial pilot sessions - and so was our client. Instead of sending people to the headquarters location for a three-day training session, we developed a series of 90-minute online classes. People could log into a session anywhere they had a phone connections for their PC. These sessions were scheduled in advance so people could plan their daily activities around them. The software we used to conduct these sessions allowed us to have live class interactions (via voice and text chat), question and answer sessions, white-boarding, and even the ability to quiz participants on the subjects we covered.

How successful were they? Well, four and a half years later, we're still providing training to their people using an e-Learning learning format with live instructor led sessions over the Internet.

We also convert classroom content into self-paced content for several other clients. This is a significant part of our business and is growing fast. The reasons why are simple enough.

E-Learning is efficient and effective and offers significant savings over traditional classroom training. In addition to the savings companies realize in travel, rental cars, hotel and meals, there is also the advantage of people staying on the job and being more productive. Employee time away from the job continues to be the most expensive component of training costs.

The Education and Training market in general represents over a $770 Billion industry. That's the second largest sector of the U.S. economy, bested only by healthcare. The following chart breaks it down. E-Learning makes up an ever-increasing share of each of these segments.

We are not suggesting that e-Learning will replace traditional classroom training. In fact, we see it as an excellent augmentation to traditional classroom sessions. The industry "buzz-word" for this mixture of training delivery methods is Blended Learning. This is where you combine traditional classroom training, live instructor led Internet training and self-paced training over the web. We can further define blended learning as the convergence of independent and group learning, utilizing two or more learning or distribution methods.

Education and training has many benefits. For most professionals and students, skill enhancement helps to advance careers and improve income potential. E-Learning has many advantages over traditional methods. Some of the obvious ones are: convenience to the learner, the reduction of training costs (up to 70% of training costs involve travel expenses), augmenting the effectiveness of instructors through additional instructional content, and rich selection of materials and subjects. Some of the less obvious reasons can be summarized into three broad categories:

Ubiquity: on the job on the road at home	Availability: 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year	Adaptability: personalization localization multiple methodologies
Promotes collaboration skills	Supports "Just-In-Time-Learning"	Customizable
Tracks with growth of computers, internet, and other electronic devices	Offers solution to learning obsolescence by providing up-to-date skills and information	Useful to enhance unskilled & underskilled workforce
	Complexity of work requires more learning

While different people learn in different ways, in these uncertain times, e-Learning may be the best way to deliver training to your people when they feel the need to stay close to home. We believe it is a great opportunity for companies to see how their people will respond to the advantages of e-Learning.

How do you know if your people are ready for this type of blended learning delivery? Many corporations are being proactive and asking their employees how they feel and what they think. A simple survey with your people can provide management with answers to these questions and open the door for better communications.

The survey doesn't have to be expensive and it makes your people feel they are an important part of your team. When people know their company cares about their feelings and opinions, they often take a greater interest in their work. When people feel their company is concerned about their safety and home life by minimizing the time they have to be away - strong loyalty will develop.

Putting blended learning into practice starts with a good roadmap, based on a variety of factors including: learning objectives, business goals, technology infrastructure, and timeframe. There's no one-size-fits-all blended learning solution. While it is possible to create an entire Blended Learning system from "off the shelf" courses, in general putting blended learning into practice starts with a technology + consulting approach to creating custom blended learning solutions for specific courses for your organization.

We like the survey approach because it asks various questions about your people's current and desired learning needs for the target learning objectives. The survey is submitted to a Blended Learning Specialist (CRKInteractive has several qualified individuals) who analyzes the results and generates a blended learning strategy and implementation plan for those learning objectives. A detailed report with recommendations for implementing a blended solution tailored to the specific needs of the target learning objectives is then generated.

E-Learning technology can make learning more creative and fun while still being manageable. We do not see e-learning as a substitute for educator-led instruction. Instead, we feel e-learning's greatest value is in enhancing the ability of educators to reach diverse audiences and address multiple learning styles. So in these uncertain times, consider using e-Learning as a cost effective and efficient way to keep your people safe and developing their skills. This is not just smart business - it's good common sense.