Are You Ready for
e-Learning?

If you are truly ready for e-learning, it is an efficient, effective and economical approach. If you aren’t, the attempt may lead to frustration, battered ego, wasted time and incomplete learning. So write Paul J. Guglielmino and Lucy M. Guglielmino, in their essay in The AMA Handbook of E-Learning, edited by George M. Piskurich.

What makes for learner readiness for e-learning? The two e-learning experts identify two major components: technical readiness and readiness for self-directed learning.

Technical Readiness

According to Paul and Lucy Guglielmino, the technical knowledge needed for e-learning includes a basic knowledge of the components and operations of the technical system being used to deliver the e-learning as well as a knowledge of the resources for technical assistance that can be used if technical problems arise.

“The central attitude involved in technical readiness for e-learning,” say the e-learning experts, “is a positive feeling toward the use of technology as a delivery system for learning; in other words, a lack of technophobia.”

Readiness for Self-directed Learning

Independence of self-direction in learning. The construct of readiness for self-directed learning is a logical link for readiness for e-learning, with learner autonomy, initiative and independence and persistence in learning; one who accepts responsibility for his or her own learning and views problems as challenges, not obstacles; one who is capable of self-discipline and has a high degree of curiosity; one who has a strong desire to learn or change and is self-confident; one who is able to use basic study skills, organize his or her time and set an appropriate pace for learning, and to develop a plan for completing work; one who enjoys learning and has a tendency to be goal-oriented.

Self-knowledge or awareness of one’s self as a learner. Readiness is enhanced by an awareness of one’s preferred learning style, the best ways to take in new information. Readiness for self-directed learning, they add, also involves an understanding of self-direction in learning, ways of managing one’s own learning and an understanding that it is a skill that can be learned and further developed.

A strong desire to learn or to change. If you have a strong curiosity, enjoy learning new things, are focused on continuous self-improvement and view learning as a path to problem solving, you are likely to be a successful e-learner. A second fundamental attitude is confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner—a “can-do” learner who takes initiative in learning.

Excerpted from “Are Your Learners Ready for E-Learning?” by Paul J. Guglielmino and Lucy M. Guglielmino, from The AMA Handbook of E-Learning, edited by George M. Piskurich. Copyright 2003, George M. Piskurich. Published by AMACOM, a division of American Management Association.