eLearning Research Project Completed

The School of Management, Henley Business School, has just completed a 2-year research project funded by the EC's eLearning Programme, the overall objective of which is to support and develop further the effective use of ICT in European education and training systems, as a contribution to a quality education and an essential element of their adaptation to the needs of the knowledge society in a lifelong learning context.

The project, ADAPT, started in March 2007 and was a collaboration of academic and training partners in 5 European countries. An end-of-project report has just been completed, describing the research methodology and findings (see Executive Summary) and is available to inform the design and delivery of future e-learning initiatives.

Executive Summary

This report presents the findings of a research project which explored how e-learning needs to be adapted for SMEs in different cultural contexts. The project partners represented geographical and cultural diversity (Cyprus, Italy, Lithuania, Sweden and the UK), with SMEs at different stages of maturity, which provided an interesting platform for comparative study. The project partners analysed and compared the findings from 5 previous EC-supported projects (3 from the e-learning programme) and also consulted with national and regional SMEs, SME support organisations and elearning/training providers, as key informants, to help understand how elearning initiatives do not necessarily fit all needs.

After the initial review of the 5 past e-learning programmes, focusing on the final evaluation studies of these programmes, 8 factors common to each project were identified as important considerations for elearning design. These were then discussed with key stakeholders in focus groups held in each country, exploring how SME managers feel about the deployment and use of e-learning in their organisations, how they use it, how it is impacting on their role and their organisations more generally. Some differences emerged between one country and another. It was clear, for example, that, for the Italian, Lithuanian and Cypriot participants, elearning has a value if approached as a means of social learning. This socio-cultural approach must take into account the cultural diversity of SMEs, where, by cultural diversity, the specific organisational culture is meant. However, it also emerged from the focus groups that Italian and Lithuanian SME managers do not seem to be ready, as yet, for a collaborative approach to e-learning where the individual's business problems and knowledge are shared with the other members of the learning group. The phrase 'knowledge equals competitive advantage' was often used during the discussions, implying that giving out knowledge to other members of a learning group was unlikely to happen. From this we can conclude that the design of effective collaborative learning should include time to build relationships since trust is an important variable that makes online learning possible. In this, the role of the facilitator is important and relies on the necessary provision of facilitated spaces/activities.

Overall, it seems that SMEs in the countries involved in this research must first be 'educated' to maximise the advantages of elearning to meet their needs. But the success of adapting e-learning depends as much on the culture of the country and its people as it does on the culture of the organisation that wants to adapt it. This report comes at a time when is e-learning is recognised as a major enabler of learning 'any time, any place', but our findings indicate that SME readiness to embrace its full potential is an issue which needs to be addressed, and flexible, context-appropriate offerings are needed. Furthermore, where for example our 5 past projects reviewed indicated that just-in-time solutions were needed, we have heard that just-in-time may be too late. SMEs are reactive to events rather than prepared for when things happen. In the current economic climate, elearning solutions have the potential to help SMEs be better prepared for the challenges they face.

For further information, please contact: mollie.dickenson@henley.reading.ac.uk