Through the use of digital devices and communication, E-learning and online training enables today’s students to learn for a lower cost while using less time and consuming less resources. This provides greater economic efficiency and more job and business opportunities in the technology and communications industries.
Nowadays, every organization seeks to continuously satisfy the high expectations of society as a whole. E-learning and online training are more flexible, self-paced, and consistent. They can be managed easily and updated quickly. E-learning and online training satisfies not only the need of users and learners, but also the well-being of society. It has a lower environmental impact. It is obvious that online learning is “an effective way for organizations to reduce their carbon footprint.” (Kineo, 2013) According to the Open University, the amount of CO2 emission per student from an E-learning class is 85 percent less than from a traditional class. It is explained by reducing the amount of student travel. (Kineo, 2013) Moreover, instead of providing all learning contents by paper as in traditional class, E-learning can be more efficient by reducing the material cost via email, PDF, web-based tools, video, etc. This also means that E-learning can benefit the environment by saving trees. Since 2006, the use of E-books has saved about 32 million trees every year. (Biba, 2009)
There are also many studies explaining why E-learning is more cost-effective. According to a study by Shepherd (2002), Dow Chemical saved more than $34 million per year due to replacing traditional classrooms with E-learning classrooms (it spent $95 per learner with traditional classrooms, while it spends just $11 per learner with E-learning). Also, they do not have to spend money on cleaning each classroom if using E-learning. If you consider every student in every class, nearly all of them must commute to attend, and all of those miles are a large amount of spending.
40% OF EVERY DOLLAR SPENT ON TRAINING IS SPENT ON TRAVEL COSTS
(Znanja, 2013)
Due to the efficiency and effectiveness of E-learning and online training, there are many E-commerce opportunities within E-learning and online training; that leads to the E-learning industry becoming more competitive and intense.
More than 3 million online-only students in USA (the total number college student in France)
70% share of revenue from E-learning and Online Learning is donated by USA and Europe
77% of American Corporations train using online learning (vs 4% in 1995)
E-Learning accounts for $56.2 billion of business.
By 2015, it is predicted to double in size.
It is clear that E-learning and Online training provides many economic and environmental benefits. Better opportunity is given to students through reduced costs, and less resources are needed by schools to run their classes. Businesses too can find new opportunities to pursue in an emerging market such as this. However, the resources that no longer need to be purchased would potentially have kept many jobs in paper and other industries.
Do you think that the cost benefits and generated jobs of E-learning and online training outweigh the business and jobs likely lost from what would have been purchased for a traditional class?
Sources:
2013, “The Benefits of E-Learning” Kineo Retrieved from http://www.kineo.com/elearning-reports/the-benefits-of-e-learning.html
Biba, 2013, “Ebooks save millions of trees” TeleRead Retrieved from http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/ebooks-save-millions-of-trees/
2013, “Important eLearning Statistics for 2013” CertifyMe.net Retrieved from http://www.certifyme.net/osha-blog/elearning-statistics-2013/
Gutierrez, 2012 “18 Mind-Blowing eLearning Statistics You Need To Know” Shift Retrieved from http://info.shiftelearning.com/blog/bid/247473/18-Mind-Blowing-eLearning-Statistics-You-Need-To-Know
Znaja, 2013 “E-learning industry with amazing facts. Retrieved from https://www.znanja.com/ (Znanja, 2013)
Within the last 5 years, jobs and different corporations have been extremely cost efficient in training employees through online components and modules. For instance, when recently starting my job at Brooks Brothers, I sat on a computer watching videos and completing tutorials at Brooks University.
ReplyDeleteI do believe online training has greatly improved the process of learning about the organization that people work for. At one of my internships, there were a series of online videos that taught me valuable information about the company's procedures and the industry that the company is a part of. It was great because I was able watch the videos anytime I wanted and at my own pace. Not only does the business save money by not having to hire janitors to clean up physical meeting rooms, but it saves the employees time that they could use on other activities. So yes, I definitely think that the benefits of e-learning outweigh its potential setbacks.
ReplyDeleteI think E-learning has its Advantages and Disadvantages . one of its advantage could be that E-learning can be done in a very short time so you won't have to dedicate the whole day to the training from any company. Another good thing is that, it can be done on phones or tablets, etc, whenever you have a device capable . One disadvantage could be that, E-learning can get conflict with the Learning Styles of different people because we all get motivated in different ways, so in this case, some learners will not enjoy the experience of E-learning .
ReplyDeleteI believe that E-learning and E-training are cost efficient and works well in some company training and education cases; however, E-education and traditional education are not incompatible, E-education are more flexible and cost efficient in some areas that traditional education are not doing so well, on the other hand, traditional education has irreplaceable value in personal interaction and so on. So the existences of these two generate much more benefits.
ReplyDeleteI think the efficiencies that can be gained from e-learning and online training are worth it for the overall improvement to the economy. I think that efficiency should be a main factor driving the economy, and business have always adapted advances in technology that provide major cost benefit or greatly increase revenue. These increases in economic efficiency enable the whole economy to grow and sustain better. Unfortunately not all jobs or skills will always be needed by businesses, but this is considered a fact of life that people should adapt to. The nice thing is that, in this case, the new technology of e-learning and online training can help those same people learn new skills more easily and cheaper than before.
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