The e-revolution marches on…

Observes Adrian Snook, in this article originally published in Management Skills and Development Magazine.

Ever since the earliest mainframe-based training programmes developed confusion over language has been following close behind. Even today, conflicting terminology lies at the root of many problems facing those planning, developing, implementing and selling technology based training solutions. It is not hard to see how these problems originally arose.

Prior to the development of mainframe based training programmes the lexicon of learning technology had undergone no significant shifts in terms of paradigm in around 500 years. Classroom lectures had changed little since the ancient Greeks and the implications of traditional print technology had long since been exhaustively explored. Whilst television and radio was used for education in a limited way this required no significant revision to the lexicon of learning. After all- the BBC's Reith Lecture remained a traditional lecture whether delivered in person, via radio or television.

The development of what became known as Computer-based Training opened entirely new areas of both opportunity and uncertainty. The new learning medium was evidently neither a book, nor a classroom, nor a television programme and there were no words to describe it what it was. As a result practitioners, strategists and commentators were forced to fill this linguistic vacuum by creating new words and borrowing terms for development processes and products from traditional disciplines. The results were often unwieldy, inexact and unsatisfactory.

Given the computer industry predilection for three letter acronyms it was perhaps inevitable that Computer-based Training would soon be abbreviated to become CBT.

The development of multimedia technology compounded this problem by creating a convergence between television, radio and print media and their associated development methodologies.

A growing array of PC-related technical terms and proliferation of proprietary names for software products combined to create an extremely confusing situation for the uninitiated.

Today the term CBT is sometimes used to describe mute computer-based courseware without video content as distinct from Multimedia, which combines text, graphics, audio and video. This tends to defy logic, since it tends to imply that Multimedia is somehow not computer-based.

For some baffling reason the plural form CBT's is also being used increasingly in both print and casual conversation. The user is typically referring to more than one CBT product but Computer-based Training's makes no literal sense.

The term CBT also carries with it implications which tend to exclude or alienate significant sections of both the user and development communities. Educational purists apply a restrictive definition to the term training and this means that the term CBT has had limited acceptance in some quarters.

The term also has mechanistic implications that tend to antagonise teachers and lecturers. No doubt this is one reason why competing and overlapping terms like Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) and Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) have developed.

The coining of the terms Web Based Training or On-line Training added fresh ingredients to this bubbling linguistic soup. Is Web-Based Training CBT? Is CBT On-line training? Is CBT multimedia or vice versa?

The need for a simple catch-all term led to the recent rise of the rather sterile sounding Technology Based Training (TBT) or the less popular but more universal Technology Based Learning (TBL).

Perhaps the key problem with all of these terms is that the emphasis is rather misleading. The key message all experienced practitioners strive to convey to is that effective learning strategy and instructional design are key issues and that technology related options are important but subordinate issues. All the existing terms subvert this message by placing the stress on either technology or the computer.

The rise of e-commerce has unexpectedly generated a whole range of terms that feature the e-prefix including e-business, e-banking, e-tailing and latterly e-learning. Whilst conceived as part of the stock market love affair with the internet the term e-learning is capable of far wider application and is already used to describe any form of learning mediated by electronics, including everything from video-cassette and audio CD, to CD-ROM or web-based training.

For the first time practitioners, strategists and commentators have access to a simple term to describe all forms of technology enabled learning.

There are more subtle benefits too. Most e-learning solutions are typically deployed as a form of open and flexible distance learning. The dominance of the term Computer-based Training tends to obscure the relevance of best practice as defined by organisations like the British Association for Open Learning. Furthermore CBT solutions often address a combination of corporate communication and training objectives.

The dominance of the term Computer-based Training has sometimes resulted in a lack of focus on effective and innovative communication techniques. This has possibly contributed to the development of a rather arbitrary division in the new media industry in the UK, with broad spectrum CBT specialists represented by TACT on one side and innovation-focused communication and media specialists represented largely by BIMA on the other.

The term e-learning encompasses the delivery of communication, skill and underpinning knowledge. This holistic approach is entirely appropriate and will hopefully encourage practitioners to place a greater emphasis on the importance of effective communication in the context of learning.

Against this background, The Association for Computer-based Training (TACT) has announced that it will shortly be to changing its identity to become the e-Learning Network. This is an important step towards the development of a single body to represent the interests of what can now legitimately be termed the entire e-learning community here in the UK.

by Adrian Snook

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