Bill Ticknor, senior vice-president of Mr. Lube Canada Inc., wasn't convinced that anyone ever read the voluminous training manuals and technical bulletins crammed onto bookshelves in back rooms at each of the Vancouver-based company's 87 franchise operations.
Yet his business is one that depends on a high level of competence from a geographically dispersed young work force with high employee turnover in an industry whose technology is becoming ever more sophisticated.
So Mr. Ticknor decided to close the book on Mr. Lube's neglected paper-based training and move to a Web-based e-learning system that not only serves up lessons in an easily accessible form, but also tracks who is learning what.
"And we're pretty darn sure it's working," says Mr. Ticknor, noting that employees are completing oil changes and vehicle safety checks more quickly, now that they are being coached with a learning management system, developed by Ottawa-based Acerra Learning Inc., a division of Algonquin College.
For Mr. Lube, as for many other organizations, e-learning technology now represents a compelling business proposition. It provides just-in-time on-the-job training to a wide range of employees in different geographical locations; it can present lessons in an interactive multimedia format that appeals to younger workers; it lets employees learn at their own pace, repeating lessons as often as they need to; it can be used to administer on-line tests; and it can monitor the progress of each employee, recording test scores and prompting individuals to complete or repeat certain lessons.
"We have seen an acceleration in demand," says Robert Paré, sales specialist for e-learning software at Markham, Ont.-based IBM Canada Ltd. "Two years ago, there was a lot of resistance because there was the perception that training people over the Internet would not be as efficient as training people in traditional ways, but it has come a long way since then."
"E-learning definitely has come of age. People are much more enlightened about its potential," says Kirsten Robinson, executive director of Acerra, one of many smaller Canadian companies vying with IBM and other technology giants such as SAP AG, Oracle Corp. and PeopleSoft Inc., now muscling into a potentially lucrative and rapidly growing market.
Framingham, Mass.-based International Data Corp. predicts that the worldwide corporate e-learning market will grow from $6.6-billion (U.S.) in 2002 to $23.7-billion in 2006. Spending by Canadian companies will likely grow at a similar rate, reaching $1.5-billion (Canadian) in 2006, according to Julie Kaufman, director of professional services at Toronto-based International Data Corp. (Canada) Ltd.
Ms. Kaufman says interest in e-learning in Canada has been at a very high level since 2001, but there was a lack of investment in the sector over the past two years and many companies put their plans on hold. She says the current trend is for Canadian companies not to make large-scale investments in enterprise-wide e-learning systems, but to make tactical ones in projects focused on specific business objectives with measurable results.
But early adopters of e-learning technology are getting spectacularly good results with the "enormous gains in effectiveness and cost," according to a report by the London, England-based consultancy Screen Digest Inc., which predicts that the initial success of e-learning will translate into a $50-billion (U.S.) worldwide market by the end of the decade.
One of the major breakthroughs that makes e-learning an attractive proposition today is the development of instant messaging and other Web-based tools -- many of them available for free -- that let teachers and students communicate and collaborate in real time over high-speed networks, says John Baggaley, professor of educational technology at Athabasca University, an Athabasca, Alta.-based institution that has been delivering distance education for more than 30 years. "It is making the process completely personal, completely interactive. It's a complete victory over the distances involved," he adds.
Soon, it will even be possible to teach people to play the piano on-line, as researchers are now experimenting with technology that will make it possible to play remotely over the Internet. Canada's advanced Internet organization CANARIE, the Royal Conservatory of Music and Yamaha Canada Music Ltd. are currently testing a system whereby every aspect of a piano player's performance can be digitally traced and sent over a high-speed network to operate another piano remotely at a different location. Researchers maintain that this system could eventually be used in conjunction with videoconferencing for conducting on-line examinations as well as music lessons.
While e-learning technology is improving, so too is the design of on-line courses, according to John Green, director of EPstar, the University of Waterloo's professional education diploma program. "In the past, it was like putting a book on-line, now the tools are being used more effectively," he says. He notes that his department's courses are presented on the Web in the form of a matrix in which each unit is colour-coded to show students which units they have started or completed, whether they have taken a test on that particular unit and whether they have passed it.
Learning management systems, the database software used to organize and administer an on-line training or education program, also provide constant feedback about how well students are doing, both individually and collectively.
This means that courses can be changed on the fly, as soon as it becomes apparent that the majority of students are having difficulty understanding any part of the course, Mr. Green says.
Mr. Ticknor says Mr. Lube's learning management system ensures that employees cannot continue with their training until they have read certain material and passed on-line tests. Also, at certain points in the program, mentors who are working with the trainee in the workplace must fill out on-line progress reports.
Like many other organizations now implementing e-learning systems, Mr. Lube is eventually planning to integrate its learning management technology with payroll, human resources and other corporate information systems. Mr. Ticknor says this will mean that all information about employees will be stored in the same place, making it possible to mine this data to get a better understanding of how well new recruits respond to the training programs.