The economic slowdown in USA has turned out to be a blessing in disguise

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for some of the Indian e-learning companies. Cost cutting measures have induced businesses to reduce instructor-led training and convert to e-learning solutions, say industry players.

Prabal Mall, vice president – eLearning of the learning outsourcing company, Expertus, said, “The immediate effect of recession has been the tightening of purse strings and most companies, even large enterprises, in USA are converting from instructor-led training (ILTs) to rapid instructional design (RID). About 150 companies in India are in the e-learning business and close to 100 of them work on converting ILT content to RIDs.”

Companies develop in-house content with aids including PowerPoint presentations and Flash components. Readymade tools such as Articulate are now available to convert these formats into digital learning content thereby reducing the role of trainers. Companies are willing to invest in e-learning tools rather than on trainers every three or four months, Mall said.

Instructors will continue to be an integral part, but their involvement in teaching is reducing, he added. “We, in fact, got more orders during the last one year. E-learning has been the fastest growing business in Expertus,” Mall said.

NIIT has introduced a pre-hire learning module especially for bulk recruiters affected by the economic recession. The e-learning module helps reduce time taken to make new employees job-ready.

According to the company’s internal estimates and case study with customers, e-learning solutions reduce cost of training by about 50 per cent. Developing one hour of e-learning content may require from 100 to 300 person hours or more, depending on the features.

The traditional approach to learning in the form of lectures, assignments and tests is slowly finding its way out, said Sesh Kumar, CEO of Emantras Tech. Blended learning techniques that equip users to learn by doing tasks rather than mere reading have been found to be very effective, he added.

According to Expertus’ internal research, the overall self-learning segment, in which e-learning is a part, in USA is worth about $16.5 billion. The size of the outsourced e-learning business in India is projected to be about $375 million by the end of 2009, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of about 15 per cent. The revenue is expected to double in three to four years, triggered by US e-learning and publishing companies setting up their offshore centres in India.