E-Learner Competencies

By P. Daniel Birch
Training managers and online courseware designers agree that e-learning isn‘t appropriate for every topic. But e-learning also may not be the right fit for all types of learners. Here are some of the behaviors of a successful e-learner. Do you have them?
Much has been said about the impact e-learning has on content developers, trainers, and training managers. When the conversation turns to learners, attention focuses on the benefits of less travel and fewer hours spent away from jobs. However, those issues don‘t create an entire picture of how e-learning affects participants.
The industry needs to take a closer look at how learning behaviors might adapt in an online environment. In other words, how do the skills that serve learners well in a classroom or during on-the-job learning translate to self-paced and virtual collaboration learning experiences? Do learners need new competencies? Will an organization find that some of its employees have e-learning disabilities?
In general, three major factors influence an e-learner‘s success:
management of the learning environment (self-directive competencies) interaction with the learning content (metacognitive competencies) interaction with virtual learning facilitators and classmates (collaboration competencies).
Self-directive competencies
Self-advocacy. Managing the learning environment starts with self-advocacy, which means that learners decide whether the information being conveyed is something that they need to learn. Faced with a large catalog of training solutions, an e-learner must be able to identify and prioritize his or her personal skill gaps. Honest self-reflection, as well as the use of objective diagnostic assessments, can help identify basic or root training needs. For example, a person who needs training on project management software may need to start his or her development by learning basic project planning concepts.
In addition, scheduling and time management is a common problem for e-learners. Work demands tend to take priority over learning. Successful e-learning initiatives motivate participants by having a direct value to actual work. One of the best ways to focus and motivate learners is to have a specific problem to solve or task to complete, that requires one to learn new subject matter. Indeed, the learner needs to be able to imagine losing more, such as a promotion, by not participating rather than contemplating the consequences of lost time on the job, such as work overload.
Self-reliance. Essentially, e-learning asks participants to effectively manage their own time and learning resources. The traditional lecture format has conditioned learners to be passive--participants listen to and absorb information that they will apply in the future. However, e-learning requires them to manage the learning experience, including setting clear goals, establishing specific plans, and securing needed resources.
Likewise, the e-learning environment is rarely conducive to learning. Because e-learning generally occurs at an individual‘s work station, such distractions as colleagues with questions, telephone calls, and email are inevitable. Posting a sign on an office door or cubicle may ward off some co-workers, but a successful e-learner will also close down his or her email and other applications, forward their phone calls directly into voicemail, and clear their workspace from distractions.
Metacognitive competencies
Awareness. Metacognition refers to high-order thinking that involves active control over the cognitive processes engaged in learning. To that end, instructional designers go to great lengths to engineer a learning experience that‘s based on accepted principles of adult learning theory.
Although designers of online courseware strive to do the same, e-learners need to have a basic understanding of adult learning theory, recognize their own individual learning styles and preferences, and structure their learning experience by using strategies that will be most effective for themselves. For example, taking notes is distracting to some learners but critical for others because it enables them to focus, reinforces short-term memory, and provides a quick reference for the future.
Assessment. A critical aspect of the self-managed learning process is honest and accurate self-assessment. Some employees are unsure about evaluating their personal learning experiences. The lack of external feedback can cause learners to question their goals and achievements. This skill is distinguished from self-reliance, which monitors progress against a plan, because the focus is on whether the participant is truly learning rather than on completing tasks and passing quizzes. E-learners must actively identify ways to test and apply learning on the job so they can objectively measure results and judge success--and praise themselves for a job well done.
Collaboration competencies
Conveying ideas in a virtual classroom can be dramatically different than speaking in a physical classroom where people use their bodies as well as their voices to communicate.
Paralinguistics--the use of voice inflection to express intentions and feelings--is a valuable skill for instructors and learners because it can compensate for the absence of visual cues. Active listening in virtual environments is complicated by the absence of body language. E-learners must employ other techniques, such as anticipating a speaker‘s next idea, asking clarifying questions, and restating or summarizing thoughts.
Writing in a chat room, threaded discussion, or email requires participants to use clear, concise language that‘s free from factual and grammatical errors. All collaborators--instructors and learners--will be judged by the quality of their writing. A valuable skill to successful virtual collaboration is the ability to build relationships with peers and develop a personality through writing, but participants should avoid reading too much into what has been written. Effective online collaborators clarify points with others before jumping to conclusions.
For these reasons, an advantage of an asynchronous environment is that users have time to proofread their work and consider their words carefully before posting them. But learners shouldn‘t take too long to send a response. In asynchronous settings, it‘s easy to avoid confrontation by ignoring difficult participants and to withhold information in an unhealthy spirit of competition. Being a good virtual learner--and an effective learning experience--requires an open exchange of information, respect for other people‘s opinions, and prompt responsiveness.
Finally, in traditional classroom courses, trainers may not offer formal feedback, but they inevitably provide unspoken feedback to learners through their behavior. To receive feedback in virtual courses, e-learners must learn how to solicit feedback in a timely and consistent fashion. Likewise, some online activities don’t use instructors to manage the process, so feedback from peers is required. To assess achievement of a specific goal, an e-learner must understand the kind of feedback that he or she needs and how to retrieve it. Successful e-learners seek out and offer feedback that focuses on skills and are able to relate feedback to the goals and expectations of the training.
Bottom line
A company that assesses and builds the self-directive, metacognitive, and collaboration competencies of its learners will reap the most returns from its e-learning investments, both in terms of economic payback and in the competitive advantage gained by having employees who are the best learners in the business.
Published: July 2002