The document discusses using e-learning techniques to handle on-the-job training for insurers. It notes traditional classroom training has limitations like costs, trainer availability, and lack of flexibility. E-learning provides training through virtual means like web-based modules that allow trainees to learn anywhere, anytime. This reduces costs while increasing flexibility for trainees and trainers. While e-learning is best for information-based training, classroom is still needed for collaborative or experience-based programs. The document provides guidelines for implementing a successful e-learning program through strategies, content development, and delivery methods. It also discusses how to evaluate programs for e-learning suitability and calculate return on investment.

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“Virtual classroom” using e-Learning
techniques is an attractive proposition for
insurers to handle the larger part of their
routine learning on the job
Virtual Classrooms
Redefining learning on the job
Introduction
Effective „Knowledge Management‟ holds the key
to competitive advantage in an atmosphere where
customer expectations are ever rising. Insurance
being a knowledge based industry, this assumes
even greater importance.
Learning has long been recognized as a
continuous process. Learning on the job is no
different. Traditionally all insurance companies
have strong training programs. But most of these
are in the traditional classroom mode. The age-old
„teacher-student‟ model of classroom training has
several disadvantages.
 Cost of organizing class room training
 Difficulty in getting „faculty time‟ as most of
the trainers are busy on their routine work
 Lack of flexibility for the trainees to have
training based on their convenience
 Heterogeneous mix of trainees reducing the
effectiveness of the training
 One method of learning for all / lack of
consistency across delivery
 Trainees cannot „pace‟ the learning to suit
their needs and work pressure
With consolidation of business being the order of
the day, many companies have experienced
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frequent mergers. This means that new employees
are closely followed by new training requirements.
Quicker „Change Management‟ requires a
continuous learning process.
 Shorter cycle time required
 Though CBT modules have made the process
of learning more flexible for the learner, they are
more static in nature.
This has prompted insurance companies to look at
innovative ways to handle knowledge
management. e-Learning is an emerging
alternative that makes „learning on the job‟ efficient
and cost effective
What is e-Learning ?
In the traditional classroom model, a trainer makes
the delivery to a live audience of trainees. e-
Learning is a total shift from this approach - it turns
the classroom into a virtual mode. The trainer and
the trainees need not be in the same point in time
or space as it is required in the usual classroom
model.
The contents are designed and delivered by
experienced trainers. This body of knowledge is
made available to the trainee through virtual media
– this could be web-based, CD-ROMs, videos,
interactive mechanisms, games etc. There are
several new technologies which facilitate effective
virtual delivery of trainings. Many of these allow
the trainees to access the body of knowledge from
anywhere anytime.
Why are companies looking at e-
Learning ?
The advantages of e-Learning are many, making it
a very effective alternative for traditional training.
Some of the advantages are :
 Cost savings
o Trainee expenses reduction (travel
and associated costs)
o Cutting repetitive Faculty costs
o Indirect savings of „off line‟ training
 Flexibility for trainees
o Can set their own pace for learning
o
o
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o Choose options (listening, interactive
learning, simulations etc) based on
personal preference
o Learn at a convenient time and
location
o Explore topics of interest in more
detail
 Flexibility for trainers
o Convenience of time and location
o Considerably reduced disruption to
work schedule
o Consistency of delivery
 Advantage to companies
o Make training an enjoyable
experience
o Reduce „drop outs‟
o Cater to the needs and wishes of
multiple groups
o Include customers and partners in
the training plans
 Gain for Customers , Partners
o Participate in trainings based on their
need and convenience
o Cost effective for providing training to
their employees
Virtual Class Rooms
The virtual classrooms are the technical interface
provided for the trainees to access and freely use
the body of knowledge. This body of knowledge
would be maintained by the team of trainers and
subject matter experts.
The training base created by the subject matter
experts would be delivered using technologies like
web / WAN to the wider audience of trainees. This
would help in asynchronous training programs,
happening at the convenience of the trainees.
They key inspiration for designing and developing
Virtual classrooms is the enormous effort, logistics
and cost associated with class room training
programs.
Figure 1 gives a line sketch of Virtual class room
environment.
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Using e-Learning effectively
Though e-Learning is a very effective tool to
address several of the lacunae faced by traditional
training methods, it has limitations as well.
 The main drawback of the method is the
absence of a man in flesh and blood in front
of the trainees. The personal touch and
interaction to make the training enjoyable
and effective is missing to some extent in e-
Learning.
 For high end programs like focused
executive development programs, the
method would be ineffective.
 „Class room experience‟ is absent. Learning
together is a time-tested method to
knowledge dissemination.
 An expected level of trainee maturity and
commitment is essential for the program to
work efficiently.
 The method could be ineffective when
„workshop‟ mode of training is needed,
where the trainees need to work together
and the trainer is more of a facilitator.
 Challenges – no personal interaction, so
cannot judge the effectiveness
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How to leverage eLearning ?
eLearning is a powerful tool, but needs to be used
appropriately for purposes which are susceptible to
this method. We could broadly classify the training
programs conducted by insurance companies into
three major areas :
 Pure information based programs are
simple and straight forward knowledge
transfer sessions where the main purpose is
to convey knowledge and provide the
learning support and clarifications as and
when required.
Collaborative programs where the participants
have a very acti ve role and the instructor is a key
part of the facilitation process to ensure that the
group dynamics operate effectively and deliver the
desired results.
 The highest level of prorams are the
experience based programs where the
trainer shares his/her experience in an effort
to elevate the skills of the learners.
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eLearning is most effective in the pure information
based programs. (please see figure 2) In such
programs an interactive eLearning module could
effectively replace the role of instructor. In the
collaborative programs where the role of the
facilitator is critical, the information sharing
sessions could be made into eLearning modules
so that the classroom sessions could be
considerably reduced.
Table 1 (at the end of the article) gives a sample
list of training programs viewed from the
eLearning perspective.
eLearning framework
The three critical spokes of the eLearning
framework are strategy, content and delivery.
Strategy : As discussed earlier, a very careful
evaluation is necessary to pick the appropriate
training programs which could be fully or partly
converted into eLearning programs. The
preliminary step in the framework is to evaluate the
suitability of trainings to check whether they are
adaptable to the eLearning methodology.
Appendix 1 gives a conceptual evaluation sheet for
ascertaining suitability of a program .
Content : The program contents need adaptation
to facilitate computer based self-study. This calls
for a one-time effort to convert the existing content
into eLearning friendly matter. The key changes
would be the introduction of self-evaluation
features and methods of ensuring that the learning
module contains features which replace the
learning support/guidance provided by the tutor in
class rooms.
Delivery : An important factor which governs the
effectiveness of virtual classrooms is the delivery
mechanism adopted. This needs to dove-tail into
the work environment of the trainee. Modern
technology offers many interesting technical
solutions to host the learning modules, but the
budgetary and other constraints prompt the
companies to optimize their existing technology
framework and build the learning platform on top.
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As evident from the table above, major chunk of
the training programs which are information
intensive could be tackled by the e-Learning
methodology.
Appendix 2 shows the typical technology
architectural tiers behind virtual class-rooms
Return on Investment
While reduction of costs as a benefit due to online
learning is just stating the obvious, one should go
beyond mere cost savings and analyze the ROI in
e-learning.
In order to arrive at the ROI, one needs to
compare the costs with the benefits associated
with e-learning.
Some of the broad headings under which costs
can be classified are:
 Cost of infrastructure
 Costs associated with designing the course
 Costs associated with deployment and
ongoing maintenance
 Opportunity costs of the learner / trainer
The benefits on the other hand, can be separated
into „tangible‟ and „intangible‟.
Some of the direct „tangible‟ benefits of e-learning
are:
 Reduced training time- an increased
number of learners can receive the same
set of instructions. The need for hiring
multiple trainers for different locations is
eliminated. Online learning also ensures
consistency across different learning
sessions.
o There is also a considerable
reduction in dead time (or
overheads) associated with
classroom training due to breaks etc.
 Reduced Travel costs – Online learning
nearly eliminates the costs associated with
travel and accommodation both for the
learners as well as the trainer.
 Savings in opportunity costs – The learner
does not require being away from his/her
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place of work and so can maximize on the
available time by self-spacing the e-learning to
suit the demands from work.
o In addition, the learner also has the
flexibility to study hat he/she needs
and skip the specific topics where
reasonable level of knowledge exists.
Some of the intangible benefits are
 Increased productivity – this can be
measured differently for different target
groups. While the sales conversion ratio is a
good measure to evaluate the increased
productivity for the field force, decreased
„talk time‟ or „customer service callbacks‟ is
a good measure for evaluating the
productivity of the customer service
representatives.
 Improved quality – this could be measured
by amount of repeat business for the sales
force; a decreased abandonment rate would
be effective for the customer service
representatives.
There are yet other „soft benefits‟ like improved
communication, better customer management, and
better employee loyalty etc. that pose a bigger
challenge while measuring.
While evaluating a new training program, one can
measure the ROI by measuring the total benefits
as a percentage of the total costs associated with
the Online-learning program. While doing so, all
the above measures need to have a monetary
value associated with them.
If a comparison needs to be drawn between an
existing classroom training and conversion to
online, one needs to compare the administrative
costs associated with both the programs.
Appendix 3 shows a sample ROI evaluation sheet.
Conclusion
“Virtual classroom” using e-Learning techniques is
an attractive proposition for insurers to handle the
larger part of their routine learning on the job.
Adopting this methodology would give
considerable cost and effectiveness advantages.
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But the standard classroom model would still be
required for high end as well as „sharing based‟
programs. Insurance companies could develop an
optimal mix of virtual and real classrooms to make
their learning on the job programs efficient and
productive.
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Table 1 : Sample list of training programs – suitability analysis
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Appendix 1: Evaluation of the suitability of a program for
eLearning
Parameters Evaluation Rating
Type (information /
collaborative / experience
sharing)
Training locations
currently available
Average cost of training
(travel, lodging &
boarding, miscellaneous
expenses, honoraria,
class room expenses etc)
Frequency of programs
Average trainees per
year
Number and size of
target groups
Role & importance of the
facilitator
Ease of availability of
facilitator
Existing Technology
infrastructure
Cultural adaptability of
the company to
eLearning methods
Profile of trainees
Notes:
 Each of the parameters should be evaluated qualitatively and a suitable number
scale for quantification should be defined depending on the accuracy that could be
achieved in the organization.
 The threshold levels for suitability could be defined in the evaluation framework
depending on the number scheme adopted
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Appendix 2: Typical eLearning architecture
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Appendix 3: ROI evaluation sheet (conceptual)
Cost head Quantum
Tangible
benefit
Quantum Soft benefit Quantum
Technical
infrastructure
Travel
savings
Benefits of
wider
coverage
Hardware Lodging /
boarding
savings
Increased
productivity
Software Other
candidate
expenses
saved
Improvement
in quality of
service
Content
creation
Trainers
expenses
saved
Maintenance
costs
Savings on
Operating
expenses
Operating
expenses
Savings by
way of
reduced
training time
Total cost Total
Benefits
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Appendix 4 : References
1. Grading Virtual Classroom : Pass or Fail – Meta Group – Mike Gotta
2. Many Happy Returns : Calculating E-Learning ROI – John Setaro – Learning Circuits
website
3. E – Learning : Training Strategies for Home Office and Field Employees – LOMA
4. Improving Productivity and Business Performance- Ohene Kwapong & Sudheer
Koneru – Click2learn
5. E Learning in insurance industry – S Baskar & Sreedevi L – Asia Insurance Review
6. Making eLearning simple – www.iLearn.to
7. Several news items and write-ups about eLearning.
About the authors :
Rama Warrier is an independent Management Consultant and Preeti
ChandraShekhar heads the Benefits Practice (South India) of Towers Watson. Both
have long experience in the field of insurance and risk management. Warrier & Preeti
focus on business transformations and have several publications to their credit. They
could be reached on warrier@conzulting.in / preeti.chandrashekhar
@towerswatson.com
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