e-Commerce, e-Business, e-Shopping, and other terms beginning with the letter “e” are used to refer to the electronic world and the Internet. Hence, when we talk today about e-Learning, we think of a site in the Internet or Intranet that is available to everybody, an illustrated encyclopedia in electronic format, or even a multimedia-based presentation. In fact, all these ideas are far beyond an e-Learning definition. Electronic learning is not only a kind of virtual or distance education to deliver content by electronic means through the use of the Internet, Intranet, or CD-ROM, but it is aimed at effective learning in real time. Formerly known as Computer-Based Training (CBT), e-Learning is increasingly oriented to real-time learning, that is, activities facilitating simultaneous interaction between learners and instructors. In this regard, it is important to analyze the effective strategies that will be used for making e-Learning effective in this borderless world. The objectives of this chapter are to understand the essentials of effective e-Learning Strategies and identify the organizational barriers and facilitators in embedding e-Learning with Knowledge Management. The methodology adopted is an in depth literature review and grounded theory approach with contextual analysis and is focused on the effectiveness of e-Learning from the organizational point of view.
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After hearing about the Digital Age in the 90’s, e-Commerce, e-Business, e-Shopping and other terms beginning with the letter ‘e’ to refer to the electronic world and the Internet, when we talk today about e-Learning, we think of a site in the Internet or Intranet that is available to everybody, an illustrated encyclopedia in electronic format, or even a multimedia-based presentation. In fact, all these ideas are far beyond an e-Learning definition. Electronic learning is not only a kind of virtual or distance education to deliver content by electronic means through the use of the Internet, Intranet, or CD-ROM, but is aimed at effective learning in real time. Studies have shown that the average learning retention rate resulting from traditional approaches is about 58%; however, this was improved with e-Learning and resulted in a learning retention of about 72.5 or 92.8%, which is quite high. Formerly known as Computer Based Training (CBT), e-Learning is increasingly oriented to real-time learning, that is, activities facilitating simultaneous interaction between learners and instructors. In this regard, it is important to analyze what are the effective strategies that will be used for making ELearning effective both as a pedagogy and knowledge management tool. This chapter aims to analyze what are the effective strategies that will be used for making ELearning effective in this borderless world. Based on relevant theoretical frameworks, in depth literature review the goals of this chapter are to understand the essentials of effective ELearning Strategies and identify the organizational barriers and facilitators in embedding ELearning with Knowledge Management. It will also serve the professionals and academics to improve their understanding of the strategic role of e-learning at different levels of the information and knowledge management at a global level, which is the need of the hour. Understanding the networked environments, with the onset of e-m-learning and knowledge management technologies, combined with other web 2.0 technologies, have an impact on organizations and their relationships within/outside their boundaries. This chapter intends to facilitate understanding of the essentials of effective ELearning Strategies, identify the organizational barriers and facilitators in embedding ELearning, both as a pedagogy and knowledge management tool for teaching, training and development in this borderless world. Boettcher (1997) argued: “Now that the World Wide Web is providing a whole new context for teaching and learning, we have the need to return to the core principles of teaching and learning, and create a new model of teaching and learning.” Therefore, if technology is applied in conjunction with pedagogical concepts, it can create an effective student-centered environment and enhance learning outcomes. A common thread among the plethora of definitions of knowledge management is that its objective is to identify and leverage the collective knowledge in an organization to help organizations compete and survive. One potential lever is e-learning, the creation and distribution of organizational knowledge through the online delivery of information, communication, education, and training. John Chambers, of Cisco Systems, said: “The two great equalizers in life are the Internet and education”, so why not fuse the two to provide an efficient way to empower a workforce with the skills and knowledge it needs to compete amid the rapid pace of change in business? In this paper we discuss the e-learning strategies that will aid in better knowledge management and enhance effectiveness required in this borderless global world.