• Australian Flexible Learning Framework

Read the full text

16 June 2011This booklet outlines the results of research the Framework commissioned into how e-learning innovations can be sustained within organisations, available at http://flexiblelearning.net.au/content/benchmarking-and-researchpublications.

The research identifies what Australian organisations are doing to build e-learning into how they deliver training now and in the future. Their experiences provide some valuable lessons to save your organisation time and money in developing more flexible staff training solutions.

The booklet summarises the:
• evidence for the uptake of e-learning in the delivery of training
• benefits of e-learning for employees, employers and training organisations
• findings from the Framework funded research into practices that sustain the use of e-learning in training
• guidelines around e-learning good practice.

Data from the Framework's national benchmarking surveys show, increasingly Australian organisations are using e-learning to deliver more flexible and innovative training. Today, about a third of Australian businesses use e-learning for structured training and a quarter for unstructured informal training.

More employers are viewing e-learning as a viable way to deliver training. Most significantly, the majority of Australian employers expect to increase their organisations’ use of e-learning as a tool for staff training over the next two years.

Research shows that Australian organisations working with VET training providers now have higher aspirations. They expect their investment in e-learning will save them money, attract new customers and provide more skilled and productive employees.

Employers see a future that centres more on:
• learning that is more tailored to their employees
• giving employees more control in how, when and where they train
• more flexible and cost effective training.

The emerging evidence is that e-learning delivers on each of these three needs.