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Paromita Pain

eLearning can give employees that edge at the workplace.

SO much is on about `eLearning' that one might have to explain the obvious. eWorld gets cracking on demystifying the `e'.

Anand Adkoli, CEO of Liqwid Krystal, says "The letter `e' can technically refer to any electronic means of learning, but the accepted interpretation of e-learning indicates a means of providing or obtaining knowledge via the Web." Alternative means include CD-ROMs and tutorials and also distance education or the ability to reach a geographically distributed audience.

Bala J. Raman, Co-Founder and President, Congruent Solutions Pvt. Ltd, says"An application is `custom-built' for a single company, but a product is designed for use by many companies or industries. Hence if designed for a single company that is customised, it is referred to as an application. eLearning could also be a product if it is designed and sold as a generic product for an entire industry." Adkoli explains, "eLearning from a seller's perspective either refers to a product platform on which content is deployed or the actual process of creating content for learning. The learning platform (referred to as a learning management system — LMS) is a server or service on which courseware is deployed. The access to content is controlled, and the scheduling is done via LMS. The online content that is disseminated on the platform is in the form of books or courseware. Unfortunately, many eLearning vendors think of content as books and other print media repositioned as HTML. eLearning is mostly perceived as a business of generating content for learning in the form of online books, courses, quizzes and tests."

Inherent advantages

ELearning's advantages include accessibility and repeatability: Once the content is created, it can be deployed over and over. It allows a user to search, navigate content in a non-linear manner and follow threads of interest. Interrelated concepts can be followed through hyperlinks. Content is always current. Since the cost of disseminating content is low, it is possible to obtain large savings on cost. For instance, a one-day course costs a company about $2500/employee; it is possible to reduce that to $250 via eLearning.

Vaibhav Magow, Director, Marketing, Hughes Escorts Communications Ltd, says, "Content creators and developers can receive immediate feedback and are therefore responsible for continual and timely improvement to their curriculum."

Adkoli believes the challenges revolve mostly around obtaining relevant and quality content. "The challenge is to obtain the correct content that is relevant and holds the attention of the learner especially since there is no specific `teacher' or `mentor'."

A growing market

"The Indian distance and interactive education market is estimated to be Rs 1,000 crore annually," says Magow. "As Indian managers and engineers find their place across MNCs internationally, there is a large potential to deliver quality education from leading Indian institutes internationally. "

With players like Wipro Infotech joining, the market is set to grow larger. Wipro Infotech will be partnering with Intel to launch i-shiksha, a network of computers that enhances the teaching and learning experience with the latest technology tools. Adkoli asserts, "Travel budgets are shrinking in most companies and as security concerns continue after 9/11, people want to travel less. Obviously it is important to share and spread knowledge of a few across more learners."

On the lookout for talent

Ranjit Singh, President and CEO, Techbooks, says the skills needed are dependent on specific areas. "As a company, TechBooks provides data, document and digital conversion services to publishers, government agencies and universities. We need computer programmers proficient in languages such as Quark and XML and for proof writing of the content we require copybook editors."

Adkoli says, "Most eLearning companies continue to expand their product offerings by expanding their catalogue for content. There are huge opportunities for graphic designers, technical writers, editors and instructional designers." S. Chandrasekar, Vice-President, Business Services Delivery, Congruent Solutions Pvt Ltd, states, "At Congruent, we hire professionals with domain knowledge in the medical, pharmacy, mathematics arenas and English training. Even if a person is a fresher, he/she should have the attitude and aptitude. eLearning is more of a business endeavour. Typically, it does not require a technical background but more a business approach. The person needs to understand the end-user perspective. At a project manager level, it has more to do with interacting, design and visualising."

Picture by Parth Sanyal

paromita@thehindu.co.in

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