Last month Amit Gautam questioned if recession was a bad thing for effective eLearning.
As one of the comments there suggested training is seen as a cost-center in most organizations it is only natural to look for something cheapest.
I don’t intend to mean that you can’t find effective eLearning solutions that are cheaper than others, but yes if the focus is to find the cheapest solution, chances are you overlook some other (and I must say) more important parameters. It is certainly possible to work with limited budgets and still create good eLearning. You just need to know which areas to spend the scanty budgets you have. Not necessary to show a 3D simulation for negotiation skills. The solution needs to engage the mind, encourage reflection, and induce behavior change. Rather than dazzle the learner with slick animations and out of the world FX.
It would good to look at it from a different angle. Do you know the cost of bad eLearning? I think bad eLearning is much costlier than good eLearning. Let’s look at some examples:
Cost of bad health and safety training for the workforce?
Cost of bad clinical analysis training for doctors?
Cost of bad sales training?
If you buy eLearning on ‘the cheaper the better’ basis, you would do well to consider what would be the impact on your organization if that eLearning fails or does not result in desired learner behavior or performance. You will be surprised!
