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E-learning execs perform self-examination
Tuesday, July 09 2002
by Matthew Clark


At an e-learning conference held in Dublin on Tuesday, industry executives came
to a consensus, claiming the sector still has a long way to go. 





During the height of the dot-com boom, e-learning was touted as the way of the
future. And even in the midst of the dot-bomb, the sector bucked the collapse of
the IT industry, promising cost savings for cash-strapped blue chips. 





But on Wednesday a number of top industry executives, from Ireland and abroad,
discussed the present state of the sector as well as its future status, admitting
that the industry was not living up to expectations. Kieran McBride, the chief
executive at Irish localisation company Transware, may have summed up the notions
of some attendees best when he said, "The e-learning plane has not left the
runway; the ship has not left the slip; there just isn't any content." 





In the wake of the dot-com collapse, the sector was pegged as a major cost
cutting tool for companies worried about their bottom lines. "Unfortunately the
CFO is a heck of a lot more suspicious with claims about technology in general
than he was three or four years ago; and perhaps rightfully so," said Greg
Priest, chief executive of Irish e-leaning giant SmartForce. 

 





Nevertheless, Elliott Masie, the person behind the Third Annual International
E-Learning Festival and head of the New York-based think-tank, the Masie Center,
told ElectricNews.Net that the e-learning sector is in fact at the point where
industry leaders thought it would be four years ago. "Although demand seems to
be high, we are still in the early days," he said.  





Moreover, he, and most of the other speakers at the three-day event held in
Dublin's Burlington Hotel, remain confident of where the industry is going. Masie
paints a picture of an e-learning environment where learning becomes an integral
part of any business process, is easy to use and runs on standard technologies. 





What Priest, Masie and some of the other executives also envision is a world
where e-learning applications are deployed in a plug and play environment, and
corporations who wish to train employees can select different applications from
different vendors. Another point the speakers made was that e-learning will
eventually be seen primarily for its ability, not to cut costs, but to make
workers more productive, easier to train, and smarter, Masie said. 





Still, most of the panel agreed, in one year's time the e-learning world will
still look much the same as it does today, which according to end users is fairly
disappointing. In fact Masie pointed out that despite some of the hype and
predictions about what users can expect in the future, the number one application
currently used for developing new e-learning content is still PowerPoint. 





But he told ElectricNews.Net that in three years, the use of applications such as
instant messaging and even games would make the sector much more compelling. "In
a few years time, I think the killer e-learning 'app' will be simulations, which
will grow out of the use of games," Masie said.





Also over the next few years, big industry players such as SmartForce will
continue to hunt for acquisitions, Masie predicted, commenting on the firm's
proposed merger with  SkillSoft. "I see them making one or two more
acquisitions after that," he said. At the same time bigger, more established
software firms will enter the fray, Masie believes, pointing to the likes of SAP,
PeopleSoft and Oracle. 





Other forecasts by Masie include the use of e-learning tools for everyone, from
patients to steel workers and from office managers to consumers.