Delivering global e-learning programmes
Grahame Stehle
As the benefi ts of e-learning become more widely appreciated, some international organisations nevertheless remain wary of rolling out global e-learning solutions, due to concerns about the effort and expenditure required and fears of training content becoming ‘lost in translation’. If it is carried out appropriately, however, global e-learning offers an unbeatable, cost-effective solution for large multinational companies.
Training a workforce that is united by brand but dispersed across all geographical and cultural corners of the world requires a level of consistency that makes classroom training an unviable option. Aside from the logistical diffi culties of subject matter experts (SMEs) personally delivering their messages to a global mass of employees, it is unrealistic to assume that they will have mastered twenty languages along with their specialist subject matter.
This is where e-learning comes into its own, as a vehicle by which the messages of SMEs can reach the desired audience at an appropriate and convenient time for each individual employee. In addition, e-learning courses also distil SMEs’ knowledge into a form which can be reasonably easily altered to suit a particular purpose or context – through translation into different languages…