Training managers predict rise in popularity of e-learning

A third of training managers have predicted e-learning will account for up to half of an organisation's training methods within three years, a survey has revealed.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development learning and development study of 700 employers, out on 18 April, will state that 29% of trainers thought that by 2011, between 25-50% of all training will be delivered remotely.

However, just 7% of respondents to the survey mentioned e-learning as one of their top three most effective training practices.

For respondent organisations using e-learning, it is on average available to 60% of employees, but taken up by only half of them. And only 30% are reported as completing courses.

Almost all organisations agree e-learning is more effective when combined with other forms of learning (95%) and that it demands a new attitude on the part of the learner (92%).

Martyn Sloman, learning and development adviser at the CIPD, said: "We still have a long way to go to embed [e-learning] effectively in the organisation. It's clear from our survey that it is still not fully appreciated by learners or by training managers.

"We must work much harder to integrate e-learning into broader learning and performance support activities. The best organisations are doing this, but the worst are simply making e-learning available to the individual on their PC and hoping that something will happen as a result. E-learning is about learning, not technology."

Currently more than half of learning and development managers (57%) now offer e-learning as part of their training provision.

Public sector organisations use e-learning (82%) far more than the private sector (49%), which Sloman believed could be due to the Leitch Review's endorsement of this method of training.