Learning methods have transformed in recent years. Gone are the days when we would sit in a classroom and have someone write on a board in front of us. eLearning stands for electronic learning and it means using an electronic device such as computer or tablet in order to receive training where you can learn at your own leisure.
Interesting facts about eLearning industry growth
In 2014, the industry was worth $56.2 billion, and it’s expected to double by 2015. According to Learning Light’s research, they estimate that corporate eLearning expenditure grows at over 6% a year and that eLearning sales are increasing over 20% a year.
Did you know? UK has the largest eLearning sector in the EU.
Why is it so revolutionary?
It’s not just students that are taking advantage of this revolutionary style of learning but employees as well. With the way the business world is changing at such a fast pace, employees need to be trained continuously in order for companies to keep up with their competitors. Unfortunately, due to money pressures, some companies are reducing their budgets spent on external training and one of the main reasons that people leave their jobs is because of lack of training and development available to them. On a more positive note, the reduction in traditional staff training budgets can be seen as a driving factor in the growth of the eLearning market.
eLearning is absolutely ideal for organisations that have a widely geographically distributed workforce. There isn’t the logistical challenge of getting everybody together so this doesn’t put people in rural locations at a disadvantage. What’s more, it doesn’t matter how many languages your workforce speaks because the exact same training can be delivered in different languages using translation and multilingual voice over.
eLearning has come a long from the original bad reputation it had in its early days. Today, thankfully, the eLearning industry has extremely talented designers and content developers that use video, animation and interactive games to make this style of learning more appealing. More complex issues can be explored with online simulation, so learners are able to enter inside the model and learn from the consequence of their decisions.
Cheaper and faster
If a business were to replace their traditional instructor-based training with eLearning, they’d actually save as much as 50% of their costs. eLearning can also cut down instruction time by up to 60% so it’s great for employees that need to be brought up-to-speed quickly on relevant knowledge and skills.
eLearning is also far more eco-friendly, removing all of the paperwork that surrounds traditional training as well as the burdening CO2 emissions that are produced by the amount of attendees and trainers attending specific locations. And that’s not all, according to a recent study conducted by The Research Institute of America, eLearning can increase information retention rates by up to 60%.
Did you know? The world’s most rapidly growing eLearning markets are Malaysia and Vietnam. The estimated 5 year annual growth rate for this Asian e-Learning market is 17.3%.
Enough about eLearning, have you heard of mLearning?
Hot on the heels of eLearning’s growth is mLearning. mLearning is a form of informal learning which allows people to learn via their smartphones, tablets and MP3 players using methods such as learning apps, podcasts and short videos. mLearning is gaining popularity among those who are learning new languages.
What makes mLearning different to eLearning is that learning is done in ‘bite sizes’ or in ‘mini-lessons.’ This is when people learn in quick snapshots during activities such as commuting, on their lunch break or when they are simply waiting and have a few minutes to spare. However, whilst mLearning clearly has a growing presence in an increasingly mobile world, we can’t expect to transfer eLearning packages to mLearning because, when it comes down to it, people simply won’t spend hours consuming training materials on these small devices. With that said, mLearning is incredibly useful for people that feel they don’t have enough time or it can be to supplements other forms of training.