Abstract
Today, most organizations need to extend lifelong learning opportunities to their employees in order to be successful in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. Organizations are turning to technological solutions to enable online in-house training and learning for their employees. An integrated approach to e-learning is important because it can be effectively used to analyze employee performance and also to gather information for continuous online and real-time learning of organizational goals to better tailor the educational product and its content. Online learning is made possible by advancements in network infrastructure and the development of voice and multimedia protocols for the seamless transport of information. E-learning involves encouraging the employee to spend time electronically to bring about learning, and to collect information and analyze it with respect to organizational needs, learning processes, and user preferences (Alavi & Leidner, 1999). E-learning ranges from simple computer use in a classroom where instructional materials are stored on a local-area network, to the use of simulation systems used to support teaching activities, or to distance education using broadband-enabled multimedia and shared electronic work spaces. E-learning styles include learner-centric, instructor-centric, and directed environments. E-learning communication modes include synchronous vs. asynchronous modes (time of interaction), and one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many interaction modes. Presentation styles include voice only, voice and video, text only, text and animation, and voice, video, and text. Pedagogical approaches include objectivist, constructivist, and collaborative approaches and situated learning. Also, it is known that learning within organizations is affected by task complexity and the organizational environment (Argyris & Schon, 1996; Bhatt, 2002; Spender, 1996).