Employers warm up to online education: online degree programs offer flexibility and cost advantages that are becoming increasingly popular

HR Magazine,  Jan, 2006  by Kimberly Merriman

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A Better Blend

Although online education is growing rapidly, it is not replacing the classroom altogether, and is instead emerging as one more option in employee education.

At Lockheed Martin, where employees may choose from classroom or online learning, Lee finds employee acceptance of online learning "depends on their learning style." Lee surveyed senior management and employees within her unit and found that the senior managers--all in their early 40s or older--unanimously preferred classroom learning while the other employees were evenly divided in their preferences.

Coffey says Boeing employees find online learning "more user-friendly than systems in place a few years ago--less cumbersome and more intuitive." Yet, "many Boeing students are still choosing classroom learning."

Merck's Parastino sees value in allowing employees to choose among multiple formats: "We promote any [learning] arrangement that supports employees and the corporation in the long run."

KIMBERLY MERRIMAN, PH.D., IS A PHILADELPHLA-BASED FREELANCE WRITER AND EDUCATOR WHO SPECIALIZES IN BUSINESS TOPICS.

Online Resources

For additional information about online education, see the online version of this article at www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/06January. There you will find links to:

* The Sloan Consortium report on online education.

* The Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

* An HR Technology Focus Area article about an American Association of University Women report on online education.

* An article by the American Society for Training & Development on online learning.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Society for Human Resource Management
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning