As West Virginia moves forward, it has the opportunity to use technology to its advantage.  The Internet and its various applications allow West Virginians to connect to each other and with people all around the world.  Never has this interconnectivity been so fast, easy or inexpensive. 

One of the most exciting technological areas as it pertains to our state is e-Learning.  This term can apply to a whole host of functions, from major business training programs to the use of a slide presentation during a lecture to even a simple Internet search. 

Here we’ll focus on e-Learning as it can help businesses and organizations in three specific areas: learning, training and certification/evaluation.  First, though, some background on the industry. 

e-Learning has grown exponentially over the last few years, particularly in its business uses.  Corporations and organizations turn to it because e-Learning allows them to find relevant information quickly, often on an individual basis.   

Jeff James, Director of Enterprise Relationship Marketing for Microsoft Corporation (www.microsoft.com/executivecircle) and a West Virginia native, sums up its popularity.  “Today's e-learning is typically more convenient, more accessible and less costly than traditional classroom-style education or training models.” 

While cost efficiency has always been and remains a strong selling point for e-Learning, its value propositions have changed as the industry has moved past its infancy.

“Much of e-Learning’s popularity stems from the opportunities it presents companies and the increases in productivity it often provides,” says Lee Kraus, Senior Vice President for Information Research Corporation (www.irc-wv.com), a company specializing in IT and e-Learning with locations in Weston and Fairmont. 

So how can e-Learning specifically help West Virginia businesses?  Let’s start with learning. 

Learning Made Easy

Not too long ago, continuing education meant attending conferences or going back to school.   

Conferences were, at least from my observations, most often selected not on material covered, but rather by location.  At the lower ends of the corporate ladder, the conference had to be geographically close.  At the top, it seemed that more exotic locales—preferably of interest to the boss’ spouse—were winners. 

Fast forward to 2007.  Information from one physical location can be transported instantaneously to the opposite end of the earth if need be.  Webinars (short for web seminar), for example, allow people to connect over standard Internet and telephone connections.   

Let’s say you have an office in Princeton and there’s an expert you need to speak with in Wellsburg.  A simple phone conversation won’t work because you have to look at charts and graphs to understand what she’s saying and you don’t want to devote nine hours to a commute.   

Instead, you can share information real-time when it’s convenient for both of you.  Connect simultaneously via a Webinar (or upload information to a Web site or blog) and telephone to see each other’s visual aids while talking.  Add Web cameras and you’re staring face to face. 

The educational aspect of e-Learning really hit the mainstream with the surging popularity of online schools like Phoenix.  Today, brick and mortar schools have noticed the success and are creating their own online programs, or in some cases, entire online entities.  Count both West Virginia University (elearn.wvu.edu) and Marshall University (www.marshall.edu/muonline) among these schools. 

As more and more people utilize e-Learning for their education, you’ll see social networking transform how e-Learning operates.  Both Kraus and James independently pointed to social networking as one of the biggest expected changes for the industry. 

According to James, “We’ll see more of the social dynamic in e-Learning, where the community will contribute a lot of the content, or modify the existing content and add their own to make a richer, stickier learning environment.  We’ll begin to see students building their own curriculum by piecing together portions of content from different sources into their own self-designed learning programs.” 

Kraus explained that e-Learners are beginning to “actually participate in the creation and teaching of materials to one another, rather than just reading and listening to what is assigned.” 

He also was quick to point out that the instructor’s role will not diminish in the e-Learning environment, although it will change.  “The instructor’s role is no longer one of disseminating facts.  They need to evaluate, facilitate and adapt.  Their role will still be extremely important as they add context to content, which can be done through blogs, emails and other electronic means.” 

Training Made Easy

Training via e-Learning shows particular promise with companies of all sizes.  The advantages are particularly easy to see with corporations needing to train large numbers of employees at the same time.  It’s efficient in training new hires, assimilating merged employees into new systems and in keeping people abreast of changes in laws. 

Training through e-Learning can increase efficiency for smaller companies as well.  I remember an online sexual harassment course that a previous employer of mine required all persons in supervisory or greater roles to complete.  This amounted to fewer than 20 workers. 

Located on a secure Web site, we could take it at work or on our own time at home.  We were tested on all the material we read in each module and had to achieve a certain score in order to pass and avoid further training or adverse consequences.   

The benefits were great for me—I could learn when my schedule permitted, pausing and resuming at any point.  My employer benefited perhaps even more.  Learning was standardized; they did not have to remove all higher-level employees from work at the same time, threatening productivity or forcing overtime; and they had easy access to third-party records showing our company’s compliance with existing laws. 

As e-Learning evolves, you’ll see companies being able to take advantage of this training quickly, on an as-needed or “just in time” basis, as James calls it.  “Instead of being asked to spend a few hours online going through a structured ‘class,’ you’ll have the ability to tap into quick learning mini-modules that help you learn it and apply it while you’re still in your normal flow of work.” 

This type of tailored information will be vitally important for organizations of all sizes, especially smaller companies, for whom large, custom training programs can be prohibitively expensive. 

Certification & Evaluation Made Easy

Just as a business wants an employee to learn information and be trained in specific areas, certification and evaluation of the employee’s knowledge is important. 

e-Learning makes both evaluation and certification easy in many cases, especially as it has become better at defining and assessing metrics.  Many e-Learning professionals can now function as independent auditors and will offer certification on which they put their stamp of approval. 

Allow me one more personal example.  When I moved back to Wheeling from Los Angeles, I founded an Internet marketing company.  I already possessed a great deal of working knowledge about search engines, Web sites and the like.  Expanding my and my staff’s knowledge—crucial in this industry—was very important for me.   

Beyond learning and training, certification and evaluation were also vital.  Evaluation would allow me to know that my staff truly learned skills crucial to serving our clients.  Independent certification would allow us to gain the confidence of potential clients.   

Fortunately, there are a few good organizations out there that both educate well and lend credibility, none of which have offices anywhere near Wheeling.  Their locations don’t matter, though, because of the Internet. 

e-Learning and West Virginia

West Virginia can really take advantage of all that e-Learning has to offer in two important ways.  The more apparent is how businesses can save time and money by not having to send employees across or out of state for learning, training and certification.  All that can be done from the office without disrupting work flows. 

The second opportunity comes in the form of keeping, bringing back and attracting new knowledge workers and companies.  We all know the benefits that our state provides—natural beauty, cheap energy, abundant water, low crime, plentiful family activities and on and on. In the traditional learning world, these benefits would not have been strong enough incentive to foster large corporate training centers.  Offices near large cities would be crucial to their success.  Today, however thanks to the Internet, these persons and organizations can thrive anywhere in the world.  Why not West Virginia?