Every $1 invested in online training results in $30 worth of productivity, according to a recent IBM study. That’s an incredible return on investment that is impossible to ignore.

IBM also found that participants learned 5x more material in the same amount of time through online training as opposed to traditional instruction. The company IBM even saved approximately $200 million just by switching to eLearning, due to reduced expenses on travel, equipment, and instructors.

Business Training to Online Training

Nearly two-thirds of all CEOs and corporations believe in the benefits associated with any sort of business training. 84% of global executives rank employee development as critical or important.

Furthermore, over 41.7% of global Fortune 500 companies use some form of technology to train their employees. Large corporations are undoubtedly investing big money on training and professional development. In fact, the eLearning growth rate worldwide has been over 900% since 2000.

The list of benefits of eLearning for businesses is extensive and staggering. However, not all businesses offer advanced online training to their employees. The top buyers of eLearning are large companies and corporations, making up roughly 30% of the eLearning industry overall.

Online training seems to be a luxury of the rich and most profitable companies, while small businesses offer none or minimal training—especially disregarding online training tools. What’s holding these small businesses back is often simply a need to better understand the eLearning industry as it relates to all businesses and not just large corporations.

Lack of Funds

It’s commonly believed that eLearning, and training in general, is a significant cost to businesses. Small business owners and new entrepreneurs don’t have the capital to spend, and they don’t see the value in spending what available funds they do have.

However, the opposite is true. It is more costly to not provide training. Without proper procedures and methods set in place, productivity, engagement, and professional development plummet. Instead, with an investment in professional eLearning software, employee’s productivity boosts by nearly 50%. As mentioned prior, there is a $29 profit return on investment for the average company—including those small businesses and startups.

Additionally, eLearning saves businesses money on traditional instructor-based trainings, by nearly 50%. eLearning also cuts down instruction time by up to 60%, while providing more useful information at a retainable, time-saving rate. Online learning management systems are flexible, convenient, and efficient, so training can be done anywhere, at any time, on any device. This saves small businesses hours of training that can be better spent utilizing those learned skills towards boosting the business.

Software vs Hardware

Small business owners often think of eLearning as purchasing and installing the necessary hardware. Hardware is not only costly but also time-consuming and overuse of energy and resources. While much of eLearning was previously done through company-based servers and hardware, most training technology now is cloud-based. This means that software is easily installed, accessible on most Internet-based devices, and highly user-friendly. There is often no additional learning curve to using this software.

Similarly, employees are demanding new forms of online training more and more. In fact, approximately 60% of millennials demand electronic forms of training. The mobile learning market is predicted to reach $12.2 billion worldwide by the end of 2017. With such a demand for eLearning matched with minimally invasive software, small businesses will begin to implement more technologies in the coming years.

Lack of Understanding

Overall, small business owners are seeing the significant benefits of eLearning and wanting those same results. Yet, they think of those results as “big wig” numbers. They believe that eLearning is made for large-scale corporations that can invest millions of dollars into training systems and programs. They don’t see how they can implement the same practices in their own businesses and startups.

Although eLearning is proving well for large corporations, it’s proving even better for small businesses. When they offer professional development through online courses, startups are able to attract and retain better talent. This can, in turn, grow the business quicker and wider. This is crucial in those first few months and years.

Furthermore, those large companies are spending on average $1,889 per employee, according to the ATD’s State of the Industry Report. Small businesses can reduce these training costs to less than $100 annually by using a web-based Learning Management System. That saves on expenses while still significantly boosting productivity. This is due to eLearning’s ability to cut back on the cost of HR management and systems by outsourcing training and easy access to compliance and branded training materials.

Conclusion

As the eLearning industry continues to flourish and grow, small businesses will begin to reap the same benefits from online-trainings that large corporations have for several years now. This training may, in fact, lessen the gap between these bigger corporations and their growing, “small” business competitors.

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The Millennial generation is becoming a driving force in business due to their sheer magnitude and use of technology. Most notably, Millennial attitudes and behaviors influence the perception and execution of specific strategies in the workplace. This is changing the way eLearning is utilized and moving forward, the role of eLearning in the Millennial workforce is expected to have a specific impact on change management.

Millennials are Open to Change

Millennials are known for many things, including their openness to change. For this reason, they are natural leaders in the change management field. Millennials are excited by innovation in their companies and often able to move with structural changes more easily than their older counterparts. In a similar vein, Millennials are not resistant to changing their own jobs. Millennial “job hopping” is higher than that of any other generation. Millennials on average have a minimum of 4 job changes in their first ten years out of college, according to a study by LinkedIn. However, the reason Millennials are frequently on the move is not, as many people assume, because they are more fickle than other generations. Rather, they feel they do not receive appropriate opportunities for advancement or training. 87% of Millennials reported that professional development is a deciding factor on whether or not they will accept or hold a position. Thus, if companies want to retain great talent, they will need to offer high-quality, updated education and training tools. This is most often found through cloud-based eLearning systems, which can be customized, updated, and spread easily.

Efficient Collaboration

Millennials are changing the way organizations are traditionally structured. Companies are moving from a top-down approach to all-around leadership and collaboration. Millennials appreciate opportunities to innovat

e and hold dialogue with their peers—but only if the collaboration is efficient and effective. When “time is money,” Millennials refuse to sit in long board meetings that seem to have no tangible results.

eLearning appears to be a potential solution to creating more efficient collaboration. Online teachers and forums enable discussion, learning, and growth when and how the employees need it. No more wasted time, space, or money on inefficient meetings or teachings.

Sharing versus Broadcasting

Prior to the rise of change management, major structural changes in organizations were often communicated in a top-down manner (e.g., changes were simply broadcast via a newsletter or email describing the changes to be made and each individual’s role in those changes). In 2017, more and more organizations are recognizing that broadcasting major change is largely ineffective, since it often fails to bring about true change within a company culture. Millennials connect with their peers and companies through social media, and increasingly, businesses are finding success using these platforms to disseminate information. They are also recognizing that training is part of change and eLearning is one way to assure that change-focused training takes place in a timely manner. Among other things, eLearning enables widespread information to be “broadcast” in an interactive and comprehensive way, while still being cost-efficient and brand-customized.

Flexible Work Balance

Although work-life balance has been important to every generation, Millennials are demanding a flexible work schedule. Work is now less about the number of hours spent in the office and more about the number of projects successfully and productively accomplished. It comes down to: “Where you work isn’t as important as how you work.”

Mobile-compatible, cloud-based training is going to be the choice communication with this new influx of millennial workers. The capability to access company-specific information anywhere, at any time, on any device is going to be the key to finding a true work-life balance.

With the ongoing movement of Millennials in the workplace, it seems likely that constant change will continue to structure most workplaces in the coming years. For this reason, it also seems likely that eLearning will continue to arise as a viable solution. After all, it is capable of responding to professional development needs in a flexibility and consistent manner.

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In a society where 62% of Americans get their news from social media and the President tweets his political opinions, children are engaged more than ever with digital methods of gaining knowledge. It seems natural to incorporate digital learning in the classroom as a necessary skill and an augmentation to educational tools.

A 2013 survey by PBS found that 69% of educators surveyed believed technology propels student education quicker than before. 74% of those educators believed technology is vital to expand on classroom content and is an effective motivational tool for children. 73% said digital resources enable teachers to better respond to different learning styles of children within the same class; this would enable more success in the same amount of time.

The U.S. Department of Education firmly believes that technology, especially blended learning, “ushers in fundamental structural changes that can be integral to achieving significant improvements in productivity.”

Despite all the potential good of a digital classroom supplement, technology may not be producing this desired improvement in productivity. Teachers and administrators hit significant roadblocks that are disabling them from using digital resources as a means of connecting students to learning.

Standardized Testing

The biggest issue seems to stem from standardized testing. Teachers feel that administration policies do not promote digital reading, as standardized tests do not measure digital skills. While these tests are often administered on computers, they do not measure skills in search engines, understanding online data, and more.

If teachers are forced to teach towards standardized tests (which is a problem in it of itself), promoting digital skills feels to be a waste of precious time in the classroom. Harvard Politics’ Quinn Mulholland wrote in The Case Against Standardized Testing: “This increased focus on test prep has had a profoundly negative impact on the quality of education many students receive.” This limits their ability to learn digital skills necessary in our modern-day era.

Digital Natives

Many teachers and educators wrongly believe that students are already proficient in technology. They’ve grown up with phones and tablets in their hands, so why spend time on it in school? However, research suggests that students struggle with comprehending and utilizing digital content just as much as previous generations of students.

In fact, recent findings show that students often use online information without knowing how to determine credibility or highlight important facts and statistics. While many students may be able to type a search keyword into Google, most do not understand how to use the results as an appropriate learning tool.

Educators’ Deficiency

Educators are, for the most part, not taught on digital platforms, so they are not personally familiar with it. Similarly, they are not trained on how to teach digital courses to their students. Bass, the innovation coordinator in Chesterfield, told EdWeek, “We fall back and rely on the way we were taught, and that’s a barrier.”

Common Sense Media has come out with a lesson plan that helps teachers to navigate cyberbullying, privacy, safety, self-image, information literacy, relationships, and communication. The goal of such curriculums is to help students navigate the internet safely; it also teaches how to use safe practices to collaborate with new, advanced methods of teaching.

But, administrations and higher-education schools seem unwilling to invest in teaching educators these digital-rich programs. Thus, a lack of professional development of teachers, in turn, creates a skill gap in students. Although this skill gap is unmeasured, it will begin to raise more issues as the world becomes even more digital.

Distraction and Procrastination

Of course, another major concern is distractive behavior. Students can easily flip to thousands of sites when their teachers aren’t looking or when they don’t feel like doing their homework.

However, distractions always happen. It’s a part of life that we all deal with every day. Digital learning is an ideal platform to teaching skills to overcoming distraction and procrastination. Teachers are able to monitor their classrooms’ use of online learning; they can also encourage students to use the Internet to learn, rather than just play games.

Ultimately, the importance of introducing technology in the classroom overwhelms the perceived barriers. Learning should be about connecting children to the world around them—past, present, and future. Technology enables exploration and curiosity while augmenting traditional learning platforms in ways that have never before been accessible. The solution? A nationwide acceptance of and push towards blended education of classroom eLearning.

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President Donald Trump’s nomination for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, has been a controversial topic throughout the political realm. When asked about her opinions on virtual charter schools, her response created a similar frenzy of confusion. She supports virtual charters, especially as an option for kids in rural areas with little access to public schooling.

While this virtual charter question took backstage to her other statements, several still criticized her declaration that virtual charters were the solution to rural school systems. In response, Edweek made a splash with their investigation that seemingly found significant problems in this sector of schooling.

What are these newfound criticisms of virtual charter schools, and are they entirely valid?

What Is A Virtual Charter School?

A virtual charter school is a publicly-funded school, which is often privately run and for-profit. They are exempt from many regulations that apply to traditional public schools. All or a portion of the instruction is provided through the Internet through virtual courses, e-mail, and online discussions.

What Are The Reluctances To Virtual Charters?

In Edweek’s investigative article, they reveal a Colorado virtual charter school named GOAL. One can invariably see problems with the GOAL system throughout the article, from money siphoning to conflicts of interest to simply stunting students’ growth. Is this always the case with virtual charter schools?

A major reluctance to virtual charters is the abysmal attendance rate. Although enrollment is high, attendance appears to be low. In Colorado, 45.8% of the enrolled students not using the learning software. However, the Center for Public Education found that only half of the districts monitor students’ activity or time spent online. Thus, it’s possible that this 48.5% is GOAL specific, as the nationwide data is not available.

Virtual schooling may stunt the education of students not naturally motivated. Virtual charter high school completion rates are at a low 25%, as found by a The Center for Public Education. These virtual schools appear to have higher dropout rates and lower test scores than the traditional brick-and-mortar schools.

Also, A virtual classroom setting cannot offer all classes. Thus, students lose out the traditional class experience. Finally, in response to Betsy DeVos’ statement about students in rural areas, many critics said that those who live in rural areas do not have access to the broadband necessary for virtual charter schools.

The Problems With These Claims

Removing GOAL’s issues and looking holistically, it seems that the reluctances appropriated to virtual charter schools are caused by human error as opposed to virtual learning error. This human error is also present throughout public schooling, outside of the virtual charter realm.

The attendance rate is certainly at a low and unprecedented rate with virtual charter schools, and we cannot ignore that number. However, it is not the inability of the virtual platform that causes the low attendance. There seems to be no accountability with parents, teachers, administrators, and the government to ensure these kids stay in school.

If we assume that those students not attending their online classes have dropped out, the Colorado 45.8% dropout rate is significantly higher than the 7.4% national dropout. However, the pool of students is also smaller for the Colorado rate. Over 1.2 million students drop out of traditional high school every year in the United States. Thus, it is not a problem with virtual charters alone—it is a problem of the entire school system. If virtual charters encourage the dropout rate, the Internet-based platform itself is likely not the cause.  The reason is the current utilization of these platforms.

Solving These Claims

The method of solving these virtual problems is twofold: support and regulations. Students in online classes need teachers who are equally (if not more) engaged in their learning as classroom teachers. They need parents, guardians, guidance counselors, and administrators rooting for them, encouraging them, and disciplining them.

Students also need the government’s regulatory support. The government should institute practices that discipline inappropriate behavior from school owners and administrators. The school board should not be siphoning off money or lying about attendance rates, as found in the Colorado investigation. There must be monitoring systems in place. Employing and utilizing in-depth tracking tools—which are already available through many eLearning software—will keep school boards honest and students on the path to growth. But this is a solution not yet mandated.

Blended learning is another solution. Online platforms cannot offer all courses, such as art or gym. However, the most successful virtual charters, such as the South Carolina Virtual Charter School, blend online courses with academic and social outings and activities.

What Are The Positive Results of Virtual Charter Schools?

Although getting a bad reputation, virtual charter schools are the right solution for some students. Edweek’s investigation found that virtual charter schools are successful for 15% of students.

Students in rural areas, who want to learn but cannot easily get to school, benefit from the ability to have publicly-funded access to teachers and resources. Many motivated students learn faster online, without the worry of the pace of their fellow students. Similarly, those who struggle in school can take more time to go over material on their own with a virtual system.

Edweek wrote, “The problem is that such success stories are the exception, not the rule.” The argument, in contrast, is that the same is true for traditional classroom settings. Students in the classroom must also be motivated and disciplined in order to learn; otherwise, they tune out, act out, become frustrated with school, fail, or even drop out.

The difference between the classroom and the virtual classroom is the access to a support system. Those students involved in virtual charter schools in tandem with a strong support system show marked improvement in independence, self-discipline, and professional determination over their peers.

Conclusion

While virtual charter schools may not be the solution for everyone, traditional school systems are not a universal solution either. DeVos appears to be wrong in that rural areas are be the right target for virtual charter schools. However, blended learning could be a possible next step in the realm of charter eLearning. Blended learning environments incorporate rich online experiences with significant teacher and administration support and supervision. This works together to mitigate the criticisms of the current virtual schooling system.

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