Getting started with E-learning

Pull the big lever. That's just one of several rules of thumb espoused by head of learning at D ell Computer Corporation, John Cone. Dell practices what it preaches. In the first year of bringing in e-learnin g, 25 percent of all new learning solutions had to be technology-enabled an d not classroom-based. The second year's goal was 40 percent, and the year after that it was 60 percent. In 2000, 90 percent of all learning solutions at Dell will be either totally or partially technology-enabled. Cone, interviewed by T&D editor-in chief Patricia Galagan, also describes D ell's other critical approaches to e-learning: engaging learners linking learning to business goals developing standards for working with the IT department knowing your baseline technologies being prepared to change your systems and processes for such functions as r egistration, scheduling, and tracking and reporting progress rethinking your metrics regarding learning events and hours preparing training staff for learners taking control thinking short-term and disposable about technology. In essence, Cone advises organizations to start small and be tall. "We're pursuing an overtaking strategy, not a replacement strategy. We're c ontrolling availability and creating technology-enabled alternatives to tra ditional learning."