Elearning is
constantly evolving, and so are its uses in both academia and the corporate
world. Looking at the trends of elearning provides useful insight into what is
working and what is not. Every year, Elearning Magazine administers a survey to
their readers asking for their input into some of the more key areas of
elearning. Their study has shown that over the past year, the most important
training programs are as follows:
Compliance
Product
Training
Professional/Industry
Training
Desktop/IT
Training
Number one
doesn’t surprise me much as it is often the easiest to create elearning for
(and ultimately the most cost effective given that they are pretty change
adverse). There is still very much a need for compliance training to be
developed as some organization still rely on dated methods. I would estimate
that professional/industry training begins to gain some ground though as more
people are looking for certifications through distance learning.
Another part
that I found interesting from their survey is that respondents indicated that they plan to
invest nearly 240% more into elearning in 2013. This was a similar pattern
found in the previous year’s report, and the data is backing it up as a
reported $1.46 million was spent in 2011 compared to the $3.5 million spent in
2012.
I’m going to
make a guess that we’ll see somewhere in the realm of $4.1 million in 2013.
This is merely speculation though as I anticipate the mobile learning industry
will drive much of the continuing growth. New technologies and specifications
(such as TinCan API) are leading the charge, giving the rise to a boatload of
startups all over the world.
As many
instructional designers and elearning professionals know, this industry is
growing every year, it’s really starting to turn heads. The likes of Google are
now entering the elearning industry, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see others
follow, and the overall demand for skilled instructional designers and
technologists to grow. Exciting times we live in!
No comments:
Post a Comment