From academic institutions to blue-chip companies, e-learning has become the secret to success in the digital age. The rise of the pandemic saw this convenient and innovative approach to training skyrocket in popularity, and for good reason. 

But what exactly is e-learning, and how can it benefit your organization? Our ultimate guide covers everything you need to know about the common types of e-learning and they can help you reach your business goals.

Let’s get started.

What is e-learning?

E-learning—or electronic learning—is a pretty broad term but, in a nutshell, it’s the process of gaining any type of knowledge or training through digital sources.

In other words, all forms of online courses and formal online education conducted digitally via a learning management system (LMS) or a social platform are part of what we call e-learning.

E-learning programs come in all shapes and sizes, including:

• Customer or partner training and onboarding
• Employee onboarding  and professional development
• Formal education

…and many more (which we’ll cover later on).

Throughout this guide, we’ll use real-world examples to highlight how organizations like yours are effectively using e-learning (and Docebo) to solve challenges and drive their business forward, starting with Citizens Advice. 

Spotlight

Citizens Advice is a UK non-profit organization that helps people with legal, debt, consumer, housing, and other problems. Since moving to sustainable and scalable e-learning programs, they’ve managed to increase learner engagement, save hundreds of thousands of dollars, and completely reform their learning offer.

• $600,000 in savings over 2 years
• 123% increase in enrollments
• 121% increase in course completions

This is just one example of how effective digital learning can be, compared to more traditional learning methods.

So, let’s dive deeper to find out more.

Synchronous vs. asynchronous vs blended online learning

As we mentioned earlier, e-learning is a broad concept. So let’s start breaking it down to understand it better. 

Suppose you want to teach a group of people something. In that case, there are three methods you can use to do it:

1. Synchronous learning: Everyone learns the same thing at the same time
2. Asynchronous learning: Everyone learns the same thing at different times
3. Blended learning: Everyone learns some of the stuff at the same time and some of the stuff at different times   

The main difference between these methods is that synchronous online learning programs are conducted in real-time, asynchronous learning is self-paced, and blended learning programs combine a little from column A and a little from column B. 

Let’s dig a little deeper into each of these methods.

Synchronous learning

Elements of synchronous learning include:

• Real-time engagement
• Online or physical attendance
• Immediate feedback

A live webinar is a perfect example of synchronous online learning. People attend it in real-time and can ask questions directly.

Asynchronous learning

The main elements of asynchronous learning are:

• Flexibility
• Accessibility
• Online modules

In short, a live webinar is synchronous online learning. Meanwhile, a pre-recorded webinar that learners can watch on demand is asynchronous online learning. 

Asynchronous online learning is a great way to create self-service training programs, which is exactly what Wrike, a collaborative work management platform designed for enterprises, did for their customers. 

Spotlight

With more than 2.3 million users in 20,000 companies across 140 countries, customer education can get pretty complicated for Wrike. So they traded in their old training techniques (time-consuming 1-on-1 calls between reps and customers) for a new online, self-service training portal that delivers more value to customers and saves the company time. 

• Increased user activity by 102%
• Increased conversions by 300%
• Saved over 11,000 hours of training

Blended learning

Elements of blended learning include:

• Learning in real-time and/or on your own time
• In-person and/or virtual training sessions
• Giving learners control of when, what, and how they learn

Fortunately, when it comes to learning methods, it’s not an either/or scenario. There’s a time and a place for each. Most organizations use a strategic mix of methods to create an ideal learner experience.  

An introduction to the past, present, and future of e-learning

The history of e-learning is tightly tied to the evolution of computers, and when personal computers entered the mainstream in the ‘80s, online learning was born. 

E-learning programs have come a long way since the ‘80s. As technology evolved, so did e-learning solutions.

In 1999, Elliott Masie first used the term “e-learning” to define online knowledge sharing as an evolved form of internet-based distance learning.  

Prior to Elliott Maise coining the word, professionals referred to any internet-based learning as online learning.

Technology advancements in the early 2000s (like the World Wide Web becoming the new norm, rich media content, and faster internet connections) accelerated the popularity of online learning.

Of course, e-learning classes were far from what we have today in terms of rich media  and usability. But the quality of e-learning courses kept pace and improved as revolutionary web technologies were implemented. 

As such, e-learning content grew more refined and evolved thanks to:

• The introduction of Web 2.0 in 2004
• The flexibility of video playback that came with Adobe Flash in 2005
• Smartphones becoming mainstream, and the rise of mobile internet browsing starting in 2008
• The new face of the web with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript in 2010

But technology isn’t the only factor that shapes e-learning—global socio-economic events also play a big part in transforming the online learning environment.

For instance, in March 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic took the world by storm, and in-person interaction became impossible. Due to restrictions and isolation policies worldwide, education (in academic and corporate environments) switched to an online learning environment.

If you look at Google Trends, you’ll see that the term “elearning” has increased in popularity in the second quarter of 2020, which coincides with the beginning of the pandemic.

It’s safe to say the pandemic led to a spike in the adoption of online learning all over the globe, and digital learning technologies have become an integral part of our personal, academic, and professional lives. 

This has been great for learners. But what about organizations? Is e-learning benefiting business owners? And if so, how?

6 business benefits of e-learning 

There’s no doubt that e-learning is a convenient alternative to in-person training. But the benefits don’t stop there. Leveraging e-learning solutions can help organizations:

• Reduce costs and save time
• Foster accessible and inclusive learning experiences 
• Create a flexible learning environment
• Deliver adaptive, personalized learning paths
• Offer a wide variety of programs and teaching styles 
• Streamline their learning lifecycle

(To name a few!)

Let’s look at these benefits in more detail.

Benefit #1: Reduce costs and save time

This one’s a no-brainer: e-learning saves you time and money. (I mean, think about how much you spend on printed materials, supplies, venues, food, and travel for in-person training sessions.) Plus, online learning courses reduce the need for your senior employees or onboarding specialists to spend as much time teaching. 

Of course, in-person or synchronous learning sessions are still necessary for a million reasons (one of them being the creation of a trustful environment). But, most course content can be rolled into a time- and cost-efficient e-learning program.

Benefit #2: Accessible and inclusive learning experiences

E-learning gives you the ability to create accessible and inclusive learning experiences. So you can better accommodate employees with learning disabilities by offering them the chance to go over the learning materials at their own pace—which is more difficult in the traditional classroom experience.

E-learning also enables anyone to attend online learning sessions, no matter their location or other circumstances. This is especially important for organizations with teams scattered across the globe that would otherwise have to travel to headquarters for conferences, seminars, etc. 

As you can see, e-learning benefits both business owners and employees: Businesses cut back on expenses associated with in-person training, and employees get to develop new skills from the comfort of their own homes. Talk about a win/win!

Benefit #3: Flexible learning environment

A flexible learning environment gives learners the freedom to choose what they learn, when, where, and how. (And hey, who doesn’t like freedom?) This is one of the reasons why e-learning is so popular.

When learners can participate in courses that interest them when it’s convenient for them, it removes many of the most common barriers associated with traditional learning. And when the experience is frictionless and flexible, learners are much more likely to be motivated to engage. 

Flexible learning environments also make FOMO (fear of missing out) a thing of the past. For instance, if learners can’t make it to a real-time training session, they can review the materials post-event or refer back to content down the road for a quick recap. 

So, employees are more likely to participate in training, never miss out on valuable sessions, and resources are available when needed. All this results in more engaged and productive employees, which is great for business. 

Benefit #4: Fully personalized learning experiences

No two brains are the same. 

We all have diverse skills, knowledge, interests, and experiences. And, when it comes to learning, it means we all have different needs. So a training program that’s suitable for one person might not be for another.  

That’s what’s so great about e-learning. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver learning experiences that adapt to each person. Pretty cool, right? But what’s even better is that it means for your business. When each employee gets the training and content they need to develop and grow. 

Benefit #5: Increased variety of programs and teaching styles

As the saying goes, variety is the spice of life. It’s also the spice of learning! 

Let’s be real; no one wants to click through endless PowerPoints or listen to a full-day lecture. That’s why it’s important to mix things up. Otherwise, you run the risk of boring your learners. (And boredom is bad for business.)

E-learning keeps learners from zoning out by providing them with a wide variety of programs, sessions, content, and teaching styles to keep things interesting, make learning experiences valuable, and keep learners engaged. (And engagement is good for business!) So what does “mixing it up” look like? 

It’ll look different for every organization, but imagine a combination of live online training sessions, self-directed learning modules, a centralized hub of on-demand resources, and an open forum or chat where learners can go to get real-time answers from SMEs and share knowledge with their peers. (If you’ve read our other glossary entries, you’ll know we’re talking about synchronous and asynchronous learning, on-demand training, and social learning.)

Basically, e-learning lets people choose the learning styles that work best for them and adapt programs to suit their preferences. 

Benefit #6: Streamlined learning lifecycle

Because e-learning is digital, it’s much easier to monitor, analyze, update, and optimize than traditional learning. This makes for a more seamless learning experience.

In other words, e-learning is highly scalable and measurable and is easier to keep up to date. So you can ensure your people are always learning the right things and your programs are yielding the best results. 

Now let’s take a closer look at the most common use cases for e-learning to discover which ones you can apply to reap the sweet perks we just covered. 

7 most common use cases for e-learning 

All businesses can benefit from e-learning. But not all e-learning use cases will be relevant to every business.  For instance, employee onboarding (which happens to be the most common use case for e-learning) is relevant to all companies. But channel training (another common e-learning use case) will only be relevant to companies that partner with distributors or resellers to sell their goods or services. 

So, to help you figure out which use case (or cases) will best suit your needs, we’re going to examine the seven most common ones in detail.

Let’s start with the most popular one.

1. Employee onboarding

Every business hires employees. So, for obvious reasons, the most common use case for e-learning in a business setting is employee onboarding. 

And when new hires come on board, they need to be (…wait for it…) onboarded.  E-learning is one of the easiest ways for them to learn what’s whats.

If you recall, one of the benefits of e-learning is the ability to provide each employee with personalized learning paths. So a new hire in Sales will have a different onboarding experience than a new hire in Finance. As a result, employees only learn what they need to, streamlining the onboarding process.

By streamlining employee onboarding, organizations can enjoy lower onboarding costs, quicker ramp-up times, and countless hours saved. These are just some of the results Bethany Care Society saw when they reimagined their traditional onboarding model.

Spotlight

Bethany Care Society is a not-for-profit provider of continuing care services and independent living for seniors. When the pandemic hit, they were forced to re-evaluate their in-person employee onboarding model. The shift to e-learning has led to a more efficient and more effective onboarding process that has new hires raving. 

• 24% reduction in annual orientation costs
• 45% less time spent on onboarding
• 372 in-class educator hours saved

2. Employee training and development

Another popular use case for e-learning is employee training. 

All too often, employee training stops after onboarding. However, today’s workforce increasingly values a company’s learning and development (L&D) policy. So, providing ongoing development is a highly effective way to increase employee retention rates and stand out from competitors.

According to the 2020 Workplace Learning Report:

• 57% of businesses have started to increase their L&D budgets for online learning
• 54% of employees would dedicate more time to learning if their company provided them with courses that support their career goals
• 94% of learners confirm having experienced career benefits as a result of learning programs

If you think you can only find numbers like these in a report, think again. Nord Anglia Education is just one of many real-world examples of how ongoing employee training and development can benefit employers and employees alike. 

Spotlight

Nord Anglia is an international education institution with 77 private day and boarding schools around the world. Their goal is to deliver a world-class academic experience. And that takes world-class teachers. Transitioning to Docebo led to a number of improvements, including: better staff retention and acquisition, higher employee engagement with training sessions, and a significant bump in their Net Promoter Score (NPS).  

• Boost in staff retention and acquisition rates 
• Increase in the number of employee training sessions
• A 27 point improvement NPS

3. Customer onboarding

Employees aren’t the only people that need to be brought up to speed and integrated into an organization. In many cases, customers need to be onboarded too.  

Just as an employee onboarding program can reduce costs and get people up and running sooner, so too can customer onboarding programs. In addition to saving time and money, customer onboarding programs set your customers up for success and pave the way for lasting relationships.  Case in point: PowerDMS, the only public safety workforce platform designed to recruit, train, equip, and protect first responders.

Spotlight

It didn’t take PowerDMS long to outgrow their previous LMS. So they found an alternative that could scale with their business and decrease customer onboarding times by 30%. Now, instead of huge delays, users are up and running in record time, which translates to huge savings. (Those are results customers and the business can feel good about.)

• 119% return on investment 
• 5,420+ training hours saved
• $150,000 reduction in training costs

4. Customer training

Want to build brand awareness, strengthen customer relationships, increase revenue, decrease costs, and improve overall satisfaction? (Who doesn’t?!) A solid customer training program can do all that—and more.

Employees need ongoing training to be successful. The same goes for your customers. (This is especially true for companies that offer software, technology, and subscription-based services.) 

Customers need the knowledge, resources, tools, and support to use your product or services properly. While face-to-face, synchronous training sessions with reps can go a long way towards strengthening the relationship with customers, it’s not always feasible and rarely scalable. That’s where a digital customer training strategy comes in. 

A customer-focused learning culture can help SaaS companies reduce churn and improve customer retention. (You can learn more about that in this episode of our podcast on customer education.) It can also help with customer satisfaction, as Acoustic, an independent marketing cloud and digital experience solutions provider, shared in a recent case study.

Spotlight

Using a customizable enterprise LMS, Acoustic designed an easy-to-use, self-serve learning solution. The revamped training experience makes it easier for customers to access relevant, personalized courses and content they need to get the most of Acoustic’s products. The platform’s a big hit with customers, and Acoustic has the numbers to prove it. 

• 16% increase in CSAT
• 4.2 / 5 learner satisfaction score
• 7,500+ registered learners

5. Compliance training

Of all the use cases for e-learning, compliance training is quite possibly the least exciting (depending on who you ask).  But it’s also one of the most important ones. In addition to protecting your organization’s reputation and reducing risk, compliance training helps keep employees safe. 

But with all those mandatory course requirements and expiration dates, it can be tricky to track and monitor your organization’s progress as a whole. 

Not only does e-learning enable you to automate many of the activities associated with compliance training (like enrollments, tracking, and reporting), but it also makes it easier for your employees to complete courses. Rather than a course offered at a specific time and in person, e-learning makes compliance training available online, on-demand, and on the go, making staying compliant as easy as pie.

Find out how moving compliance training online helped Burges Salmon, a UK-based law firm, improve their mandatory course completion rates. 

Spotlight

At Burges Salmon, compliance training is hugely important. (It comes with the territory.) With a large portion of their team traveling and working offsite, many employees couldn’t attend in-person compliance training sessions. Shortly after moving much of their compliance training activities online, participation and completion rates skyrocketed. 

• 31% increase in mandatory compliance completion rates
• 85% increase in participation in VILT sessions   
• Mobile learning supports employees on the go

6. Channel training

Similar to customer training, you can also use e-learning for your channel partner and reseller training programs. 

Partners and resellers are an extension of your enterprise. Which means they’re also an extension of your brand. Channel training programs are a great way to ensure brand consistency across all channels. They’re also perfect for keeping your partners up to date on your products or services with the latest training, resources, and support.  

But don’t just take our word for it! Take La-Z-Boy’s, a leading furniture manufacturer with a global network of partners. 

Spotlight

Frustrated with the company’s outdated LMS, some partners started using different learning platforms and creating their own content, which resulted in inconsistencies in La-Z-Boy’s branding and messaging. The company switched to a more engaging platform and fleshed out their course catalog to give partners the updated learning experience and content they need to succeed. 

• 85% increase in course completion 
• Consistent branding and messaging 
• Stronger relationship with partners

7. Higher education

So far, we’ve focused on how e-learning is used in corporate environments. But e-learning programs aren’t limited to businesses. Higher education is another popular use case for e-learning. For years, universities, colleges, and other higher education institutions have used E-learning programs. (Even before the pandemic made e-learning necessary in many of these institutions.) Just like any other industry, organizations in the higher education sector use a mix of synchronous e-learning and asynchronous learning to meet each program’s learning objectives and their students’ learning needs. 

Now that we’ve gone over some of the most common use cases for e-learning, you probably have a better sense of which ones apply to your business. Let’s explore what it takes to deliver the best e-learning programs. (Spoiler: we’re talking about an LMS.)

An enterprise LMS for all e-learning use cases

Chances are one or more of the use cases we listed above applies to your organization. This means you likely need to deliver multiple types of training—possibly to multiple audiences. 

That’s where a learning management system (LMS) comes in. 

LMSs are designed to help organizations create, manage, automate, deliver, and track courses in a digital workspace. Their main purpose is to empower L&D departments to provide learners with custom e-learning programs, so they can contribute to a company’s growth, success, and ultimately drive revenue. 

But e-learning programs are only as strong as their weakest link. All too often, that weak link is an outdated LMS. Some lack the ability to scale, others the ability to deliver personalized training, and several still can’t support external training for members of the extended enterprise (like customers and partners). As a result, e-learning programs, learners, and businesses suffer. 

It all comes down to this: An LMS is the backbone of enterprise e-learning. If it doesn’t help learners and businesses reach their goals, it’s not doing its job. 

Want to learn more about LMSs? Check out the Top 24 LMS features: The complete list

Wrapping up

You made it to the end! Congrats! That means you now have a solid understanding of e-learning, its benefits, the most common use cases, and how the right LMS can support your enterprise e-learning needs. 

Now that you’re informed, it’s time to get inspired to create your own e-learning programs. So, what comes next? We’ve got some suggestions:

• An interactive roleplay to get sales staff up to speed on their communication skills
• Highly engaging microlearning modules to give employees essential product knowledge in a flash
• Compelling compliance training courses complete with an interactive quiz and a points system to motivate learners 

The possibilities are endless when you have a powerful LMS.

Keep up the momentum! Unlock a world of L&D resources and knowledge by exploring our glossary.