Preliminary results from a Rapid Learning Institute (RLI) survey at the 2014 ASTD Conference and Expo point to a big gap between what e-learners want and what they’re getting. The good news is that organizations are planning investments to close that gap.
Finding #1: Shorter is better, but still in short supply
RLI’s State of Workplace e-Learning Survey polled learning professionals attending ASTD. While most respondents said that learners prefer short form e-learning, they indicated that their organizations are lagging when it comes to offering short modules. Specifically:
94% said that e-learners prefer short form modules (10 minutes or less) for soft-skills training.
65% said that the typical e-learning module presents too much information.
Finding #2: Manager involvement isn’t where it should be
The survey results also pointed to a lag in the involvement of managers in the training function:
16% of respondents were “very” or “mostly” satisfied with the level of manager involvement.
46% were “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with manager involvement.
Finding #3: Investments in technology and mobile learning are expected to rise
Respondents indicated that their organizations plan to invest more in technology-based learning, and specifically mobile learning, in the next two years:
70% of companies said they plan to spend more on technology-based learning next year
6% said they plan to spend less
Bottom Line: To be successful in this extremely complex and unstable business environment, managers must do all that they can, like using information technology, to simplify. There is a great deal of meaning and relevance packed into each leadership effort. The approach to how a given manager performs or oversees each result will vary greatly and be influenced by all sorts of variables, such as mobile learning, that are unique to an organization and a manager's experience.
Therefore, manager checklists and mobile leadership reference guides are in order.
Limitations and future research directions
With a sample size of 43, RLI considers these early results directional and not definitive, and plans to survey more learning professionals to validate the findings. A key question going forward is whether organizations that use short-form modules report greater manager involvement than those using long-form modules.
Based in Greater Philadelphia, RLI is an operating division of Business 21 Publishing.
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