The future of e-learning in India

According to IDC, the revenue earned worldwide from e-learning was $6 billion in 2003. That’s expected to rise to $21 billion by 2008. Nasscom reports that Indian companies will get revenues of $7 million to $9 million by end-2005.

As is apparent from the above figures, the Indian e-learning market is still at a nascent stage. But thanks to an increasing emphasis on honing individual skills, e-learning is slowly becoming popular in India.

State of e-learning

e-learning permits the delivery of knowledge and information to learners at an accelerated pace, opening up new vistas of knowledge transfer.

Early adopters are companies that have tried to supplement face-to-face meetings, demonstrations, training classes and lectures with this technology. “The adoption of e-learning in all spheres—corporates, schools, universities, etc—is low at present. The Indian market is not substantial when compared to the international market which is worth about $6 billion to $7 billion,” says Harish Joshy, Vice-president of LionBridge Technologies, an e-learning player.

e-learning in India has been most successful in the corporate segment where it is seen as a means of achieving business goals and motivating employees.

Virtual universities

Countries without university education can access universities in other countries via the Web, a solution much cheaper than building university infrastructure.

In underdeveloped countries, e-learning can raise the level of education, literacy and economic development. This is especially true for countries where technical education is expensive, opportunities are limited, and economic disparities exist.

However, one of the problems with e-learning in India is the lack of course content, especially outside the mainstream focus areas of IT education, English-language content, and tutorial-like courses. There will be high demand for people who can develop multi-lingual courseware that addresses various topics. Gartner says that one of the top 10 positions among Global 1000 companies of the future will be that of an online learning designer.

LionBridge has recognised two types of requirements for e-learning—one is a catalogue for courses which is quite generic in nature and can be used by everyone; for example, a course on Microsoft Excel or PowerPoint. The second type is customised development such as product training for a specific customer.

A traditional learning structure does not guarantee the delivery of a consistent message, whereas consistency is assured in e-learning Albert Lewis Head Products, Strategy & Business Excellence Tata Interactive Services	We wish to reach out to every computer user who wishes to create his own content, enhance it using multimedia, and share it with others Gautam Goradia Managing Director Remittag Software

Advantages of e-learning

Nothing can replace traditional classroom teaching, but e-learning complements the process and can help reach out to the masses. Says Gautam Goradia, Managing Director of Remittag Software Company, “There are several companies that are working towards e-learning in India. Our product focus is on providing simple, cost-effective e-learning tools for individuals. We wish to reach out to every computer user who wishes to create his own content, enhance it using multimedia, append to it as and when information changes, share it with others, and make effective use of the same for self-learning as well as to teach others.”

The biggest advantage of e-learning lies in its ability to cover distances. For an organisation that is spread across multiple locations, traditional training becomes a constraint. All trainees need to come to a classroom to get trained. Additionally, the trainee’s learning pace is not addressed as all trainees are treated as having equal abilities and there is little flexibility in terms of timing and completion of the course.

“The major advantage is the consistency that e-learning provides. e-learning is self-paced, and learning is done at the learner’s pace. The content can be repeated until it is understood by the trainee. It can be made compelling and interesting with multimedia, and the trainee can be given multiple learning paths depending on his or her needs,” explains Joshy.

Albert Lewis, Head, Products, Strategy and Business Excellence, Tata Interactive Services (TIS), points out that “A traditional learning structure does not guarantee the delivery of a consistent message, whereas consistency is assured in e-learning.”

Trends in e-learning
Business-to-employee initiatives will address e-learning	Companies will build B2E intranets or corporate portals to conduct business with employees, and provide them self-service for access to benefits, forms and information. B2E capabilities will become increasingly important tools for recruitment, retention, and employee-relationship management.
e-learning will extend to customers	CRM initiatives might include customer education. According to Gartner, companies can use e-learning to introduce new products, educate customers in self-service techniques, and compare competitors’ products and services.
Simulation, gaming and interactivity will enrich e-learning	Research shows that student understanding and retention improves when they learn by experience. Technologies such as collaboration, interactivity, modelling, simulations, virtual reality interfaces and gaming will help students experience the skill while being taught.
There will never be enough of the right skills	Along with technologies and business practices, some skills are changing so quickly that they’re outdated within a few months of introduction. In addition, the number and range of skills required of the average employee is increasing.

Every person a creator

In a market such as India where the concept is still new, one crucial element that will make a difference in generating a good response is marketing. This not only holds true for segments such as government and education, but for the corporate sector as well. Experts are of the view that there needs to be a mindset for the adoption of e-learning.

The other point is content. If content providers are giving off-the-shelf content, there should be scope for customisation since each organisation has its own needs.

Goradia believes that every individual must be treated as a potential creator of content. Each one of us must have specialised tools that would help us create well-structured content, allow us to append information, and not make us totally dependent on external sources for content.

Bottomline: the Indian market is still young, but it will continue to adopt the concept of e-learning in order to meet its communication needs and seize business opportunities.