Views & Reviews

Book Review: E-learning Tools and Technologies

By Tony Chu, Instructional Design & Learning SIG Member

This book is exactly what its subtitle says: "A consumer's guide for trainers, teachers, educators, and instructional designers." It's a great place to start if you're in the uncomfortable position of having to make decisions about implementing E-learning — especially if you're under pressure to get it right the first time and if you feel that you don't know enough about:

The technology.
The available tools and vendors.
What to look for.
How to approach the project.

A great deal of experience and care has gone into the planning, organization, and execution of this book. William Horton, a well-known expert on online training and information strategies, created the ASTD E-learning series of books in 2001 and 2002. This new book is a collaboration with Katherine Horton, the other half of "William Horton Consulting, Inc."

The Hortons walk their readers through E-learning and its many components. They explain basic terminology and cover the field in enormous breadth while trying to keep a reasonable limit on the depth. They cover all stages of the learning cycle: planning, creating, offering, and using. This is extremely practical information: the book is a one-stop kick-start for anyone entering the field. Throughout, the Hortons remind readers that the fundamental goal is good training — something that is easily forgotten in the race to use easy technology.

Content Organization

The book begins with an overview and some level-setting background, and then examines the marketplace by separating tools into three categories:

Tools that access E-learning
Tools that offer E-learning
Tools that create E-learning

One chapter is devoted to each functional piece of the E-learning puzzle (media players, collaboration tools, learning management systems, course authoring tools, test generation/assessment tools, etc.). Each chapter covers:

What the type of tool does.
How it works.
What products are available.
Key features to look for and questions to ask.
Next steps and related/alternative approaches.

Although the product descriptions are not as detailed as a true "Consumer Reports" analysis (there's no table of side-by-side positive/negative comparisons among products), the Hortons do provide a brief description for each major product (key features, cost), and a list of other vendors to investigate.

In addition to the section and chapter structure, the book uses other techniques to help keep all the topics straight. Conceptual frameworks are used to explain where each type of tool fits into the overall picture. Screen captures from actual software are plentiful. (If you've ever wondered what a Learning Management System does or how it differs from a Learning Content Management System, it helps to see a bit of a guided tour!) Most importantly, the book is written in a clear and lucid style, with touches of humor. The occasional "rants" and editorial opinions are usually presented as sidebars, so as not to directly interfere with the facts.

Caveats

If I could change anything about the book, I would shorten some of the introductory chapters. Understandably, the authors assume minimal technical knowledge because they want to reach a heterogeneous audience. And I do buy their argument that you need to know basic concepts about networks and servers, not because you need to set them up, but because you need to dialogue with those who do, and be aware of the potential (or limitations) of what is already in place. On the other hand, I expect that most readers don't really need a review of basic PC components or an explanation of what browsers do. This is only a minor comment, but you should be aware that the introductory material takes up about one fifth of the book.

How long the book's content will remain current is another minor concern, given the speed with which the E-learning landscape changes as technology evolves and new products emerge. The authors end their book by looking into the future and discussing trends, and their last sentence acknowledges that "this is only the first edition of this book." Fortunately, the book is also supported by a Web site, which is advertised to contain the latest information along with useful forms and spreadsheets.

Conclusion

Organizations often struggle to use E-learning effectively. With so many options available, it's easy to over-analyze, become baffled, or make unsuccessful choices. E-Learning is by no means a panacea: you can spend lots of money and still produce bad training. You might buy a tool suite that constrains you to a single instructional model or theory. Or you might be avoiding E-learning altogether because it seems elusive and costly, with an unclear return on investment. In my case, I was looking for an expert overview that covered a lot of ground about the E-learning field, technology, and marketplace. If you're in the same boat, I highly recommend this book.

Editor's Note: This book review originally appeared in the newsletter of the IDL SIG.)

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