Administaff - The ABCs of Online Learning

PEO Insider July 2000

The ABCs of Online Learning

By Connie Barnaba

A lot of attention has been directed recently to online learning and its feasibility as a PEO service offering. One way to determine the feasibility is to assess the future need for training. Recent U.S. workforce demographics provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics make a compelling case for businesses of all sizes to begin planning for the ongoing training of employees.

Consider these facts:

The U.S. unemployment rate is at a 30-year low, reported at 3.9 percent in March 2000;
Slow overall population and labor force growth rates are projected for the next 10 years, making an already tight labor market even tighter; and
Technology is raising the skill level requirements for the best and fastest growing jobs, but schools and adult learning programs are not keeping pace with those requirements.

The result? Demand for highly skilled workers will likely outstrip the supply in coming years.

Experts project 60 percent of new jobs in the early 21ST century will require skills possessed by only 20 percent of today’s workforce. These statistics would seem to move training to the list of services in high demand, especially in high-tech industries and businesses that employ professionals and technical workers.

Challenges for Business
What challenges confront small and medium business owners who want to train their workers? Individual business owners attempting to provide training to their workforce face several key challenges. The first is determining the type and amount of training needed to positively impact employee performance. This decision may not be as easy as it first seems if all employees do not need the same skills or if employees with the same skill level requirements have different skill proficiencies. The second challenge is choosing how to provide the training. There are a number of options. They include hiring an in-house training specialist, contracting with a training vendor or consultant to design and deliver customized training in-house, relying on standardized seminars broadly marketed by training vendors, subsidizing the cost of formal training at local community colleges and universities, or some combination of these options. The third obstacle for many business owners is the high cost of training and the difficulty determining whether the value of the training is really worth the investment. When the costs related to training – lost productivity while employees attend instructor-led classes, employee travel expense, and overtime pay – are added to the actual cost of instruction and training materials, it is understandable why a business owner may not be able to support the cost of training.

Online Learning
Why is online learning a good solution? Online learning (web-based training) provided by a PEO is a good solution because it effectively addresses the challenges of providing training to a workforce comprised of small groups of employees with different training needs. The cost of raining per-employee can be reduced significantly when a PEO provides the same courses to a large number of clients with similar training needs. The business owner also reaps a financial benefit because online learning can reduce the related costs of training. For example, it is accessible to worksite employees 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing flexibility that can alleviate the productivity losses or additional travel expenses normally associated with training. Online learning is also an efficient solution for the worksite employee, providing the option of taking the training when it is most convenient, versus taking a course at a predetermined time. Another advantage for worksite employees is online learning is self-paced. The student can proceed through a course as quickly or as slowly as learning requires. Because most online courses are segmented into 10- to 15-minute modules, the student can commit to learning in short increments when time permits instead of committing a four- to eight-hour block of time for course completion.

Delivering Online Learning
What methods are used to deliver online learning? The best method for delivering online learning is contingent upon the training needs of the businesses using the service and the level of assistance a PEO elects to provide. The cost of training service delivery is a key consideration, as well as determining whether the client will share in that cost. The following methods are commonly used to provide online training:

Direct Online Access
The most straightforward method of providing online learning is by contracting with a training vendor that will furnish direct access to online courses at a reduced cost based upon the number of projected users. The strength of this solution is dependent on the number of courses that may be accessed, the quality of those courses, and the relevance of the courses to the business owner’s needs.

Customized Web-Based Courses
This method may be preferable if the training needs of your clients are unique to a specific industry or position and require a more customized approach. If the customized training has market value outside of the PEO’s client base, there may be an opportunity to market those courses separately, thereby generating a revenue stream that can subsidize the cost of training delivery.

Online Access and Learning System Management
If business owners’ training needs include assigning specific courses to employees and tracking and reporting online course usage and completion, a more robust solution is to contract with a training vendor that can provide both online access and learning system management. As may be expected, this is a more costly approach. The limitation of this approach is course availability may be restricted to those compatible with the vendor’s learning management system technology.

Purchasing a Learning Management System and Selecting Courseware
The most expensive approach, but the one that provides the most flexibility in training delivery, is purchasing learning management system technology compatible with a broad variety of available courseware. This strategy allows the PEO to select the courseware that best addresses the needs of its client base, to offer course upgrades as they become available, and to incorporate the best offerings of any new vendors. Note, although a course may be web-based, there may be a need – and a charge – for adapting the course to the technology of the learning management system.

Dos and Don’ts of Online Learning

Do survey your clients to determine their training priorities and whether the employees to be trained have internet access.
Do enlist the assistance of a training professional to evaluate the quality of the courseware that will be provided. Cheaper courseware may not be a bargain if the content is too basic or is poorly designed.
Do limit the number of training vendors (to one or two) with your first online initiative. This will provide an opportunity to get experience with online learning and the related service delivery issues.
Do enlist the assistance of a technical expert to establish basic design standards all courseware must meet if your training solution involves purchasing courseware. Currently, there are no industry design standards for web-based courseware. Without design standards, each course could have different navigation features that could create confusion and frustration for end users.
Do select courseware that operates on standard web browsers without the need for additional hardware or software that can represent a significant cost to business owners.
Do make sure training vendors can provide adequate technical support. Be specific about technical support availability and response times. This is especially critical if the PEO has little or no internal support to address technical issues.
Don’t select courseware that will not perform reasonably well at typical internet speeds. While multiple colors and animation look great, they are features that will lose their value if they slow responsiveness or cause technical issues for the end users.
Don’t enter into agreements with training vendors without having them reviewed by legal counsel.

Connie Barnaba is vice president of Human Resource Services for Administaff, Inc., based in Kingwood, Texas.