"An organisation will be competitive only if it can learn                                                                                             
faster than its competitors. Any firm can have the same                                                                                               
technology as any other company; any product can be copied. In                                                                                        
the new race to the finish line, lifelong organisational                                                                                              
learning becomes the only sustainable competitive advantage";                                                                                         
- Don Tapscott, 'Minds over Matter,' Business 2.0, January                                                                                            
1999                                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
COMPANIES that are competing on the international market have                                                                                         
become more aware of the need for continuous education and                                                                                            
training for their workforce.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
Intranet-based systems are becoming more and more common, both                                                                                        
for the distribution of internal training materials and also                                                                                          
for customer support, Most major corporations in the United                                                                                           
States have started to invest in such systems.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
The development and maintenance of the intellectual capital of                                                                                        
a company requires more than simply developing online                                                                                                 
training. A new trend in corporate management - Knowledge                                                                                             
Management - deals with these issues.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
Forty percent of Fortune 500 companies have their own                                                                                                 
university, like Motorola, Andersen Consulting and General                                                                                            
Electric.                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
Today, in the United States, there are approximately 1,600                                                                                            
corporate universities, with many of them using the Internet                                                                                          
as a major communication and distribution tool. It will make                                                                                          
it possible to split production costs between countries and                                                                                           
companies.                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
In Sweden, Learnways (www.learn ways.com), has been                                                                                                   
established. Some of the major Swedish companies, like Telia,                                                                                         
Sandvik and Ericsson, are working together to produce good                                                                                            
Intranet courses that can be distributed among their                                                                                                  
employees.                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
A similar consortium, in which learning resources are shared                                                                                          
among member companies, is Learnshare (www.learnshare.com).                                                                                           
Members include General Motors, Levi Strauss, 3M and Motorola.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
Online training is an expanding field in which- it is                                                                                                 
primarily companies that see new opportunities to train their                                                                                         
co-workers more effectively. They may take some time to put                                                                                           
together a good course but, once this has been accomplished,                                                                                          
it may be used to instruct thousands of people.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
In order to train personnel who are scattered over great                                                                                              
geographical areas, web-based training is an excellent method                                                                                         
to adopt, for example, to train salesmen in branches worldwide                                                                                        
prior to the launching of a new product.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
The benefits are many:                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
* WITH online training and the utilisation of video                                                                                                   
conferencing, travel costs can be immediately reduced.                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
* THE time courses take can be reduced, as the individual                                                                                             
student is not affected by the previous knowledge of others in                                                                                        
the group. A large part of traditional training courses is, in                                                                                        
fact, the dissemination of information and this is very well                                                                                          
executed via a company's Intranet.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                      
* MORE effective training periods result in a reduction in                                                                                            
absenteeism. In addition, training courses can be run when                                                                                            
production pressure is lower so that output at other times is                                                                                         
not significantly affected.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
* The opportunity to be anonymous is essential, especially for                                                                                        
managers and group coordinators and also in discussions that                                                                                          
concern the situation within a company.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
Training courses in the classroom can be stressful, as many                                                                                           
people are afraid that they will lose face if they need to ask                                                                                        
too many questions. A student on a training course in a web-                                                                                          
based environment is able to be anonymous and carry out                                                                                               
exercises at his own pace.                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
It is possible to reuse study material in a more efficient                                                                                            
way. Companies can sell educational materials to one another                                                                                          
and, in so doing, reduce development costs.                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
* THE availability of high-quality support and helpdesks is                                                                                           
important for companies manufacturing high-tech products.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
The largest suppliers of hardware and software, like Sun,                                                                                             
Microsoft and Cisco, are investing heavily in online-training,                                                                                        
within their own organisations and with a view to increasing                                                                                          
the competence of their agents.                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
* VALUABLE statistics illustrating the competence profile of a                                                                                        
company can easily be produced. These are important for the                                                                                           
strategic planning of training courses of the company in                                                                                              
question.                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
With the establishment of an international standardisation of                                                                                         
how Internet/Intranet courses are to be designed, it will be                                                                                          
easier to create courses that suit individual needs.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
One of the most well-known standardisation projects is the IMS                                                                                        
(Instructional Management Systems) Project, which is run by                                                                                           
Educase (www.imsproject.org).                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
Today, it is working on the standardisation of all kinds of                                                                                           
training, and its members include publishing houses,                                                                                                  
corporations and the US Defence Agency.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
The IMS develops market standards designed for web-based                                                                                              
training grounded on XML, metadata and profiles.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
Other organisations working with standards include the AICC                                                                                           
(www.aicc.org) and the IEEE LTSC (Learning Technology                                                                                                 
Standards Committee, www.ieee.org).                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
The future of web-based training developing will focus on                                                                                             
multimedia being developed further to create more                                                                                                     
user-friendly environments, incorporating voice recognition,                                                                                          
cultural adaptation, 3D interfaces and virtual reality.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
Visualisation with computer graphics and animation of dynamic                                                                                         
phenomena will be more important.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
Asynchronous and synchronous (real-time) communication will                                                                                           
combine. Classrooms will be wired and large educational                                                                                               
networks will develop.                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
Handheld mobile communication devices will become more common,                                                                                        
electronic books will be developed further, where information                                                                                         
from the Internet can be displayed.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
These devices are the size of a notebook, or even smaller, and                                                                                        
have the capability of reading data stored on magnetic cards                                                                                          
and displaying it on an LCD screen. The book storage media may                                                                                        
be an optical memory card, which is often the size of a credit                                                                                        
card and can store several thousand pages of information.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
New streaming technologies and technologies capturing data are                                                                                        
emerging. 3D terminals with haptic feedback (you can touch the                                                                                        
objects) have been developed, for example, the Reach-In                                                                                               
Technology 3D terminal (wurw.reachin.com).                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
The cost of hardware, software and bandwidth will continue to                                                                                         
decrease. It will be more feasible for schools, families and                                                                                          
SMEs to purchase new technology. In the future, game-based                                                                                            
learning and 'edutainment' products will also become evident                                                                                          
as a new way to reach the 'Nintendo generation.'                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
I quote from Accelerated learning for the 21st Century by                                                                                             
Colin Rose and Malcolm J. Nicoll (1999): "When something                                                                                              
involves strong emotions, it is usually very well remembered                                                                                          
...                                                                                                                                                   
It also means enjoyment, role playing and collaboration, and                                                                                          
games are important elements in learning because they involve                                                                                         
positive emotions.