By Claire Schooley

Daily, we hear about more layoffs and downsizing. Along with this comes scrutiny of all internal budgets including learning and development. Companies are not lopping off learning as drastically as in previous recessions. Companies know that skilled employees make their business successful. But, at the same time, some budget cuts are inevitable. This is where eLearning comes in. Most organizations already have some eLearning but they are not using the full capabilities like the rapid eLearning tools or the virtual classroom from their Web conferencing provider, or the informal learning using collaboration tools like blogs, podcasts, and wikis.

Yes, classroom training will be cut since travel costs are a quick savings. But this doesn’t mean you can’t have effective learning . . . via a different approach! This is good time to take stock of what tools and features you have but haven’t used from your LMS or your online meeting providers and exploit these online synchronous and asynchronous forms of learning.

I am taking stock too through a survey to determine what companies are doing about developing or acquiring content, using learning technology and tools, and introducing Web 2.0 for learning. I want to get your input. The survey is linked to this blog (you may access it here) and I encourage you to complete it or send the survey to the most appropriate person in your company. The data from this survey will appear in my research in the coming months.