E-learning chalks up niche - Technology makes splash in corporate world
Morris Richardson II / The Detroit News
Bill Bastian, left, and Joe Bastian of The Learning Architects display online training software that they made for Ford Motor Co.
By Charles E. Ramirez / The Detroit News
LIVONIA--E-learning has caught on with corporate America and it's becoming a big business. E-learning is basically using the Internet or CD-ROMs to educate and train students.
So, does it make the grade?
"That's a complicated question," said Joe Bastian, vice-president of client solutions for The Learning Architects, a e-learning services company in Livonia. Last month, the firm opened the Detroit office to serve automotive companies. Among its clients: DaimlerChrysler AG, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Lear Corp. and Volkswagen of America.
Companies have embraced the technology. Last week, Dale Carnegie Training launched a program to offer its courses online with the help of InfoAlly, an e-learning company based in Troy.
In April, GM launched one of the largest e-learning programs ever. The car company teamed up with UNext, an online education firm based in Deerfield, Ill., to offer 88,000 salaried auto workers in North America online MBA courses starting next quarter.
GM is also part of a corporate e-learning consortium -- which includes Motorola Inc., Northwest Airlines Corp., Pfizer Inc., Chevron Corp., Levi Strauss & Co., and Verizon Communications -- called LearnShare. LearnShare, which is based in Toledo, provides online training to more than 2 million employees at Fortune 500 companies.
Industry observers are predicting the online training and education market will be lucrative. Corporations worldwide are expected to spend more than $23 billion on e-learning by 2004 -- up dramatically from the $2 billion they spent in 1999, according to IDC, the Internet market research firm based in Framingham, Mass. The company also projects North America will account for two-thirds of those dollars.
But, are e-learning programs passing or failing?
Critics say most e-learning programs are boring, ineffective and have a long way to go before they're in the same class as traditional face-to-face instruction.
On the other hand, advocates say e-learning is as good as -- or in some cases, even better than -- good, old-fashioned classroom instruction.
"Just about every study into e-learning is finding that the quality of online education is equivalent to the classroom experience," said Tom Schumann, vice-president of academic affairs for the Michigan Virtual University.
The virtual university, a private, non-profit state organization that offers e-learning programs, was created by Gov. John Engler and the Michigan Jobs Commission in 1998.
"Some say e-learning even allows for deeper interaction between instructors and students," Schumann said.
Lois Webster, general manager of LearnShare, said e-learning also has other advantages over traditional teaching.
"Students are not restricted by a building," she said. "They can learn at their own pace, on their own schedule. Not only that, instructors can teach students all over the world simultaneously."
Despite all of its capabilities, don't look for e-learning to replace the classroom any time soon, though. Experts say e-learning is supplementary to real-world instruction.
"We look at e-learning as a way to reinforce what students get in the classroom," said Jackie Headapohl, a spokeswoman for InfoAlly in Troy. "We use the Internet to deliver a little information every day to students, so what they've learned in the classroom stays fresh in their mind." Bastian agreed.
"E-learning is an educational tool," he said. "It lets hands-on training to be more effective."
You can reach Charles E. Ramirez at (313) 222-2401 or cramirez@detnews.com
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