Passage 3 E-training

SECTION 3
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40 which are based on Reading
Passage 3 below.

E-training
A
E-learning is the unifying term to describe the fields of online learning, web-based
training, and technology-delivered instruction, which can be a great benefit to corporate
e-learning. IBM, for instance, claims that the institution of its e-training program, Basic
Blue, whose purpose is to train new managers, saved the company in the range of $200
million in 1999. Cutting the travel expenses required to bring employees and instructors
to a central classroom accounts for the lion’s share of the savings. With an online
course, employees can learn from any Internet-connected PC, anywhere in the world.
Ernst and Young reduced training costs by 35 percent while improving consistency and
scalability.
B
In addition to generally positive economic benefits, other advantages such as
convenience, standardized delivery, self-paced learning, and variety of available
content, have made e-learning a high priority for many corporations. E-learning is widely
believed to offer flexible “any time, any place” learning. The claim for “any place” is
valid in principle and is a great development. Many people can engage with rich learning
materials that simply were not possible in a paper of broadcast distance learning era.
For teaching specific information and skills, e-training holds great promise. It can be
especially effective at helping employees prepare for IT certification programs. E-
learning also seems to effectively address topics such as sexual harassment education’,
safety training and management training – all areas where a clear set of objectives can
be identified. Ultimately, training experts recommend a “blended” approach that
combines both online and in-person training as the instruction requires. E-learning is not
an end-all solution. But if it helps decrease costs and windowless classrooms filled with
snoring students, it definitely has its advantages.
C
Much of the discussion about implementing e-learning has focused on the technology,
but as Driscoll and others have reminded us, e-learning is not just about the technology,

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but also many human factors. As any capable manager knows, teaching employees new
skills is critical to a smoothly run business. Having said that, however, the traditional
route of classroom instruction runs the risk of being expensive, slow and, often times,
ineffective. Perhaps the classroom’s greatest disadvantage is the fact that it takes
employees out of their jobs. Every minute an employee is sitting in a classroom training
session is a minute they’re not out on the floor working. It now looks as if there is a way
to circumvent these traditional training drawbacks. E-training promises more effective
teaching techniques by integrating audio, video, animation, text and interactive
materials with the intent of teaching each student at his or her own pace. In addition to
higher performance results, there are other immediate benefits to students such as
increased time on task, higher levels of motivation, and reduced test anxiety for many
learners.
D
On the other hand, nobody said E-training technology would be cheap. E-training service
providers, on the average, charge from $10,000 to $60,000 to develop one hour of
online instruction. This price varies depending on the complexity of the training topic
and the media used. HTML pages are a little cheaper to develop while streaming-video
presentations or flash animations cost more. Course content is just the starting place for
cost. A complete e-learning solution also includes the technology platform (the
computers, applications and network connections that are used to deliver the courses).
This technology platform, known as a learning management system (LMS), can either be
installed onsite or outsourced. Add to that cost the necessary investments in network
bandwidth to deliver multimedia courses, and you’re left holding one heck of a bill. For
the LMS infrastructure and a dozen or so online courses, costs can top $500,000 in the
first year. These kinds of costs mean that custom e-training is, for the time being, an
option only for large organizations. For those companies that have a large enough staff,
the e-training concept pays for itself. Aware of this fact, large companies are investing
heavily in online training. Today, over half of the 400-plus courses that Rockwell Collins
offers are delivered instantly to its clients in an e-learning format, a change that has
reduced its annual training costs by 40%. Many other success stories exist.
E
e-learning isn’t expected to replace the classroom entirely. For one thing, bandwidth
limitations are still an issue in presenting multimedia over the Internet. Furthermore, e-
training isn’t suited to every mode of instruction or topic. For instance, it’s rather
ineffective imparting cultural values or building teams. If your company has a unique
corporate culture is would be difficult to convey that to first time employees through a
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computer monitor. Group training sessions are more ideal for these purposes. In
addition, there is a perceived loss of research time because of the work involved in
developing and teaching online classes. Professor Wallin estimated that it required
between 500 and 1,000 person-hours, that is, Wallin-hours, to keep the course at the
appropriate level of currency and usefulness. (Distance learning instructors often need
technical skills, no matter how advanced the courseware system.) That amounts to
between a quarter and half of a person-year. Finally, teaching materials require
computer literacy and access to equipment. Any e-Learning system involves basic
equipment and a minimum level of computer knowledge in order to perform the tasks
required by the system. A student that does not possess these skills, or have access to
these tools, cannot succeed in an e-Learning program.
F
While few people debate the obvious advantages of e-learning, systematic research is
needed to confirm that learners are actually acquiring and using the skills that are being
taught online, and that e-learning is the best way to achieve the outcomes in a
corporate environment. Nowadays, a go-between style of the Blended learning, which
refers to a mixing of different learning environments, is gaining popularity. It combines
traditional face-to-face classroom methods with more modern computer-mediated
activities. According to its proponents, the strategy creates a more integrated approach
for both instructors and learners. Formerly, technology-based materials played a
supporting role to face-to-face instruction. Through a blended learning approach,
technology will be more important.

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Questions 28-33
The reading passage has six paragraphs, A-F
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-F from the list below.
Write the correct number, i-xi, in boxes 28-33 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i overview of the benefits for application of E-training
ii IBM’s successful choice of training
iii Future direction and a new style of teaching
iv learners’ achievement and advanced teaching materials
v limitations when E-training compares with traditional class
vi multimedia over the Internet can be a solution
vii technology can be a huge financial burden
viii the distance learners outperformed the traditional university learners in
worldwide
ix other advantages besides economic consideration
x Training offered to help people learn using computers

28 Paragraph A
29 Paragraph B
30 Paragraph C
31 Paragraph D
32 Paragraph E
33 Paragraph F

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Questions 34-37
The reading Passage has six paragraphs A-F
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-F, in boxes 35-37 on your answer sheet.

34 Projected Basic Blue in IBM achieved a great success.

Questions 38-40
Choose THREE correct letters, among A-E
Write your answers in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.
A Technical facilities are hardly obtained.
B Presenting multimedia over the Internet is restricted due to the bandwidth
limit.
C It is ineffective imparting a unique corporate value to fresh employees.
D Employees need block a long time leaving their position attending training.
E More preparation time is needed to keep the course at the suitable level.

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ANSWER

28. i
29. ix
30. iv
31. vii
32. v
33. iii
34. A
35. B
36. F
37. D
38. B
39. C
40. E