E-Learning Perspectives: Slow Down, You Move Too Fast
By Elliott Masie

Some Things Really Need More Time. Much of the dialogue about e-learning focuses on speeding up the learning process. Many content companies promote the accelerated learning process as a key value proposition in their marketing. Most current e-learning implementations by corporations are, in part, focused on condensing the learning process. This is essential to the business application of learning.

Why would you want to slow learning down? The answer is similar to the reason behind speeding it up – to align the learning process with the business drivers and the needs and preferences of the learner.

S-l-o-w down!

A few examples of when you might want e-learning to occur more slowly:

An employee is targeted with a career plan that will take him to the position of plant manager in five years. What if he was provided with a slow-burn, five-year e-learning program that builds to that position? Rather than have assignments every week that required hours of training, wouldn't it be better to construct a program that only requires one module to be completed each quarter, enabling gradual progress? I get a great quarterly journal that I reserve a few hours to read cover to cover. If it came every week or month, it would probably go mostly unread.

A worker would like to pursue an MBA while continuing to work. Most distance learning programs focus on getting the person through the process in one, two, or perhaps three years. But what if the worker wanted to take 10 years to get his MBA because that's all he could afford in terms of both finances and time. It would never make sense to have a campus-based, 10-year program, but a blended one could be developed that would be a great delivery mechanism.

Sometimes, the objective of the learning process takes time to accomplish. Major behavioral changes are not attained by merely sending a person to a three-day course or its equivalent online program. The more significant change that is needed, the more time and internalization it takes. As a manager, I see the greatest change in employees who are part of an elongated learning process, rather than a condensed one.

Let it percolate

Some elements of e-learning automatically take time. Communities of learning take time to build trust among members. Coaching is often most effective over time. Simulation also has its greatest impact when used over multiple engagements.

It's wrong to assume that there is a preferred speed to learn. E-learning is all about aligning learning with business need and learning styles. I found this out personally. I am part of a partnership that just bought a race horse. Suddenly, I had to learn a new sport and business. I needed to learn some things very rapidly, prior to writing the first check. For that, I found some super-quick online courses. I would like to learn more about other topics dealing with horse racing and breeding, but I don't need speedy courses, so I will graze occasionally from a list of asynchronous small courses. I can't actually buy what I really want, which is a multiple year course with a slow engagement rate and ongoing access to expertise and coaching. So, I will probably under use the e-learning program and often not complete the online courses that I do purchase.

My learned lesson. Not all e-learning must be focused on speed. Learners and organizations must make the rate of learning and the duration of learning a strategic choice, and the content marketplace should provide those options.

As I think recall lasting information and tasks that I've learned, most of these were slowly absorbed, even if delivered quickly. As a learner, I need gas and brake pedals on my learning vehicle.

Reprinted from eLearning Magazine

Elliott Masie is president of The MASIE Center, the host of TechLearn 2001, and an e-learning magazine editorial advisory board member.