Exclusive: Managers embrace e-learning

Peter Crush, 10 October 2008

Management’s use of e-learning has surged in the last 12 months according to research launched this morning at the Chartered Management Institute’s Annual Conference in Birmingham.

According to the survey of more than 1,000 managers, 51% now say they use online videos to develop new skills, up from 21% 12 months ago.

A third (34%) said they use social networking sites to boost knowledge, compared to just 12% last year.

The survey also found 24% of managers use e-books and 27% seek learning advice through online discussion forums.

Professor William Scott-Jackson, report author from the Centre for Applied Human Resources Research, said: "Senior executives actually share many of the traits of generation Y. They have short attention spans and want more smaller or bite sized learning. In this sense baby-boomers are catching onto what the ‘Nintendo generation' already know."

The report also found that blended learning - the use of more than one type of training to attain a learning goal - is managers' preferred training methodology.

Scott-Jackson said: Rather than learners needing to cram their heads full of information, learning should be more about knowing where to access it."

He added: "This will prove to be a major challenge that trainers need to adapt to. The days of just presenting to a classroom of people are over."