E-LEARNING IS E-NORMOUS

Susan Gilbert is president of Apogee Interactive (www.apogee.net) in Tucker, GA, and MG Jones is dean of professional studies and the curriculum director for Apogee's Study-Center.com e-learning systems.

Training over the internet has become the fastest-growing workplace performance improvement tool—and utilities are using it in several ways.

If you talk with "learning professionals" or "learning technologists" in any major industry today, there's no question about the value or potential for e-learning within their organizations. Simply put, it's enormous.

Whether it's the need to cut training costs or the challenge of keeping employees competent and up-to-date in their skills, companies are working to deploy e-learning as a critical tactic in their strategy to achieve improvements in workplace performance and to sustain competitive advantage.

The definition of e-learning is broad, and how companies handle it is equally diverse. Some define it as content delivered via the Internet, CD-ROM, or computer-based training (CBT). Some e-learning is self-paced and individual in nature; some is real-time and instructor-led via two-way satellite or audio/video conferencing. The fact is, e-learning can mean the delivery of educational content via any electronic media, including the Internet, intranets, extranets, satellite broadcast, audio/video tape, interactive TV, CD-ROM, interactive CDs, and CBT. Or it can mean simply browser-based, online learning via the Internet, which is probably how most people think of it. (See the sidebar, "An E-Learning Glossary." )

But no matter how you define it, it's growing. Corporate e-learning expenditures totaled $2.2 billion in 2000 and will climb to $11.5 billion by 2003, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). This figure compares to $54 billion spent annually on all types of training, reports a Training Magazine study of 1,347 companies with 100 employees or more.

In terms of training technology mix, e-learning comprised about 20 percent of corporate training delivery methods in 1999 and is expected to double to 40 percent by 2003, says Corporate University Xchange in its annual survey of corporate universities. Of the current portion of e-learning taking place, about one-third is "synchronous"—a real-time, instructor-led event in which all participants are logged on at the same time and communicate directly with one another.

As you might expect, the majority of e-learning used by corporations to date has been focused on education in information technology (IT), computer systems, and software. But that's changing rapidly. IDC expects online business and "soft skills" education—for things like presentation skills, leadership, and general management—will exceed IT training by 2003.

The question among utilities today isn't whether e-learning is viable or valuable. Rather, it's how to best harness the power of this training engine, an engine that has the power to transform employees into lifelong learners and organizations into more successful entities.

The Lure of Cost Reductions
With travel costs accounting for two-thirds of most corporate training budgets, it's easy to see why cost reduction is a primary driver for e-learning. Plus, there are the savings associated with eliminating instructor fees, meal costs, and unproductive time spent in class and away from the job.

E-learning authority and author Brandon Hall reports savings of 40-60 percent for his large clients, such as Ernst & Young, the Internal Revenue Service, and Rockwell Collins. IBM reported savings of $200 million in 1999 using e-learning to teach basic management skills to new managers. Research at Apogee Interactive—the authors' company—has shown that an e-learning program is one-quarter of the cost of conducting a four-day face-to-face training course. And if the trainees study on their own time, rather than on company time, it is more like one-tenth of the cost.

E-learning, done right, can not only reduce training costs, but also increase training effectiveness. The e-learning company KnowledgeNet has documented that 94 percent of trainees passed an IT certification exam after taking one of their online courses, which compares to an industry-wide pass rate of only 74 percent. Pre- and post-test scores for hundreds of Apogee e-courses offered over the past two years show that students improved their knowledge level by a minimum of 50 percent on up to 160 percent over their baseline test scores.

Training Magazine reports that technology-based training proves to have a 50-60 percent better consistency of learning than traditional classroom training—largely due to the fact that e-learning gives you access to information just when you need it rather than accessing information in a classroom long before you might need it.

Everyone at Once
"E-learning is the natural convergence of knowledge management and talent management and a way to bridge the gap between current skills and the new skills required as the business evolves," said Bob Nicholson, manager of the Learning & Development Network (LADNet) for the AEP Institute, the corporate university of AEP. "It's also the tool that's going to enable us to deliver training faster, better, and cheaper." The ability to train employees dispersed over large geographic regions—and train them affordably—is certainly a key driver for e-learning, particularly in larger organizations. LADNet is the e-learning arm of the Institute, which oversees the training and development of AEP's 23,000 employees located in 11 states. Nicholson projected e-learning may reach as high as 40 percent of their training mix in the next several years. Nicholson also noted that training and education is still decentralized throughout the organization and that the corporate communications, IT, and telecommunication departments are all helping to advance e-learning through such technological avenues as studio-based web casting.

"We began video streaming direct to employee desks about three-and-a-half years ago," said Tim Nicholson, director of interactive media for AEP (no relation to Bob Nicholson). Today AEP routinely uses web-casting to inform employees, typically reaching 6,500 employees simultaneously during a web cast and another 3,000 through their round-the-clock, accessible-on-demand archives of web casts. "Web casting is certainly a lot cheaper than making and distributing 1,500 video tapes at four dollars a pop," Nicholson added.

Just in Time, Just for Me
Next to the cost-effectiveness benefit is responsiveness—the ability of e-learning to provide just-in-time training. "The major driver for us is to be able to give employees the exact training they need when they need it," explained Melody McKay, e-care/human resources project leader for Xcel Energy. "Sure, there are cost reductions, but we see just-in-time training as the bigger benefit."

The value of just-in-time training becomes readily apparent in the case of newcomers arriving in a department after a live training course has been delivered. It's too expensive to repeat the course for one or two people, and many companies would otherwise wait for more trainees to come on board before scheduling a new training session. So, the department resorts to on-the-job training or the apprentice approach or gives the employee materials to study on his or her own—alternatives that are not as effective as they should be.

Or perhaps a major customer asks a field representative for help with a project, and the employee needs to brush up on the material before meeting with the customer. The rep can click on an e-course and go right to the material on the applications most likely to fit the customer's situation.

Just-in-time value has other manifestations. One of the top reasons users say they like online learning is that they can study when they want, where they want, and for as long as they want, and when they come back, they can pick right up where they left off.

Equally important to just-in-time is just-for-me training. All too often, stand-up trainers see two extremes in the classroom: some trainees nodding off because they know the material cold and others so lost there will never be enough time to cover the material adequately in the class. This is when e-learning shines. Students can move as quickly or as slowly through materials as they need to. And with some course designs, those who already have extensive knowledge of the course material or a certain module within a course may test out of it. Those who have little knowledge of the course material can take as much time as they like to read and reread sections, drill down into more examples, and work additional problems until they too can pass the final exam.

Ron Younker, principal consultant in the employee learning department at Southern Company, noted that the just-for-me feature of e-learning may even fundamentally change the way we view the learning process within organizations. "It's modular. Employees can go out and get what they need—go and get a 'learning object'—and then immediately use it on their jobs. A course can be constructed by integrating learning objects to fit the employee's exact need."

From Pilots to E-Commerce Strategies
Ninety-two percent of all large corporations established web-based learning pilots in 1999, according to the Masie Center. E-learning is a relatively new training delivery system, so it's not surprising that most companies are proceeding with pilots or applying e-learning within specific business units before going companywide. Some companies have e-commerce or e-initiative committees that will steer the e-learning effort. Others have joined external coalitions on e-learning to unearth best practices. Some have formed internal coalitions of the learning professionals within the organization to help develop a companywide e-learning approach. And others are already at the stage of integrating their e-learning system with the company's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Steve Ogram, a human resources analyst in organizational development for SaskPower in Saskachewan, described a pilot involving employees from linemen to vice presidents. He reported that almost 90 percent of the pilot participants felt it would be a good or very good training investment for SaskPower to offer employees access to e-courses. Fifty-four percent said they would use the skills learned through the e-course 'often or very often' on their jobs.

SaskPower also has a formal e-commerce working group whose job it is to outline the shape of e-commerce for the business. E-learning falls within the e-business initiative.

Xcel Energy has a comprehensive e-strategy initiative underway that is addressing e-learning on multiple fronts. "We have an E-Care initiative in which we are essentially developing a self-service website, where employees can do everything from updating their HR files to taking e-courses," said Excel's McKay. She also cited the work of their training administration team, which is tasked with defining and developing an integrated learning management system for the company. (See the sidebar, "Learning Management Systems." ) "We have an increased need for a total management system that will enable us to manage and maximize e-learning and the development of our people throughout our organization," she said.

Southern Company started with a pilot of energy-related courses that was conducted in the retail sales area of Alabama Power. "All the students overwhelmingly said they preferred the e-courses over the classroom," said David Boone, a segment specialist. "We didn't get a single negative response. They liked the convenience factor." The company is now offering energy-industry-related e-courses to the marketing and sales areas of all five of their operating utilities, according to Jim Fischer, the sales and training team leader at Georgia Power.

ABB, a huge supplier to the utility industry, is also piloting energy-industry-related courseware among its inside sales force within its transmission and distribution organization. The results of that pilot will help determine ABB's next e-learning step.

Pinnacle West recently completed a pilot of soft skills courses from SkillSoft and now is offering more such courses throughout the organization. Southern Company also successfully piloted soft skills e-learning in Alabama Power's customer service center.

Thanks in part to the pilots' success and an overriding mission "to find solutions beyond the classroom," Southern Company has begun to offer soft skills training across its subsidiary companies. The training is offered through Click2learn.com, an e-learning company that aggregates hundreds of courses at its website. Southern has also incorporated an e-commerce engine into its e-learning system, where employees must enter a credit card or department procurement card number to pay for and enroll in the course. "We realize, short term, that this may inhibit some employees from enrolling," explained Younker. "But long term, we believe it will result in a more targeted approach to learning, where employees are effectively aligned with the right training. We also believe there will be fewer course cancellations. And it drives the accountability for the training and cost directly to the employee's department rather than to a centralized budget."

Southern's next pilot involves testing live, synchronous e-learning where a content expert and course moderator will broadcast—directly to managers at their desktops—a two-hour course on managing pay. It's two-way audio and one-way video: The employees will have headsets and microphones and will be able to talk with the instructor by hitting a key on their computer.

The company is also in the process of integrating the Click2learn.com learning management system with its ERP system. Younker explained that the new learning management system helps employees and managers plan, launch, and track many types of learning resources, including online, self-study, and instructor-led courses. The system provides each employee with his or her own personal web page. Among the many features, employees will be able to track their required training, view curriculum maps for jobs, enroll in events, launch online learning, and conduct skill assessments.

Sitting in the Call Center
"The call center is a group that really can't afford to be away from their desks," said Younker. "With e-courses, they could study in short blocks of time right in their work area."

In fact, call centers are natural magnets for e-learning. Many account management and field rep functions within utilities are being pushed toward call centers. Plus, ever-changing product and service offerings have placed greater informational demands on the call center reps. Throw in the unavoidable turnover rate, and you've got constant training needs.

Here e-learning can outstrip classroom and on-the-job training, both in terms of time-savings and continuity. As one utility supervisor wrote on a recent e-course evaluation form, "The beauty of online training is everyone gets the same information, the same explanations, and then has that material available in an online reference library they can easily return to when a question arises. Now customers are getting the same answer no matter whom they ask in the company. It makes our jobs easier and saves a lot of confusion for the customer."

Xcel Energy uses an electronic simulator to train call center reps on demand, accomplishing in a 20-minute simulation what used to take an hour (and many dollars) to teach in a group setting. (Computer simulations are useful in many situations: Alliant Energy, for example, relies on them to train employees in emergency response procedures.)

In Business Units
Departments throughout utilities have been using forms of electronic learning, primarily CBT, to train employees in control rooms, computer data centers, and cubicles for more than a decade.

With the broader definition of e-learning to include any training done electronically, e-learning approaches 40 percent of Duke Power's retail sales division training, said Charlie Barron, director of training for retail sales. A staple in that electronic line-up is a series of PowerPoint-based courses used to train six to seven remotely located employees at a time. "We e-mail the courses to the employees," explained Barron. "They take the courses individually, but then everyone dials in at a predetermined time for an interactive Q&A session on the material." Using this format, he can train 180 employees relatively quickly on new programs or topics specific to the retail sales unit. Barron estimates his e-learning training component will jump to 60-65 percent in three years.

E-learning approaches 50 percent of the training conducted within the Business Solutions Center at Xcel Energy. "Our employees are energy consultants," explained Brad Gawboy, the Center's manager. "They are expected to have a good working knowledge of a variety of energy technologies and related subjects." He said he relies on Internet-based energy-industry-specific courseware to help build that solid base of knowledge cost-effectively.

One of FPL's first e-learning applications occurred in the product management and development department. It offers an Internet-based "Fundamentals of Electricity" course as a continuing education opportunity for employees seeking to renew professional energy certifications.

TXU's distribution business unit has been a user of e-learning since its earliest electronic forms, including CD-interactive (CD-I) disks in 1995. "We've been able to offer our training course content in CD-Is, CD-ROMs, and now in a user-friendly, easy-to-navigate web format through Study-Center.com," said Tonia Arwine, a TXU training analyst. "Classrooms can always fill up. But with a virtual environment, the training is always available."

Of course, the other heavy users and early adopters of e-learning in utilities are the IT departments. Strictly defined e-learning—courses conducted solely over the Internet—can easily account for 50 percent or more of a utility's IT training course offerings.

Several utilities have found that e-learning naturally lends itself to offering courses to mass audiences on environmental compliance, codes of conduct, antitrust laws, safety, and diversity issues.

Extending the Benefits to Customers
Utility employees aren't the only ones to benefit from e-learning. Some utility companies are offering e-courses to their customers.

Deirdre MacDonald, director of learning development for PacifiCorp, reported that they are making certain courses available to community members.

PEPCO recently launched an Internet-based program to assist businesses in meeting the employee training requirements of federal job safety rules. PEPCO's Online Training Institute offers 13 interactive courses on such topics as electrical safety, asbestos awareness, hazard communication, ergonomics, and fire safety.

Greystone Power, a metro Atlanta electric cooperative, has purchased a full lineup of seats in energy-related e-courses for their large customers. The Northwest Public Power Association is making e-courses available to its customers—municipal power systems—at a discount. Other utilities are exploring the concept of offering e-learning courses on energy efficiency.

Not only can utilities use e-learning as an opportunity to offer a valuable service to customers, but they can also expand their reach into different customer groups. Some utilities are accomplishing this through direct-mail campaigns of CDs to drive customers to special areas within utility websites.

Speed Bumps on the Electronic Highway
Like anything else, though, e-learning is not the training solution to end training solutions. First, there is the natural human resistance to change. E-learning, in many cases, will force people beyond their comfort zones with computers. As one manager put it, "technical literacy limits acceptance."

Second, two somewhat unexpected social barriers to e-learning deal with interruptions and co-worker perceptions. Employees working on a course in their own cubicle could be interrupted by co-workers, phones, and passing traffic. Someone might also misperceive an employee to be playing on the computer, when in reality he or she is taking an interactive e-course. And if there's an audio component to the class, it could distract neighboring cubicle residents. Coworker distraction is one of the reasons traditional training often occurs off-site, after all.

Third, the technology itself can also be a barrier. That's why it's essential that you work closely with your IT department to make sure your e-learning effort will operate and interface effectively on your infrastructure.

© 2008 Edison Electric Institute