Readers are lukewarm about the effectiveness of e-learning, according to our latest survey.
Some 58% of Training & Coaching Today readers say they think e-learning is fairly effective, compared to 11% who consider it very effective, while 30% believe that e-learning is not very effective and 1% that it has no impact whatsoever.
But the survey underscores one of e-learning’s selling points: its cost-effectiveness.
When asked ‘how cost-effective do you think e-learning is?’, 21% said they thought it was very cost-effective, while 53% said it was fairly cost-effective. Some 25% said e-learning was not very cost-effective, and 2% that it was not at all cost-effective.
Respondents were split on whether they would recommend their current e-learning provider, with 46% for and 54% against. These results put
e-learning in a poorer light compared with other surveys undertaken in recent years.
A 2003 survey on the quality and effectiveness of e-learning, by SRI Consulting Business Intelligence, found that 20% of the 350 training professionals polled worldwide thought their e-learning initiatives were excellent; 40% thought they were good; 35% fair; and 5% said they were poor.
But the ratings given by UK respondents to that survey were not as high, with 14% rating them as excellent and 33% as good.
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A 2004 Learndirect survey, Embedding e-learning in large organisations, found mixed responses to e-learning among staff at 503 large UK companies. Just 40% said they had embraced the concept for the long-term, while 24% were reluctant, 20% disenchanted, 15% largely
sceptical and 1% very hostile.
The Training & Coaching Today survey was based on 130 responses from readers in November and December 2005.
