EDUCATION AND TRAINING: The Online Shift

In India, as in the Asia-Pacific region, the e-learning

market is likely to witness a sharp growth. "With recruitment managers

vying to recruit and retain talent, e-learning will assume a crucial part of any

organization’s strategy," says Joseph Chacko, head, operations, education

services, Tata Infotech.

According to IDC, with Indian IT training revenues reaching

$695 million by 2004, the country is expected to emerge as the leader in IT

training in the Asia-Pacific region. This will be a 7% jump from the current

market share of 21%.

The revenues from IT training are expected to increase to

$2.5 billion in 2004 from $981 million in 1999 as per recently released IDC (IDfigures

for the IT training market in the Asia-Pacific region. Of this, instructor-led

training (ILT) will constitute about 74% while tutorials on CD-ROM will make

about 16.5%. With the e-learning segment of the IT training market expected to

grow at a compound annual growth rate of 94%, revenue from e-learning is

expected to reach $235 million by 2004 from a mere $8.6 million in 1999.

Currently, ILT accounts for 87% of the total delivery media

in the Asia-Pacific region for the IT training market. By 2004, IDC expects this

to drop to 74%, with e-learning and CD-ROM tutorials challenging ILT as

alternative media to learning. While e-learning is not a solution for every

training need, it definitely offers a good low-cost answer to complement the

traditional training curriculum.

Corporates untapped

Individuals rather than the corporate training segment have

been the prime drivers of the IT training sector in India. Of the domestic IT

training market, estimated by DQ in 1999-2000 at Rs 1,561 crore, the individual

demand stood at a solid Rs 1,459 crore.

The

IT training market for the corporates is yet to bloom fully. The demand for

corporate training in India stood at a mere Rs 102 crore in 1999-2000, at an

estimated annual growth rate of 4%, according to the DQ Top 20 survey. The

reason is not hard to fathom. Most of the corporate training is usually done

in-house, leaving little room for the training companies. Companies like Infosys

have their own training schools in their campuses, which take care of the

required skill upgradation. However, major demand is expected to come from the

middle-rung companies, which cannot afford huge campuses and dedicated teaching

staff. Also, e-learning is now being viewed as an increasingly competitive

weapon. "The dynamism of the skill enhancement requirements will force

training managers to evaluate and adopt virtual classrooms," says Chacko.

"Online learning amounts to the clearly visible paradigm

shift in the methodology and acceptance of new modes of training," says

Chacko. Class dynamics can often provide different outcomes and ILT may not

always guarantee that the same quality of information is provided to all

students. The structure of e-learning allows one course to train thousands of

students providing timely, consistent and accurate training.

The Indian online learning market scenario is dominated by IT

training with non-IT related training yet to establish itself. The reason for

this is two-fold, according to Shantanu Prakash, CEO, Educomp Datamatics. He

says, "Except in the field of IT training, there are very few content

creation companies available and even fewer solution providers. Also, setting up

an e-learning site is an extremely complicated task."

In India, IT training majors like NIIT and Aptech have taken

e-learning initiatives–NIIT with its netvarsity.com and Aptech with

aptechonlinevarsity.com. They provide courses ranging from computer fundamentals

to designing Web pages to Java.

The impediments

Although the e-learning market is poised to take off in a big

way, players realize there are serious impediments. Regulations, bureaucracy and

poor Internet infrastructure are just a few of the obstacles. Issues such as

limited bandwidth and slow download speed must be resolved to facilitate growth

of the e-learning market. "As a nation we are yet to achieve e-business

ready conditions," says Chacko.

Perhaps the more serious problem that online learning may

face could be the Indian mindset that education is best received when the

teacher drills it into you through repetitions or personal attention or even

punishing the student. The question here is, do we really need to be spoon-fed?

Is an average individual incapable of utilizing facilities, made available to

him for his own enhancement, in a responsible fashion?

However, these could be things of the past as people

increasingly realize the advantages of e-learning. Experts state that online

training can enable a 50% time saving and a 40—60% cost saving compared to

regular classroom training. However, the biggest advantage is not the cost or

the speed, it is in fact the convenience–students can effectively learn when

they can afford the time, wherever they are.

The need for e-learning services is becoming increasingly

clear, with expectations of "asynchronous" or "synchronous"

(real-time) learning experiences on the rise. The new learning environment will

have a learner-centric focus. Much will depend on the availability of

high-quality content.

The Internet has brought with it pioneering ways of education, which may

prove to be efficient and cheaper than the conventional classroom approach.

Lifelong, perpetual learning is now becoming a reality. Online learning, or

e-learning, has had an impact on all areas of training, ranging from engineering

to accounting to business management to IT. DQ