By Denny Yost

E-learning is a great way to learn, with many benefits. Courses can be accessed at any time, from anywhere you have Internet access. Since the courses are self-paced, learners progress through the material as it is convenient for them. Pre- and post-testing is provided by most vendors permitting learners to determine what they have not yet mastered. The courses are also highly interactive, and some provide the ability to customize the content. Learners also do not need to leave their desks to attend a class since the courses are completely accessible to them from their desktops. These benefits are the main reasons e-learning is rapidly gaining widespread acceptance.

When companies review e-learning for use on a global basis, there are some additional considerations to undertake. These considerations affect both U. S. and international staff.

The considerations for e-learning use within the United States and North America are quite simple. Whether you produce courses in-house or license off-the-shelf courses from a vendor, all users must have a browser that supports HTML. The number of users who still use text-only browsers is amazing! If the courses will be hosted on the corporate intranet, can all staff gain access to the intranet both when they are in the office and off-site? Today, many staff prefer to access courses from home in the evening and on weekends. Providing access to courses only when staff are in the office either limits the time spent on learning or increases the time personnel must spend at the office. If most staff must access the courses when they are in the office due to security or other reasons, are they permitted to access the courses during normal business hours? This is an important consideration, because most staff cannot both work all day and stay after hours to use courses. One of the best ways to provide easy access to the courses to any staff at any time is to have the courses hosted on the Internet by the course vendor. This solution removes corporate security concerns, centralizes learner records and course administration, completely eliminates course maintenance and reduces dependency on IS staff.

Considerations for international users are more complex. It is still true all users must have a browser that supports HTML, and preferably it is the same browser used by the company in the United States to permit easier problem support. Hosting courses on the company's corporate intranet for worldwide access may or may not be the best solution. If your company has a worldwide intranet or at least an intranet covering all the countries where offices are located, hosting courses on the corporate intranet is a very viable option provided staff are given time to use the courses during the work day. Hosting the courses on your global intranet provides good security and, most likely, excellent response time for a learner located halfway around the globe.

If a global intranet is not in place at your company, it is worth serious consideration to have the course vendor host the courses for Internet access. Why? Course vendors who offer course hosting are in business to provide worldwide high-speed access, a centralized repository for learner records and course administration, minimal downtime and excellent security through the Internet. It behooves course vendors to serve the response time and other needs of its customers or face losing business. On the other hand, your company is in a completely different business and must focus its resources on its main business. Unless your company is a telephone or similar type of communications-company, worldwide high-speed course access is probably not your company's main business.

Keep in mind that staff located in other countries may not be able or willing to access the courses from home. Unlike the United States and Canada, the cost of a local phone call in many countries is still charged on a per-minute basis with the cost during the day substantially greater than in the evening. Dialing up the corporate intranet or the Internet from home is not free in these countries, and staying connected for an hour or two can become expensive. Home computers are also not as prevalent as they are in the United States and Canada, preventing staff from learning at home unless the company provides laptops to all employees or loans laptops to take off-site.

The culture in various countries may also play a role in staff using e-learning. The people in some countries have not yet accepted self-paced training as a way to learn. In these countries, an instructor is necessary to teach classes. However, e-learning is being used as a way to supplement learning before, during and after the class. In other countries, it is customary to rarely work after normal business hours requiring all training to be done during business hours. Of course, in some countries it is customary to learn any way possible! Colors used within the courses can also affect usage in certain cultures. For example, the use of black or white in a prevalent manner indicates death and/or mourning. Clearly e-learning provides the flexibility to fit into these cultures, but at the same time proper consideration must be given to all the staff who will be using it to have an effective program.

The use of e-learning is bright and rapidly growing throughout the world. If e-learning will be used globally throughout a company, consideration must be given to many factors. What is free and easily accessible in the United States and Canada is not necessarily free or easily accessible in other countries. While locating courses on corporate intranets may provide a good network on which to host the courses for North American access, it may not be the best place to host courses for global access. Cultures must also be considered before e-learning can be implemented to ensure a successful self-paced learning program. Explore these considerations carefully, and you will have a very successful global e-learning program.

Appearing periodically in Certification Magazine, Viewpoints is a column that gives industry leaders the opportunity to discuss issues, trends and topics of importance to the IT certification, training and testing industries. Denny Yost is the director of marketing at MindLeaders, where he is responsible for worldwide marketing of the company's e-learning solutions specifically designed for real-time presentation through the Internet. He can be reached at dyost@mindleaders.com.