Collaboration is key to the most effective models of e-learning. Well designed elearning programmes ensure there is opportunity for collaboration and interaction between learners, because it is in this aspect that elearning brings together the best of face-to-face and distance learning.

Elearning provides a cost effective solution to some key issues affecting many not-for-profit organisations. One example is how to successfully manage volunteers. Many community based organisations rely heavily on volunteers at some level. This might be people on the ground delivering service, or at governance level providing oversight as committee members or trustees.

Challenges can arise from the fact that volunteers typically come from diverse backgrounds and present with a range of skills and experience. In these circumstance elearning can assist.

The emergence of elearning as a tool for business is not complete until it is fully accessible for small and medium sized businesses in New Zealand. There are over 350,000 SME’s in New Zealand, making up 99% of all business and employing about 60% of the workforce. There are a number of ways that design and delivery of elearning can be accomplished which are highly affordable for even the smallest business.

This document looks at e-learning from a business manager’s perspective, describes some of the ways it can improve your bottom line, and builds a compelling business case for the adoption and implementation of e-learning in your organisation.

A lot of mainstream education providers are willing to sell their soul for their next fix of government funding. Best practise e-learning does not require government funding to work. The opportunity to break free of the government purse strings leaves us with no reason to jump through the usual hoops. It allows us to provide what our learners need, when and where they need it.

Try this refreshingly succinct list which sets out the pros and cons of e-learning. If you are beginning to explore the benefits e-learning might offer you or your orgnisation, this sets out the basics well. This is not a ‘business case’ for e-learning, instead it looks more at how the nature of elearning sets it apart from other types of teaching and learning.