For the director of a Canadian nonprofit (who asked to remain anonymous), e-learning is a chance to be responsive to those his organization serves. Although the group offers live, face-to-face trainings, not all who would like to attend can at the specific days and times the sessions are offered. Because the audience is nonprofit volunteers, making online options available for them on their own time and at their convenience allows these busy people to focus on helping the organizations they serve, rather than dealing with scheduling minutiae.
The classroom trainings began in 2000, and in spring 2002, this Canadian nonprofit went online with two modules; two more modules were added a year and a half ago, in spring 2003. In addition to ease for initial training, the online modules provide continuing education to volunteers, keeping them around longer and making them more effective. As the director says, “Each module we add, that’s an opportunity to communicate and market, to raise greater awareness to a broader audience.” And it’s working: Approximately 50 percent of their audience uses the online modules, with between 3,000 and 4,000 users taking advantage since the introduction of the first online modules. With the addition of the online training, the audience the nonprofit serves has shifted--gotten younger, more ethnically diverse, with more females than males--all good for demographic diversity in the sector.
Barbara Field, from the California Institute for Mental Health (CIMH), says simply, “Cost is huge for us.” The California Behavioral Systems Coalition Project includes 21 counties and has been working together since 2003 to evaluate, select, and implement behavioral health information systems for their counties. “We conducted over a hundred collaborative meetings for the development of the RFI and RFP. Fifty product demonstrations by vendors were conducted via Web conference software,” Barbara reports. Online collaboration tools made it possible for a geographically dispersed audience to review and discuss efficiently and cost-effectively, without travel. In addition to collaborative projects, CIMH also uses online tools to educate county public mental health staff and stakeholders on topics such as assisting people with criminal records.
Challenges for Online Learning Initiatives: Technophobia, Ongoing Maintenance
Although Jim Carroll of the Breast Cancer Fund sees great potential for online training to save money and to make scheduling easier, his limited experience with it has not been positive. Jim was one of a small group who received training using Web conferencing and a conference call. Because it was new technology for the group, it took a long time to get the training underway, and people didn’t feel they could ask questions, despite their confusion: “This led to a lack of discipline in the room; people were easily distracted, talking amongst themselves, trying to figure out what was going on. People didn’t act as respectful or use the same social decorum as they would have if the trainer were in the room.”
Barbara, from CIMH, who has a background in technology and provides technical assistance, warns, “Know your audience. Don't assume they will embrace the technology even if their budgets for travel have been shredded. Nothing is still easier than something new.”
For the director of the Canadian nonprofit, the challenge isn’t so much the technology itself but maintaining the content. Updating the online modules has proven tricky, as changes have to go through the company who hosts their e-learning; links to Web sites and documents go bad faster than they can be replaced. Another sticky point is reporting. The hosting company’s and the nonprofit’s databases are not integrated, so it’s difficult to confirm who has completed training and even to know accurately how many are using the online modules.
In a range of possible problems, some are more attractive than others. For Vicki Dufour, executive director of Adoption Learning Partners, an e-learning resource for the adoption community, “The biggest challenge has been dealing with the overwhelming success of the initiative. While we expected it would be well received, we were not prepared for the volume and for the administrative challenges of becoming an official training resource for adoption agencies.”
Practical Advice: Taking Time, Taking Ownership
The director of the Canadian nonprofit, Jim, Barbara, and Vicki all stressed taking time to do things right, both before--preparation--and after--evaluation.
The director of the Canadian nonprofit cautions against a build-it-and-they-will-come attitude. He advises, “Do research to determine if the demand is really there.” If the demand is there, he suggests looking for an off-the-shelf product before jumping straight to custom development. And, even if custom development is needed, you don’t have to go it alone--look for opportunities to collaborate with other organizations.
Barbara admits, “We launched without testing the software enough. It was ugly, and people are still gun-shy. But we’re slowly winning them back.” To prevent an online training from confirming technophobes’ fears, she stresses one thing: “Simplicity!”
The next time his group holds a synchronous online training session, Jim plans to have a pre-training meeting to review the technology and the format to ensure participants are given the opportunity to ask questions. He also recommends a survey after the training to solicit feedback from the participants.
“Set realistic time frames, but do not underestimate the amount of time it takes to develop quality programming,” Vicki counsels. “We were convinced that the first course would have to hit a home run, or we would most likely not get a second chance to establish the quality and credibility of the program. This took more time than expected--but the result is that, early on, Adoption Learning Partners was recognized and endorsed by the professional adoption community.” Over 10,000 users have registered at the Web site, and there have been over 13,000 enrollments since Adoption Learning partners launched its first online course, Conspicuous Families: Race, Culture, and Adoption, in July 2002 (now there are six courses available, with two more in development). More importantly, the users like the courses. In over 5,500 completed course evaluations, 96 percent of the respondents report they would recommend the course to others and that they would take another course from Adoption Learning Partners.
Whether It’s Online or Not
Many of these principles hold true, whether you’re talking about online or classroom education. That message comes clearly from Jim: “Any dissatisfaction from the experience was due more to the nature of the training and the trainer rather than from its electronic nature. The trainer was determined to follow the course material without regard to the interests of the group, and, unfortunately, the course was neither all that interesting nor helpful.”
So whether you’re developing for online or offline, remember to keep your goals and your audience in the forefront. Technology should be the form, but not the substance.
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