As we progress through the Information Age, several trends have been identified within the US$2 trillion training industry. The most notable trend is that blended learning has become the preferred means of skilling staff, by making use of a multifaceted training approach to achieve an organisation's required return on investment.
Online training is growing exponentially and it is anticipated that worldwide, in the next three to five years, 70% of all training will be done online, with the balance being provided in classrooms. Web-based e-learning will become the third most utilised application behind e-mail and the Internet.
Research has shown that online learning will grow to 40% of the worldwide spend on higher education training by 2014, increase to 70% by 2018, and top the US$600 billion mark by 2020. It is interesting to note that within the next two to five years, all schools will be making use of e-learning.
With productivity being the core focus of most organisations, having to release employees to attend training is becoming more and more of a challenge. Therefore, new training mechanisms have been sought by employers to increase productivity, by not having employees take time off work to attend classroom training. In addition, there is a need for employers to meet world-class standards and pre-empt critical skills shortages by cross-skilling their employees. As a result of the evolution of training, e-learning has become an industry buzzword, with many organisations investing large sums of money to make online training available to their employees and clients. This has its advantages, but e-learning has not been able to replace classroom-style training entirely.
Dawn Hollingworth, MD of ATIO Netcampus division, stated: “The collaborative learning solution is where the blended learning approach comes into its own. Historically, pure classroom led training was cumbersome, not least of all because students learn at different paces. Added to this was the unavailability of support or refresher training post-classroom learning. The limited practice and testing capabilities of classroom training has resulted in organisations having to look for alternatives. Here is where the collaborative learning solution is invaluable, as students are not required to take time off work to attend training, nor do organisations have to incur unnecessary travel costs over and above the cost of the actual training. This form of learning solution can be accessed anytime, anywhere and is instant, innovative and interactive. It achieves this by supplementing the online information with the course curriculum in CD, video or book format. Full mentor support is available to students either in the form of online chat, e-mail or telephonic interaction during office hours over a period of 12 months. By making use of the virtual labs, students can practise what they have learnt in a simulated environment outside of an organisation's infrastructure, while receiving real-time feedback from the mentors as to the correctness of their work.”
How can the collaborative learning solution benefit mining? Due to the constant technological advances in the industry, pressure is being applied to all employers to stem the high rate of unemployment by offering blended training to their employees. This ensures that mission-critical employees are available during working hours by training them using the collaborative learning's blended modular approach. Not only are objective assessment tools made available to employers to identify any gaps in an employee's skill set, but a full learner management system is available to line managers to access and monitor the progress of all employees being trained, leveraging technology to offer the benefits of classroom-based learning without the need to be in the classroom. The virtual online environment offers employers greater satisfaction, convenience and cost-effectiveness. Those organisations who adopt this new collaborative learning solution will definitely lead in terms of market share in the short to medium term - are you missing out?
Share
Editorial contacts