As pointed out in this week’s BUZZ newsletter from ASTD, more schools are turning to online learning. Corporations are, too. And like anything else, the move to online learning involves weighing the pros against the cons.

Here are a few more pros and cons – and a few thoughts for overcoming the cons.

A Pro: Instead of gathering students in one place so the professor can draw things out on a blackboard / overhead / ELMO / etc, to explain how things interact, online animations have become popular. Now instead of using chalk, an arrow can move across the screen to illustrate what the professor is saying.

A Con: Time. According to Brigham Young University, it takes professors about five months to design their online courses, and then five more for the developers to put the concepts into the learning software. An additional two months are needed for beta testing.

Thoughts: The timelines provided here are for a university setting, and having spent enough time inside the gears of a university, thing have a tendency to move notoriously slow.  It’s not uncommon for large corporations to experience the same problems.

Smaller, private e-learning development companies can be much more adept at transferring content into online modules. The costs may be slightly higher—in some cases, a lot higher. But if getting it done faster will save the organization money, it’s an option to consider.

Another tip to speed the process along: Start the beta as soon as a viable portion of the course if 90 - 95% ready to go.  Getting things to 95% can be quite the process, but polishing up that last 5% can eat up inordinate additional time. Since the beta will likely result in changes, make those changes before putting the polish on that last 5%.  A HUGE time savings.

Another Pro:  Asynchronous learning. Students can be “in class” anytime 24/7, as is convenient for their schedule.

Con:  Rarely is a professor online to answer questions at 2:30 AM.

Additional Con: Students have to complete coursework on their own initiative. Being present in a physical classroom is an obligation we’re used to.  It’s an “appointment.” But sitting down to online learning when friends are beckoning to join them for pizza and movie? That can be tough.

Thoughts: For the class facilitator (or professor) in a college setting: Mandate as part of grade regular participation. Learning Management Systems can track when a student logged in and for how long. Participation in online class discussions can also be part of the grade.

When students know that certain behaviors factor into their grade, they’re much more likely to participate.

For the corporate learner, more imitative may be needed. Unless you’re the CEO, you report to somebody. You could go that somebody and ask for weekly dialog on what you’re covering in the course. Specific focus on how to apply what you’re learning adds even more value.

As for getting a hold of a facilitator or professor at 2:30 AM., if they’re not around, they’re not around.  Idea: Open an email message and leave it open while you’re working through the material.  Switch over to your email program whenever you have a question, and write it out. Don’t be shy!  Explain your thoughts and your quandary about why the material isn’t clear to you / what you think it means, etc.

Reason: If you’re terse, your professor’s response is likely to be terse, as well. Develop a conversational tone (but don’t be too verbose!) and your facilitator is much more likely to get the gist of what’s in your way to learning what you need to learn.

Discussion door is open — what are some pros and cons you’ve come across?   (Note: I’m hoping that when we find a con we also talk about a way to minimize its effects!)

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Filed in Technology, Training, Train the Trainer, E-Learning