E-learning remains big question in Indonesia

E-learning remains big question in Indonesia

Eridani Sudiono, Consultant, Accenture, Jakarta

Flexibility is what should come to mind when people hear of e-
learning. E-learning corresponds to the notion of easy access
training, hi-tech, multimedia, easily managed training, etc. So,
is Indonesia ready? What does e-learning mean in this country?
What is the probability of success if e-learning is to be
implemented widely in Indonesia?

Let's first see how Indonesians learn and interact with each
other. Ever notice that Indonesians prefer talking over writing,
prefer attending training conducted by instructors over self-
study? We can probably assume that, as a part of the culture, the
majority of Indonesians prefer to communicate or interact
directly with other parties than to communicate in, say, a
virtual way.

E-learning on the contrary, uses a virtual method, and
provides very limited interaction with other parties. E-learning
platforms though, make us able to use the full blast of
multimedia technology, still there is very limited direct
communication with other people. There will be video of experts
leading the trainees through voice facilitation. But they are not
considered actual humans, they are just recorded images and
sound.

Other than the human connection and/or interaction, e-learning
demands good discipline. This means that the trainees should be
able to sit throughout the course to be able to learn something
without anyone supervising, which of course is still uncommon in
Indonesia.

In addition, here in Indonesia, I met lots of people who still
consider training as an escape vehicle of relaxation or vacation.
To learn something or to gain new skills is far less of a
priority.

Therefore, would it be possible to implement e-learning in
Indonesia with the limitations expressed above? I am still
positive about this, actually, but how? I am suggesting that we
see e-learning not as e-learning by itself, but as a tool used by
an organization to arm its people to stay up to date and to be
competitive, in a flexible and mature way.

One of the possible ways is to change the learning paradigm,
possibly by incorporating e-learning as one of the levers of a
new corporate culture. But it is well known that changing
corporate culture will take time, therefore, a communication plan
might need to be developed to "advertise" e-learning usage and
later to increase the appetite of using e-learning in the
corporation. Having said this, still, the plan to introduce new
culture with the emphasis on working efficiently and smartly
using cost-effective and flexible tools, which, in this case is
using e-learning, needs to be developed and implemented.

Changing the way people think and feel about attending
training and what to gain from training is more about mental
attitudes and general maturity. Therefore, changing the
traditional learning to e-learning needs to be part of culture
change.

Other important things, among others, are the readiness of
training infrastructures, so that the trainees will feel obliged
to finish the training and to gain something out of it. A simple
example is incorporating the courses with performance management
tools, or in a more traditional way is actively engage
supervisors to monitor their sub-ordinates performance.

Corporations should also find another way to reward employees
with the "vacation" type of reward, in addition to the annual
vacation.

Now the question is: will companies be ready to take this
initiative?