Supplemental Resources for Designing E-Learning: E-Learning in Action for Chapter 3

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E-Learning in Action

In this Example
The Problem
Suggested Solution

Janet and Jesse Wilcox have asked Meryl Waters to develop a new employee training program for their chain of coffee houses. Currently, new employees are trained by an experienced worker. If the experienced worker is a good one, the training is equally good but if the experienced worker is only fair, the results are uneven. More than the lack of consistency, Janet and Jesse are concerned about the labor-intensive system. While training a new employee, the experienced one has limited availability for work in the store.

Janet and Jesse heard about online learning at a recent conference for business owners and thought it might be appropriate for their stores. So they contacted Meryl, who came highly recommended by a friend of theirs who works in corporate training, and who has extensive experience developing online learning products.

"So what do you think the course would look like? How long will it be?" Jesse eagerly asked.

"To be honest, Jesse, I don't know," Meryl responded. "I need to learn a lot more about the situation and set some measurable goals for this project before I could responsibly propose a course design to you."

Despite the temptation to design a course as soon as it's assigned, that strategy often fails to result in an effective learning product. For those who know a lot about a learning environment, too many assumptions are made, some of which are not correct. For those who do not know much about the learning environment, they do not yet know enough about the situation to determine whether a particular strategy is appropriate, even if the sponsor suggested it.

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