the e-learning readiness survey version 1.0 copyright © 2000 by marc j. rosembeng, ph.d

8/16/2019 The E-Learning Readiness Survey Version 1.0 Copyright © 2000 by Marc J. Rosembeng, Ph.D

1/6


2/6

Rating Scale

0 = No evidence of any positive initiative or result in this area.1 = Little evidence, but there are potential improvement opportunities.2 = Initiatives underway but progress is fleeting.

3 = Initiatives underway with some sustainable success probable down the road.4 = Reasonable success achieved; now the challenge is to keep it going in the right direction.5 = Approaching sustainability – perhaps even a best practice.

2Copyright © 2000, by Marc J. Rosenberg, Ph.D. All rights reserved worldwide.

Area 1: Your Bu siness Readiness

Circle oneÜ 0 1 2 3 4 5

1. How well is your company using (Internet and intranet) technology to run its business?

Few, if any of our core

business processes are web-enabled.

One or more core business

functions are web-based, butmost internal work andcommunication is doneoffline.

Most core business functions

are web-enabled, and mostinternal work andcommunication, even by

senior management, isonline.


2. How prepared (skills,knowledge, mot ivat ion) is your workforce to com pete and win

in the high -tech, new

economy?

Most of the workforce is new

to the new economy. Manyare not computer literate.We have a lot of work to do.

Our workforce is becoming

more high-tech all the time.However, there are stillsignificant pockets of peoplewho are not prepared.

Our workforce is quite well

prepared to succeed in thenew economy. I wouldconsider us technologicallyadvanced.

Area 2: The Changing Nature of Learning and E-Learning


3. How does your organization define “ e-learning?”

We tend to define it mostly in

terms of traditional CBT; newideas about e-learning arehard to sell.

E-Learning is new to us so

there is an opportunity andan openness to broadlydefine e-learning; we’reworking on it.

We have a broad-based

definition of e-learning thatincludes alternatives such asknowledge management,

performance support andother web-enabled distancelearning approaches.


4. How will your organization overcome any bad prior

experiences you and others have had with technology- based learning?

We have a lot of convincing

to do, there’s a lot of badfeeling regarding prior experiences; we tend to be

blamed for pastdisappointments. Somepeople are using past

experiences as reason for not getting into e-learning.

We haven’t done much in

technology-base learning sothere’s very little prior experience; there doesn’t

appear to be any feelingsone way or the other.

We understand that this is a

marathon, not a sprint. Our clients and stakeholders lookat prior bad experiences as

lessons learned and we try toimprove over time.


5. How much access do people have to the web (anyon e, any

time, anywh ere)?

Access to the web is a

problem; we are still buildingout our infrastructure.

We are working with I.T., the

CIO and business leaders toassure that people canaccess the web for learning

as well as key businessapplications.

We have already attained

almost universal access inoffice, field, homeenvironments.


3/6

Rating Scale





6. Do you differentiate between instru ctional needs (training) and information al needs (knowledg e management), and do you m ake the right

decisions about when to use each?

We don’t think of informational needs as within

our responsibility; we have afocus on instruction only.

We are beginning to becomeinvolved in the delivery of

information as a form of learning; it’s difficult, but weare making some progress inselling this concept.

We are actively involved inboth instructional and

informational programs; weare constantly evaluatinglearning needs to determine

which is most appropriate for a given situation.

Area 3: The Value of Instruct ion and Informat ion


7. What is the level of your organization’s expert ise in instruct ional and informat ion design?

Pretty weak. We have somepeople who have basic skills

but these skills are neither widespread enough nor deepenough to make afundamental impact.

Growing. We are aware of the increasing importance of

these professional skills andwe’re spending the time andmoney to significantly

upgrade our skills throughhiring and/or retraining.

Strong. We haveestablished a strong

competency in these areasand are committed tomaintaining state-of-the-artexpertise in these fields.


8. Is your organization ready to move beyond a predominant re l iance on c lassroom tra in ing

to a more balanced approach with e-learning ?

We’re struggling with this. In

most cases, classroomlearning is the defaultdelivery approach. We still

oversell e-learning to peoplewho are predominatelyclassroom focused.

We have demonstrated the

viability of a combined e-learning and classroomstrategy, but it’s still a toughsell.

We have implemented a

balanced approach betweene-learning and classroomlearning – our value ismaking the right decision.

Area 4: The Role of Chang e Management in B ui ld ing a Durable E-Learning Strategy


9. Does senior management supp ort e-learning ?

We don’t have much accessto or support from senior

management regarding e-learning. They don’t appear to be interested.

We have access, butmaintaining their interest and

gaining long-term support for this new approach tolearning is difficult.

We have access andgrowing management

commitment; we work on itevery day.


10. Does your org anization have a change management plan for introduc ing e-learning in your company?

We have no change

management plan;unfortunately, we tend to

move unsystematically fromevent to event.

We are developing a change

management plan, but we’renot sure if it will work or if it’scomplete.

Change management is an

integral part of our deployment strategy.


4/6

Rating Scale





11. Can your organization demon strate the business benefits of e-learning?

Not really; we are waybehind in demonstrating

business benefits. We tendto hype the technology andmultimedia elements rather

than performance benefits.Our measurements aremostly “customer satisfaction” related.

We are working todemonstrate business

benefits of e-learning, andwe’ve made some progressin cost, quality, service and

speed metrics. But there is along way to go.

We have been successful indemonstrating business

benefits of e-learning and aremoving to scale up our capability in this area.

Area 5: How Training Org anizat ions Must Reinvent Themselves to Supp ort E-Learning


12. Does your org anization have a plan to help the training funct ion reinvent itse lf for the digital age?

We don’t really have a plan

to change the trainingorganization, although weknow we need one.

We are building e-leanring

components within our organization, but haven’tgiven much thought yet tohelping our people change.

We are implementing both e-

learning and changemanagement strategies tohelp our people adapt to thechanges that are coming.


13. Is your training organization’s economic m odel predominately dependent on selling seats in the classroom?

Pretty much; our budget isderived from tuition. Without

tuition, we’d be out of business.

We know we need toabandon a model that

focuses exclusively onselling seats in theclassroom, but we haven’tdone much about it.

No, we are moving to aninvestment model that

involves our stakeholders indecisions about how wespend our money and were itcomes from.

Circle oneÜ 0 1 2 3 4 514. What is the climate in your

organization to learning in alternative locations, especially the work s ite?

There is a great deal of resistance to learning at the

work site. Many people donot view learning asimportant as work, or don’tsee how they’re related.

There is an understandingthat work and learning go

hand-in-hand, and thatlearning can take placeanywhere. However, people

still need support to find timeto learn, free of interruptions.

We are moving quickly to aculture that accepts e-

learning at the work site andwe’re working withemployees and managers to

create the right environmentfor learning to take place.


15. Is your organization will ing to allow e-learning to th rive,perhaps at the expense of som e of the mo re tradit ional

parts of the training organization?

We’re willing to implement e-

learning, but if it cuts too far into our classroom business,we will have to re-evaluate –

our classroom business is

essential to our survival.

We’re willing to implement e-

learning only in areas that donot conflict with our classroom business.

We’re well aware that e-

learning will reduce our classroom business, andwe’re prepared to re-allocateour resources accordingly.


16. How prepared is your organization to inv est in, and incub ate e-learning for several years in order to get it f irmly established?

This will be a very difficultsell, as our firm’s budgeting

process is on an annualizedbasis. If we don’t spend it inthe year, we lose it.

We are working to set up aprocess that will fund e-

learning on a multi-year basis, but we still have toconvince senior management.

We have successfullyrestructured our budgeting

process, with senior management support, toallow long-term funding of e-learning.


5/6

Rating Scale




Area 6: The E-Learning Indu stry

Circle oneÜ 0 1 2 3 4 517. How prepared is your

organization to deal with a large and increasingly com plex e-learning m arketplace?

We’ve been primarilyinternally focused; we really

don’t know much aboutwhat’s going on in theindustry.

We’ve been purchasingproducts and services from

the e-learning industry for years, but mostly from our traditional vendors. We

really need to update our industry knowledge.

We are devoting more timeand resources to getting the

most out of the increasinglysophisticated e-learningindustry.


18. Does your org anization have a good hand le on what it is buyin g in the e-learning

mark etplace – can it

differentiate quality prod ucts and weed out redund ancies?

Purchasing is haphazard and

uncoordinated. We have nostrategy for evaluating qualityand avoiding redundancy.

It’s extremely difficult to even

know who is buying what.

Everyone involved

recognizes the need for better vendor managementand more coordinated

purchasing. We’re just not

there yet.

We have implemented an

agreed upon approach tovendor relationships andpurchasing, and we are

achieving increased cost

savings and experiencingless redundancy


19. Is your org anization prepared to outsource some of its function s and manage them externally so that it can conc entrate its resources on more valuable areas?

We’re not prepared tosignificantly outsource any of our major functions.

We are experimenting withoutsourcing some of our organization’s functions so

that we can focus on morevaluable areas.

We have includedoutsourcing as a keycomponent of our strategic

plan – how we will managethe organization in the future.

Area 7: Your Personal Commi tment


20. How commit ted are you,personally, to e-learning? Are you ready?

I really haven’t paid muchattention. Besides, I’m nottotally convinced that this is

the right way to go for our organization.

I believe this is the right wayto go, but I don’t haveenough capability to move

forward towardsimplementing an e-learningstrategy.

I am totally committed to e-learning and have taken thetime to educate myself with

the major issues. I am readyto implement durable e-learning strategy.


6/6


How did you respond? Are you ready?

Each item in this survey is as important as any other, so a total of your responses isless meaningful than your own analysis of each individual item. Here are some thingsto think about when you review your responses:

§ Any item with a response of 0-1 could be a show-stopper . The low rating mayindicate resistance to change, and/or a lack of readiness/capability on the part of people, infrastructure or the organization as a whole. Here is where you shouldconcentrate your change management efforts to move the rating further to theright; your e-learning strategy won’t be successful until you do.

§ Any item with a response of 2 or 3 indicates that progress is being made, butmore effort would be worthwhile to avoid any disruption of your momentum or other unforeseen potholes. These are areas where opportunities for improvement may be easiest.

§ Any item with a response of 4 or 5 indicates considerable progress. These are

your success stories. Use them to help bring up the other areas of your strategy.For example, if you have strong senior management support, but you’ve sensedtoo much focus on technology alone, you might want to develop somecommunications from supportive managers that will help people understand thebroader issues beyond the technology.

The results of this survey can be a catalyst for important discussions within your organization on changes that are necessary to launch and maintain successful e-learning initiative. Use it to surface important issues and challenges, and to consider innovative solutions.

In the end, e-learning readiness is an issue not only for your organization, but for you as well (as reflected in question 20). Your own personal commitment will be a keydetermining factor in the success and sustainability of your e-learning strategy.

the e-learning readiness survey version 1.0 copyright © 2000 by marc j. rosembeng, ph.d

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