Telework
and Vocational Training: Distance or e-Learning for Remote Workers
Nicole Turbé-Suetens
This report has been produced with the support of the
European Commission, DG Employment and Social Affairs, under the European
Social Fund (article 6). Views expressed within the report are those of the
author and do not reflect the views of the European Commission.
Euro-Telework
Nicole
Turbé-Suetens © November 2000
http://www.euro-telework.org
CONTENTS
0. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
1.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING IN THE KNOWLEDGE
SOCIETY
2.
THE
E-LEARNING PROCESS
3. E-LEARNING
PLATFORMS
3.1 Products and suppliers
3.1.1 Ariadne
3.1.2 Campus Virtuel
3.1.3 CourseInfo
3.1.4 DOCENT
3.1.5 Ingenium
3.1.6 Lotus (LearningSpace)
3.1.7 LUVIT
3.1.8 Top Class
3.1.9 VirtualU
3.1.10 WebCT
3.2 Characteristics of a platform
3.3 Pricing
4. E-PEDAGOGY
5. E-COURSES
6.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR TELE-ACTIVITIES
6.1
Belgium
6.2
Denmark
6.3
Finland
6.4
France
6.5
Germany
6.6
Ireland
6.7
Italy
6.8
Portugal
6.9
Spain
6.10
United Kingdom
7. CONCLUSIONS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
0. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Rapid growth in the use of the Internet
over the last few years has had a considerable impact on economies. It is not
simply a matter of the 'new economy', but of a transformation of all enterprise
processes, new employer-employee relationships deriving from new ways of
organising work, and the necessary link with knowledge which is becoming vital.
Knowledge is now a recognised element of competitiveness, and that in turn
means it must be easily accessible to everyone at all times. In the field of
vocational training, this has brought about nothing short of a revolution, with
most training packages still organised according to models that are quickly
becoming archaic – in other words, with people obliged to go to a particular
place on a particular time to undergo training delivered by 'a person who
knows', and therefore in receiving mode rather than in one of ongoing or
regular exchange. Apart from being tedious, this traditional formula tends to
promote segregated access to knowledge, and in particular takes no account of
something that has become a key factor in the business world: time and speed in
the context of globalisation.
This summarised report on vocational
training for tele-activities in Europe reports on some current training
programmes, and also seeks to draw up a list of needs, and of the pedagogical
tools that are in use and available. The research that went into producing this
report has revealed a fact of the highest significance: that tele-training is
an extremely volatile issue that is being constructed in a constantly changing
environment. For example, products and producers are difficult to identify
because the plethora of disappearances, mergers/absorptions, partnerships and
new companies means one has to be permanently on the alert if one wants to
sufficiently well informed to choose tools and adapt to those that derive most
benefit from the use of new technology.
It is worth noting that an exhaustive study of the comparative analysis of
e-learning platforms conducted by French researchers in 1999-2000 largely
identified different products from year to year because of these movements.
Clearly, e-learning and distance learning involving intensive use of
technology, including the Internet, constitute a new, fast-growing activity. The reason for that is simple. One
the one hand, there has been a fairly collective, growing awareness of the
importance of knowledge; on the other hand, more and more people need to be
able to train up quickly as the need arises,
and, if possible without having to travel too far, in order to become
more efficient at their jobs.
If one considers the kind of training
designed to enable teleworkers of the future, whether they are employed or
entrepreneurs, to offer tele-service activities, clearly one's first thought is
the fact that some training should – at least in part – be available on a
distance-learning basis through the use of existing technological resources.
Sadly, this is not the case. For
one thing, there are very few
training packages specifically on the subject,
and those that do exist are often based on very traditional teaching methods.
Things are moving quickly and products on the market are changing fast, but
there are still parts of Europe where it is hard to train up for teleworking.
However, it is also becoming easier to put together a telework training package
based on e-learning simply by 'shopping around'. Training programmes of this sort frequently have a
significant technological component: indeed, e-learning packages based on IT
(e.g. materials, office technology, presentation, publication, communications
and the Internet) are in plentiful supply on all markets. The phenomenon took
shape in a single year. It is now quite easy, if you are prepared to go to some
trouble, to train up for a very reasonable sum of money.
The report provides a summary of the
various components of e-learning, namely platforms, teaching methods and
curricula. It also contains a long, but not exhaustive, list of the main
websites designed to help readers to find their way about, and choose some to
add to their lists of 'favourites'. It stands to reason that such a list does
not remain up-to-date for long. That is why there are plans to update the http://www.euro-telework.org website regularly until the end of the
year, and then another site yet to be determined, and whose address will be
communicated in due course.
The summary reveals that products have
been developed in academic institutions both in the United States and in
Europe. It is important to acknowledge the energy with which the academic
community the world over is setting up virtual universities and virtual
campuses. This return to university study has been accompanied by the
development of new diplomas for which students can prepare via distance
learning and in ways that involve quite different teaching methods and
relationships. Disciplines of all kinds – from technical subjects at
engineering school and in commerce to management and law – are affected. When
the children now at school, college or high school (where they are growing
increasingly familiar with computers, multimedia and communications media and
cooperative working) get to university, they will find it perfectly natural to
work on a virtual campus.
All of this – and it is where the report
concludes – forces us to think very seriously about the extraordinary
transformation that is taking place, and which will result in a radical change
in the relationships and organisation of work in the coming years. It follows
that today's enterprises and employees must carry out an urgent review of their
in-house training programmes and courses, and enable as many as possible to
learn how to use technological tools, and to access the training modules they
need to maintain and improve the level of their competences. Many large
enterprises have already acknowledged this and have set up, or are in the
process of setting up, in-house virtual campuses for their staff. The number of
company universities in the United States has risen from 400 to 1,600 in the
last ten years, and they are forecast to overtake academic universities by
2010. According to an IDC study, the amount of e-learning is expected to
increase no less spectacularly from €64m in 2000 to €244m in 2004.
1. VOCATIONAL
TRAINING IN THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
The Information Society is becoming
increasingly known as the Knowledge Society in which knowledge is becoming a
real asset for corporations and, of course, for individuals too. Knowledge is
being capitalised amongst groups who share values and objectives; knowledge is
becoming a sharable value; and knowledge is evolving continuously. It is
turning the learning/training phenomenon into a central issue of society.
In the traditional 'industrial society',
people were trained when needed to adapt to tools, or to prepare for
hierarchical progression. In the 'information society', more and more workers
are concentrated on data refining, transformation and distribution. This can be
increasingly done from anywhere thanks to ICT, and there is rapid, constant
change. This means that more and more workers (and the same is true of
citizens) need to be able to adapt themselves very quickly when they need to,
and at their own pace when they choose to. This means that education/training
materials must become increasingly available at any time from any place.
One example that illustrates this new
behaviour is the 'knowledge team' established by the Finnish Ministry of Labour in 1997: it
produced an intermediary report, and has continued to study the issue with a
new team since June 1999 (Finnish
Ministry of Labour, 1997). The learning process and the
access to knowledge is key: '… methods of lifelong learning and the
organisation of learning can be applied at workplace level, not only to manage
work but also to achieve continuous improvement and implement qualitative
progressive steps.' Interestingly enough, this document also establishes the
relationship between learning, education and creativity, and clearly sets out
the roles of standard education and vocational knowledge. Altogether this shows
how important it is to an individual to have access to the various levels of
knowledge at any time during his/her life in order to be able to decide alone
how to develop and how to adapt to the new constraints of society. No one
starts life equal. It should be possible for anyone to catch up at any time, as
it will increasingly become the result of an individual decision.
Distance learning has been around for
many years, and it must be conceded that it has not necessarily been very
successful even though providers have offered a better mix of media to make
courses more attractive. Globally speaking, after the poor showing of the
emerging computer-aided learning in the 1980s, many people thought that video
and sound would make all the difference. However, courses based on CD-Roms have
not created the huge market that was anticipated. In fact, in many cases, the
CD-Rom simply replaced paper + audio, or paper + video, and this new
pedagogical approach made little headway. Things are now changing with the
Internet offering real interactivity at an affordable cost, and more and more
people being computer-literate and having equipment at home and/or in the
office. This phenomenon is very new and is expanding fast. Unfortunately,
Europe is coming to it late, and the USA is taking advantage. Europe will have
to react quickly to avoid being in the position of simply using translated
American materials.
Some figures may give a sharper insight
into this situation. A report published by Arthur Andersen France in April 2000
(Arthur Andersen, 2000) and a subsequent one published by the three French
specialist bodies (Aska, Le Préau, Klr.fr, 2000), are some of the most recent
documents on the subject.
The figures quoted in their research are
impressive:
·
web-training will account for 50% of
the training market by 2005
·
ICT training covers 60% of training in
2000, and should be less than 50% around 2003, according to the US-based
research organisation, IDC
·
Master's degrees will be increasingly
delivered online
·
the American e-learning market
represented $92 million in 1996 (IDC) and $197 million in 1997 (US Bureau of
Census); in 2002, 60% of training expenses in the USA will go on e-learning,
and revenue is likely to top $10 billion in 2002 (IDC)
·
New Media Think Tank expects all
American corporations to use e-learning, principally those with complex
products and remote workers
·
corporate universities will become
corporate e-campuses
·
there is a direct link between the
'explosion' of the e-learning market and the number of computers and Internet
connections in homes and offices: to compare with the situation in the USA and
estimate the measures that Europe will have to take to close the gap, it is
worth bearing in mind that 60% of US households will have a computer in the
home by 2002, 92% of secondary school students have access to a computer, 55%
of students have a personal computer, and 1 computer was available to 1.6
employees in early 1999. In this context, it is important to remember that 57%
of Internet users at the end of 1998 were Americans. Of course, this is
changing at a dramatic pace, but Europe will have to change really quickly to
catch up, principally in the use field
We will conclude this section with Table
1, clearly showing how the use of training provision will start to change in
2001, and that by 2005 the trend will have finally reversed in favour of
distance or e-learning solutions.
Table 1:
Growth in revenues from training provision, $ billion. (Source: Aska, Le Préau.
Klr.fr, 2000)
|
Year:
|
'94
|
'95
|
'96
|
'97
|
'98
|
'99
|
'00
|
'01
|
'02
|
'03
|
'04
|
'05
|
|
Total
|
50.6
|
52.2
|
55.7
|
58.6
|
60.7
|
63.1
|
65.7
|
68.3
|
71.0
|
73.9
|
76.8
|
79.1
|
|
E-learning
|
0.02
|
0.05
|
0.1
|
0.23
|
0.5
|
1
|
2
|
3.6
|
6.3
|
11
|
19
|
34
|
|
Traditional
|
50.6
|
52.2
|
55.6
|
58.4
|
60.2
|
62.1
|
63.7
|
64.7
|
64.7
|
62.8
|
57.5
|
45.3
|
2. THE
E-LEARNING PROCESS
Most vocational training these days is
still delivered in a very traditional classroom format despite the fact that
Computer Aided Systems and authoring tools have been around for over 20 years.
It has to be admitted that most courses were unappealing and usually quite
expensive. They were unappealing mainly for two reasons: poor display quality
on most computers until the graphical interface became standard on PCs, and the
fact that few trainers understood that they had to fundamentally change their
teaching methods model and their role. In fact, most courses were designed for
the trainee to be alone, and in most of the cases (i.e. about 80% of the time)
people dropped out.
Things changed radically with the spread
of networks within organisations (intranets) and the increased use of the
Internet, but the main change was that it was now possible to create attractive
material and handle an interactive relationship between trainer and trainee.
However, there have been few really good examples. Most large corporations are
testing systems and conducting pilot projects because they realise that they
need to completely change the way training is delivered to workers who are
increasingly becoming e-workers. In this field, the process of change is slow,
but this can be easily explained. Implementing e-learning in an organisation
requires:
·
the availability of good quality
secured networks
·
the acceptance of new tools by users
·
a choice between an educational platform,
providers and ASPs
·
the definition and development (or
acquisition) of contents
·
the existence of trainers who become
'tutors', 'mentors' or 'coaches'
·
the possibility of capitalising the
knowledge of the organisation
·
and, of course, the fact that
everybody is familiar with the use of a PC, e-mail etc.
This cannot be done in a month or two,
and it also requires a strategic decision within the organisation as well as
investment and time – not forgetting a credible sponsor to foster the process
of change. Experience shows that this takes at least a year from the point when
it is decided to implement an e-learning facility in the organisation to the
point when workers use it spontaneously. This is the best case, when
communications and pilot testing have been successfully addressed within the
organisation.
However, as e-learning becomes one of the
organisation's competitive tools, as if they were new methods of work, it is
sure to develop, and hopefully best practices will become available.
In April, Arthur Andersen published a
study in France reporting that only 12% of the companies interviewed (74
companies in all) used the Internet for training purposes, and that 22% used
their intranet. By comparison, the USA spends 60% of its training budget on
e-learning alone! Still a long way to go. However, an IDC study published
earlier this year gives a very optimistic forecast for the development of
online training in Europe, predicting a 42% growth in the market each year: in
figures, this means a turnover generated by online education of €64 million in
2000 to a turnover of €244 million in 2004.
Table 2: Prioritising needs for
'industrialising' distance learning. (Source: Aska, Le Préau, Klr.fr, 2000)
|
Need
|
Reasons for industrialising
|
|
Constraints/Dilemmas
|
|
Organise the training facility
|
|
|
Reconcile jobs, the training offer and delivery of the
training
|
|
Organise pedagogical resources
|
Capitalise resources and
uses, keep up-to-date
|
|
Reconcile the approach based on standard pedagogical cost
killers and the number of authors, formats and new pedagogical approaches
|
|
Manage enrolments
|
|
|
Reconcile a personalised and decentralised approach,
taking into account the characteristics of the trainees and the efficiency
resulting from automatic and batch treatment
|
|
Deliver
|
Develop responsibility, decentralise and establish
relationships between the people and their resources
|
|
Reconcile the use of a range of resources, the visibility
of training paths, their dynamics and economics, and the efficiency of
communication
|
|
Administer
|
Optimise technical resources
|
|
Distribute all kinds of resources, rich media (e.g.
sound, images and video) and guarantee satisfactory access times
|
With this information and with some
certainty of growth, the main issue is how to identify the success criteria for
implementing e-learning. Most corporations are willing to erect real
distance-learning platforms in order to manage the whole training process.
The chart below attempts to identify and
classify an organisation's needs and priorities. Available products vary
considerably, and in order to carry out the 'industrialisation' of the distance
learning process, it is important to prioritise needs clearly (see Table 2).
The challenge faced by corporations will
most probably be the re-engineering of the whole training process: they have to
make choices that involve links between the new tools and the organisation,
technical choices and priorities, and putting in place the right resources and
HR management as well as the pedagogy itself. All these choices will
incorporate three actions or decisions that are far beyond the price issue of
the product itself:
·
implement customised, distributed
training 'industrially'
·
rationalise the training process from
information to evaluation of the results
·
invest upfront in order to reduce
operational expenses
Globally speaking, the structure of the
new process, which represents the basic functions of a platform, will most
probably resemble the diagram shown in Figure 1.
Fig.1: The
structure of the training process. (Source: Aska, Le Préau, Klr.fr, 2000)
3. E-LEARNING
PLATFORMS
The first platforms appeared in the 1990s
(mostly in the second half), and were mainly aimed at helping course developers
and trainers in the major pedagogical functions of distance learning. For the
most part, this meant:
·
production and integration of
pedagogical resources
·
presentation of training programmes
·
dissemination and access to resources
·
building individual customised
training paths
·
management and follow-up of training
paths
·
coaching
·
financial and technical administration
In ten years, the various functions of a
platform have become increasingly integrated, and now represent a real benefit
(in terms of finance and effectiveness) in the management of training. The
above scheme represents the main functions of the available platforms. The
offer has changed dramatically over the years, particularly last year. The rapid
evolution of Internet use has also generated the phenomena of portals.
Portals represent a totally different
approach based on marketing and service. They aim to be 'one-stop shops' where
the potential customer or user will find all the information about what is
available on the market. They are also a way of capturing targeted audiences
for providers. The concept can be compared to a shopping mall where the
customer can decide how much to buy from available services. It is briefly
summarised in Figure 2.
Fig. 2: The portal/mall model. (Source: Aska, Le Préau, Klr.fr, 2000)
This new way of selling training has
existed in the USA for about two years, and is just starting up in Europe.
Enterprises that chose this approach were mostly companies selling CBT. Moving
to the portal technology enables them to present a global offering where
customers will buy exactly what they need, and find out about what is available
on the market.
Major players on this market include
SmartForce, which had the highest receipts in 1999, FT Knowledge, Smart Planet
from Ziff Davis and Studi.com. Most still have problems in making any profit,
and in some cases still need to position themselves to be in the BtoB or BtoC
world.
Most portals were created in 1999 even
where the original company was already in existence. This is part of
reinventing a business to fit in with a new market trend. For example,
Asymetrix became Click2learn; SmartForce was created out of CBT Systems, itself
set up in 1984; FT Knowledge comes from Financial Time Management; and
Studi.com was originally Cyberion + Tag Interactive. So far, most have been
trying to position their offer on the BtoB market; only SmartPlanet
deliberately chose BtoC.
Let us now concentrate on the platforms,
as they represent a strategic decision for corporations; they also represent
the most advanced technology, and facilitate total management of distance
training in a given organisation, or for a given training company. The
aforementioned French study published by Aska, Le Préau (Paris Chamber of
Commerce), and Klr.fr at the end of 1999 (updated in August 2000) is one of the
few available documents that attempt to compare existing platforms. It was
based on data made available by the suppliers, and on the knowledge of the authors
of practical examples using those platforms. Most of the products are recent,
and are still regularly updated and adapted to the evolving technologies,
mainly the Internet. It is interesting to note that of the nine platforms
presented in 1999, most were no longer in existence in 2000, and that major
'moves' have occurred over the last few months:
·
ORACLE abandoned OLA
·
IBM abandoned DLS
·
Macromedia sold Pathware to Lotus
·
Citcom is no longer selling WebTutor
·
Sybase is no longer selling NGL
·
Asymetrix replaced Librarian with
Ingenium
·
Lotus integrated Pathware into
LearningSpace
Products like CourseInfo, WebCT,
TopClass, and VirtualU have evolved on a regular basis, and two new French
platforms have become available and are included in the comparison chart
presented in this report: they are Sylfide and Plei@d.
A brief presentation of these platforms
and their major characteristics is probably helpful before putting them into a
comparative chart. The chart might become a practical tool for readers who wish
to keep the information up-to-date in the near future.
3.1 Products
and suppliers
This brief overview of the available
offer is based on the August 2000 version of the report produced by Aska, Le
Préau, and Klr.fr. The intention is not to present a fully exhaustive
comparison, but only to present some of the most popular platforms and, where
possible, indicate if European language versions are on the market.
3.1.1 ARIADNE: http://ariadne.unil.ch
The name stands for Alliance of Remote
Instructional Authoring and Distribution Networks for Europe; it has 15 servers
throughout Europe with pedagogical material made available to the members of
the Association. Pricing varies according to use. A consortium is being set up
to sell and distribute the platform.
3.1.2 Campus Virtuel: http://www.archimed.fr
This French product has been on the
market since July 2000; it was jointly developed by the Archimed company
(specialists in workflow technology) and the University of Lille. It enables
genuine cooperative work among students, and includes a virtual desk.
3.1.3 CourseInfo:
http://www.blackboard.com
This platform was created in 1997 by the
Blackboard company, a Washington-based software publisher. They have had a
European subsidiary based in Amsterdam since March 2000. Version 5 has been
available since June 2000.
3.1.4 DOCENT:
http://www.docent.com
The DOCENT platform is published by
Mountain View (Stanford, USA), a company that initially specialised in
evaluation tools. A European subsidiary was set up in March 2000, and a Paris
office was opened in September 2000. DOCENT covers the whole training process
from the learner's competences assessment to full integration of the content
and measurement of the impact of the training on company performance. A mobile
version is available for learners on the move.
3.1.5 Ingenium:
http://www.x-perteam.com
The American publisher Asymetrix dropped
Librarian in favour of Ingenium with large corporations as target market. The
Ingenium platform organises training from the point of view of competences,
resources and administration.
3.1.6.
Lotus (LearningSpace): http://www.lotus.com/learningspace
Lotus is an IBM subsidiary owner of Lotus
Notes and Domino. IBM got rid of its own platform DLS a few months ago and
Lotus acquired Pathware from Macromedia, which is becoming the core of
LearningSpace. LearningSpace should be available in 15 languages by the end of
2000. One of the product's main developments is that it is now based on a
relational database (SGBD SQL server, Oracle or IBM DB2) and no longer requires
the use of Domino or Lotus software.
3.1.7 LUVIT:
http://www.luvit.com
Initially developed by the University of
Lund (Sweden), this platform is now a commercial product sold by the LUVIT
company. It is used by one of the major Swedish unions (SIF), and is already
available in the major European languages (English, French, German and Spanish
in addition to the Scandinavian languages).
3.1.8 TopClass:
http://www.wbtsystems.com
This platform has been marketed since
1995 by WBTSystems with major partners like Sun and Oracle. It is compatible
with many contents available on the market, and there is no intention to set up
subsidiaries in other countries. It has a distribution policy through partners
like HyperOffice in France.
3.1.9 VirtualU:
http://www.vlei.com/vu_overview.html
Another Canadian platform available in
English, Spa
