Like most other e-learning companies, Ninth House promotes the blended-learning approach.
he
dirty little secret of e-learning is that a lot of people who try a computer
module or online class won’t finish it. In a recent survey conducted by James
Madison University, 375 corporate learners said they dropped out of classroom
instruction only 3 percent of the time but failed to complete 26 percent of
e-learning. The reason that 36 percent of them gave for abandoning the
technology was poor design of the e-learning material or a mismatch of
e-learning styles.
"The quality of the online experience has not been good
for most e-learners," says Jeff Snipes, CEO of Ninth House Inc., a San Francisco
maker of online training modules. "In the past, companies have paid a premium to
have people like Tom Peters do seminars and workshops, and they need the same
level of content in e-learning."
That pitch has made Ninth House an award-winning producer
of e-learning modules that teach managerial "soft" skills—the kind of thing that
many analysts think is the most difficult to learn online. To combat that
impression, Ninth House has used a two-part strategy. The first part was to
license and adapt high-quality material from business gurus like Peters and Ken
(The One Minute Manager) Blanchard. The second was to give the e-learning
experience some energy by using slick, movie-like simulations created with the
help of designers at places like Disney and Pixar.
Ninth House’s "Situational Leadership" module begins with
a short video clip from Ken Blanchard, followed by vignettes and interactive
videos that place the user in the middle of a movie. The fictional management
scenarios range from a gold mine to a fishing pond. "We are changing the
paradigm where people used to just sit in front of their computer and read
text," Snipes says. "In a situation where you are trying to develop management
skills and change behavior, you need a higher learning experience."
Like most other e-learning companies, Ninth House promotes
the blended-learning approach. "E-learning is not just good for one thing and
the classroom for another," Snipes says. "Each is a great way to do part of the
learning experience." He believes that concepts can be learned online, followed
by simulated online role-playing on a general subject such as negotiation. After
that, he says, people should get together to discuss the concepts and practice
their skills more specifically with techniques such as role-playing how to
negotiate their own company’s contracts.
The Ninth House approach seems to be working. Last April,
the U.S. Department of Justice issued a report about a pilot program using Ninth
House’s online seminars based on Blanchard’s teaching. The department said that
the amount of training the managers received in 4,247 electronic courses taken
over two years would have cost $10.5 million more in a classroom. More important
were the qualitative results. Ninety-two percent of the people who participated
in the program said that they were able to learn and remember concepts as easily
as in a classroom, and 64 percent said that the courses had helped improve their
job performance.
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