The transfer of training with eLearning [1]

Boring lectures, lack of meaningful content in e-learning, training that doesnt give employees the opportunity to practice and receive feedbackall demotivate trainees and make it difficult for them to learn and use what they learned on the job. However, many companies are using innovative instructional methods to make training more interesting and to help trainees learn and apply it to their work.

At PNC Financial Services Group, PNC University provided web-based training to all its employees to aid in the conversion to a new HR system. The training was customized to the employee role and organization within the company to ensure that it was relevant and meaningful. An online help feature allowed employees to use their preferred method of learning through one of four approaches: See it! Try it! Do it! or Print it! See it! provided a short instructional video showing how a task is completed. Try it! let employees practice entering transactions with coaching, in a simulated version of the system. Do it! allowed employees to enter transactions in the live system with a Help coaching tool, going through the task step by step. Print it! allowed employees to print step-by-step procedures for completing transactions.

Feedback about a e-learning program at Mindtree Limited, a global information technology solutions company, suggested that trainees were not transferring learning to the job. The program was redesigned to ensure that employees would learn skills such as analyzing the impact of change and how to successfully integrate, review, and resolve coding problems.

The new program includes four phases, each with clear objectives and expected outcomes. Trainees are actively involved in learning through the use of project simulations in which they work in teams, under the supervision of a more experienced technical employee, to fix defects, address change requests, and implement new features. Trainees are evaluated and provided feedback throughout the program on their analysis, design, coding, and documentation skills, turnaround time, and collaboration skills

Questions:

1. Make a distinction between what is learning and what is learned dealing with e-learning trainings

1. Do you think and answer if e-learning and learning can be applied under the same conditions today ?

1. Discuss two main disadvantages of eLearning from your perceptive?