Contents of Elearning! Magazine - MAY-JUN 2012

Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.

Page 36 of 54

DOES YOUR ORGANIZATION NEED TO TRAIN MORE PEOPLE WITH FEWER
RESOURCES? HERE ARE SOME TIPS TO HELP YOU RISE TO THE CHALLENGE
BY JOE DIDONATO
There are many circumstances that can create challenges in a learning organiza- tion's budget. Of course, the economy leads the list of causes, but there are other contributors, such as consolidations, merg- ers, adding additional charters without commensurate increases in budget, and major shifts in an enterprise's strategy. In this article, I have gathered ten tips
that learning organizations are using to survive and thrive in these challenging times.
TIP #1
CHANGE THE VIRTUAL-TO- CLASSROOM MIX
Many organizations suggest that 34 May / June 2012 Elearning!
the ideal ratio of virtual and classroom training is 80 percent virtual and 20 per- cent classroom. There is just no better way to train masses of people, especially when they are spread out over multiple sites. But instead of hiring hundreds of trainers, or maintaining expensive travel budgets, organizations are turning to vir- tual delivery to deal with declining budg- ets and expanding needs. Alice Muellerweiss, Dean of the
Department of Veterans Affairs Learning University (VALU) described her open- ing hand of cards this way at the Enterprise Learning! Summit in March 2012: "In January 2010, when I first came
over to the V.A. Learning University, I was given a budget, told that I had 16 people, and that I had to train 135,000 people in the first year. And three months were already gone.
" After the initial shock, she said her
wheels began to turn. "I couldn't just go build schools and travel people. I had to change the way I thought about delivering education.
" In response she turned VALU
into an almost completely virtual learning organization.
TIP #2
LEVERAGE OTHER PEOPLE'S COURSEWARE
This was a personal favorite of