Real ROI numbers

Have you been wondering whether online learning really does deliver savings ? Here's an actual example of intranet-delivered courses for training nucle ar plant employees. The U.S. government owns several nuclear facilities, most of which are run by contractors. Because the nuclear industry is highly regulated, employee training must be rigorous. The corporate university for the Oak Ridge, Tenn essee facility was required to educate more than 18,000 workers in health, safety, software, leadership, and other areas-a big budget item. In 1996, m anagement realized that large savings were to be had by using the company's intranet to deliver instruction. Schriver and Giles studied the project from its conception through completi on. of more than 10,899 Web-based courses. But first, project team members had to address several issues, including ho w to ensure user security in such a sensitive work environment, how to dete rmine: what courses to deliver, handle records, and how to select what plat forms to use. A particularly crucial question was whether online learning s hould replace all classroom instruction or should be only an alternative op tion. The authors explain the rationale by which classroom courses were converted to online formal and what the line items cost. Then, they report the savin gs and how they arrived at the three-digit ROI percentage. They also descri be the less tangible, but equally impressive, benefits.