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January 3, 2000

Learn At A Distance
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Partnering with DigitalThink Inc., which provides training courses via the Web for IT professionals, Schwab is developing a learning center specifically for its electronic brokerage unit, says Janet Lecuyer, VP of interactive investor education. The Learning Center will provide investment education, which in turn will reduce customer information requests.

Before moving online, Schwab's interactive investor unit offered traditional training for current and potential investors at 310 nationwide branch offices. Although it plans to continue that effort, moving training online will make learning more accessible to more clients, Lecuyer says.

The company has 3 million active online accounts, with $264 billion in customer assets. "As more people and investors come online, there's a broader range of consumers to educate, and the Web is a perfect vehicle for learning. It's part of our overall strategy to help consumers make investment decisions," Lecuyer says. The Learning Center was slated to launch in December, and Schwab plans to offer dozens of course modules--from basic to expert investing information--by the end of 2000. "This is a way to build relationships with potential new customers and service our existing customers as well," she says.

Also rolling out E-learning to customers and employees is IBM Learning Services, part of IBM Global Services. In conjunction with etNetworks Inc., an Internet education services broadcaster, IBM was preparing at year's end to deliver educational programming over 10 satellite channels to business partners, employees, and, eventually, to higher-education facilities.

The IBM Learning Services Network will provide IBM instruction and curriculum around-the-clock to subscribers. The company aims to move from 80% classroom training to at least 50% technology-based programming, says Jeff Krider, director of offerings, Americas. The approach provides a quicker, more customized learning method, according to IBM, and for about $1,000 per user, customers can access up to 5,000 hours of training content broadcasts that can be viewed repeatedly. Krider says users can subscribe to training broadcasts on a flat-rate basis that will also encourage enrollment. But IBM, too, wants to take the next step with its offerings. Future satellite courses will be interactive via a Web site where students can engage in threaded discussions and access a database of frequently asked questions.

Still, not many companies are likely to follow IBM's footsteps. Lockheed's Vicek has dismissed satellite courses and videoconferencing, citing a lack of interactivity and describing them as nothing more than a "college lecture format." Several vendor solutions offer nothing more than online meeting tools, he says, which don't meet his needs, either. Engaging students and keeping them involved in the classroom are crucial to successful higher education, Vicek says. Lockheed's team, now on the second of five product pilots, is trying out KnowledgeNet Live from KnowledgeNet.

KnowledgeNet Live is based on the traditional classroom model and uses audio and graphic applications to let students interact with the instructor and classroom activities. Students can post comments to one instructor while another continues teaching. Course instruction is broken into three-hour sections delivered once a week by KnowledgeNet instructors. There's also a 12-week mentor program featuring access to experts around the clock.

The company also offers a self-study module, KnowledgeNet Interactive, that customizes course content. "The Web is very dynamic and puts all the resources at the student's fingertips," Vicek says. The challenge, he says, is realizing that content is more important than technology. In his quest for better training options, Vicek has lined up two more vendor pilots in early 2000 and hopes to choose a learning solution by midyear.

From all accounts, computer-based training self-study still works for many companies. Analysts predict computer-based training usage will peak this year, and Web learning won't eclipse it until 2003. "Many people are jumping to Web-based and Internet learning because they are enamored of the technology, but computer-based training still remains part of the program," says Lisa Neal, a senior research engineer at EDS and a longtime corporate training specialist.

The obstacles in replicating the traditional environment online can't be underestimated, and there are discrepancies in measuring its effectiveness, adds Elliot Masie, president of the Masie Center, a Saratoga Springs, N.Y., think tank focused on learning and technology. "The conversation about distance learning must move rapidly from the 'cool' aspect to building digital collaboration environments," he says.

Return on investment is another stumbling block. While some vendors are giving flat rates or subscriptions based on user populations, a standard has yet to be set. No one has established what a one-hour course should cost or what a five-week Internet program is worth, Masie says.

The Masie Center and the American Society for Training and Development partnered in November to study critical success factors involved in E-learning technologies. "We've seen a lot of evidence and good examples that it works, but we're at the beginning of experimentation and exploration with this training technology," Masie says.

Even with its uncertainties, E-learning's potential appears strong. "The technology is everything everyone makes it out to be," Masie says, "but the challenge is that the technology is preceding the art form. It's just going to be a few years before it arrives as promised and before everyone can support it."

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