One of the great debates within the e-Learning development community is whether or not online learning serves as an effective replacement for live training and educational experiences. 

The great benefit of e-Learning to adult learners is its capacity to allow you to learn on a flexible schedule, freeing you from meeting specific dates and times for attending training which may be inconvenient. 

This is also a boon to employers who wish that employees could be well trained without losing the productivity by being away from their desks or offices for long periods.  Online learning has been shown to be extremely efficient, often achieving learning outcomes in 1/2 the time or less than the time spent in a live training. 

However, we do realize as learning specialists that there are aspects to the human interaction that takes place in a live training which are valuable to the learning process for many learners.  As is to be expected, there are pros and cons to each type of training.

Online Learning: Improving on the Live Experience
The good news is that online learning is developing rapidly and facilitating some of the beneficial effects of live interaction by allowing learners to chat, email or post messages to one another or to learn  either synchronously or asynchronously with an available Instructor to whom to direct questions.  It is beginning to facilitate mentoring opportunities and other capacity for tacit learning experiences which benefit the learner. 

At the same time online learning eliminates much of the frustration of being forced to learn at the pace of others or spent time reviewing concepts which you already understand.  It also avoids the embarrassment of having to ask questions in front of others or request additional assistance in a public setting.  Research shows that the learners in a classroom setting who are the most confused by the topic are the least likely to ask a question or request help because the public nature of the environment makes them uncomfortable.