Catch the e-train
By Darlene Davis

”E-learning is a niche market that is on the fast track to becoming an economic powerhouse.”

           Cornelia Weggen, Equity Research Analyst of the E-Learning Group

“We chose e-learning because the is no other way to put people in control of their own learning, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

           John Cone’, Vice President of Dell Learning

Facts and Forecasts:

According to International Data Corporation, (IDC), “Analysts say the market for online employee training course – often referred to as e-training – is doubling every year.  Cushing Anderson with IDC estimates that the market has already doubled since 1998, when it was worth about $550 million and predicts it will reach $11 billion by 2003.”

     The New York Times, October 2, 200

According to Training Magazine’s 19^th annual Industry Report (October 2000), US organizations will spend approximately $63 billion on training activities in 2000.  This figure includes about $9 billion for hardware and facilities/overhead and an estimate for total training budgets of $54 billion.

Who the training dollars are spent on is fairly consistent by size of organizations as well as by industry.  Nonexempt employees greatly outnumber managers and exempt professionals in the American workforce, but only about a third of training spending is directed at them.

In terms of how training is delivered, 74% is instructor-led classroom training, 6% percent instructor-led from a remote location, 13% by computer with no instructor, and 9% by other means.

Where are you on the e-learning fast track?  Do you speak with knowledge and excitement about on-line learning?  Are chatrooms, white board, bandwidth, 7x24 availability, video streaming, learning styles, scalable architecture, simulation-based content, and java part of your, workforce development technojargon?  If not, its time to get on board or be left behind;  E-learning is rolling at expediential speed.  And it shows not signs of slowing down.

Darlene Davis