Bertrand Dory
Is there a Return on Investment for e-Learning?

If you listen to the hype, e-Learning trains staff better and has a massive and rapid Return on Investment (ROI). But how accurate is this? The author puts forward the theory that, when taken under the microscope, e-learning is not meeting these expectations. In fact, employees are often down-skilled as opposed to up-skilled and the massive ROI is but based on an often deliberate misuse of an ROI methodology.
The author states that, at the heart of the e-Learning myth lies a restrictive calculation of real costs and investment together with assumption about learners' abilities and motivation to learn. In turn, accurate measurement of the didactic and financial success of the project is compromised if not lost.

The author proposes that this does not have to be the case: With effective RIO definition at the onset and a linking of learning objectives to business impact, e-Learning projects can leverage considerably more benefits for employees as well as organizations.

PDF version of the article

Online version of the article on the Polish website