eLearning in SMEs: From Cultural & Technical Revolution [Interview]

October 30, 2019

eLearning in SMEs: From Cultural & Technical Revolution [Interview]

Practical example

Company

Large companies have now firmly integrated eLearning and Blended Learning into their qualification methodology. However, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are also successfully engaged in the eLearning segment! In the interview, Dr. Stefan Enzler discusses cultural and technical challenges in SMEs, and solutions from the research project KMUdigital.

Reading tip: We have summarized more information about KMUdigital and the role of blink.it in this research project in the article KMUdigital: How blink.it researches for "Continuing Education 4.0" for you.

Im Interview mit blink.it: Stefan Enzler von imu augsburg

About the person: For over 25 years, Dr. Stefan Enzler has been involved in the holistic skill development of people and entire organizations through coaching, training, consulting, and research. In his work, he combines individual learning with the cultural and structural development of organizations to sustainably enhance the innovation capacity and success of companies. He uses Blended Learning to significantly increase the effectiveness of learning and development.

Hello, Mr. Enzler. You initiated the research project "KMUdigital" with imu augsburg and blink.it. What is the goal of this project?

S. Enzler: "For over 25 years, we have been working with companies, especially in the medium-sized sector. We have noticed that many companies lose their development power once external support through training and coaching ends. Our question was, how can we support companies so that an externally initiated development can also take place sustainably internally? This led to the idea of supporting medium-sized companies through Blended Learning, that is, by combining eLearning and face-to-face learning. In KMUdigital, we train so-called integral coaches: people who are employed in their own company and then help implement such projects internally with their own coaching skills."

What has changed in companies and particularly in continuing education over the last 25 years?

S. Enzler: "25 years ago, projects were still more predictable – today we deal much more with uncertainty. Companies have a vision, but the way to achieve it constantly changes or is only discovered while proceeding.

This also changes something in the people who are part of these changes: Knowledge must be available according to the new work models. It used to be much more structured: there was one fixed day a year for training. On that day, employees attended the seminar and learned – or often did not.

Today, learning must be self-organized, usually right at the workplace. This is where the great advantage of eLearning comes in: The offer is there and I can use it as an employee in a rhythm that suits me. I become more self-responsible for my development and have to set my own priorities. For many people, this is a big leap from structured to self-directed learning."

The integral coaches - who are trained as part of KMUdigital - are to help implement eLearning, especially in the form of Blended Learning. But why should SMEs specifically use Blended Learning?

S. Enzler: "I see the charm of Blended Learning primarily in that learning sequences, which I as a learner simply need to see, hear, and understand, can be detached from the fixed structure 'I'm going to the seminar' – here comes the responsibility to organize some of the learning myself. This is enormously important for employees from medium-sized companies: Life and working time is extremely compressed and correspondingly scarce.

In face-to-face training, practical learning is strengthened: The presence times are no longer filled with theory and knowledge transfer but are truly exciting. There, learners are directly involved in interaction.

Insights into the blink.it learning platform, which is used in the KMUdigital research project. Source: blink.it

What particular challenges arise in small and medium-sized enterprises when introducing digital training methods like Blended Learning?

S. Enzler: "SMEs are very good at connecting the technologies they use for their products with digitalization. However, transferring this to people often reveals a gap that was very surprising for us: In private life, employees navigate this digital world with their smartphones, watch videos, and actively seek information. But at work, information is awaited and the digital world is not used as independently as at home. This often relates to the corporate culture, which leads to employees not utilizing a part of their skills that are actually available.

There is often still a mindset of "If I just look at the computer, I'm not productive!" For management, who mostly sit in their private offices with their own computers, this is normal. But at the level of shift leaders or production workers, this represents a strong cultural break to leave the workplace to learn during working hours. That such processes are “allowed” in teams mainly requires a cultural change. There are also many hurdles: For instance, the use of smartphones at the workplace is often prohibited.

This also requires a technical revolution. While companies may have computers, the locations often do not provide a suitable learning environment and overall there are too few devices for employees. There is often a lack of infrastructure to facilitate smooth digital learning.

The cultural and technical infrastructure in SMEs is often not well developed. How can they solve these problems to establish a basis for Blended Learning?

S. Enzler: "As the first major key for increasing the acceptance of digital learning in SMEs, I see the formation of learning teams. This has a dual function in SMEs: First, it increases employee motivation to stay engaged in a self-directed eLearning online course. Secondly, it has the advantage that employees in learning teams can reflect directly. This has a social effect, turning the learned content into a common language through interaction.

This also partially solves the problem of technical infrastructure: In many SMEs, computers and monitors are often located in separate areas, somewhat away from the actual work or production site. This way, employees in learning teams can jointly seek a designated place to learn.

A second solution we are introducing for the technical issue: At least a few tablets should be available. These can have multifunctional uses in many SMEs and are not solely purchased for further education: For example, tablets can be used as scanners directly at the production site, but also for learning sequences outside.

A third major lever – to break down barriers to eLearning – is to guide employees to create their own videos for the learning units. Specifically on practical topics, such as operating a specific machine. With the available tablet, employees can record their own videos and then share them with other colleagues in the online course. This has two benefits: First, it is very fun because familiar faces appear in the videos. Second, it lowers the barriers to sit down to learn in front of the screen or tablet: When content is created by employees for employees, it becomes normalized."

Tablets ermöglichen als multifunktionale Helfer in KMU das Lernen direkt am Arbeitsplatz.

Tablets enable multifunctional assistance in SMEs, allowing learning to occur directly at the workplace.

Videos seem to be an important key point here. How important do you think videos are in digital training for SMEs?

S. Enzler: "I see that it is increasingly becoming THE most important medium. Especially when I observe the younger generation. But I also see this trend in myself: I prefer to watch a short video before reading something – provided the situation allows for watching a video with sound.

Videos overcome the resistance in SMEs to utilize digital competencies: When employees record their own videos, they become part of communication, then part of learning, and subsequently part of corporate culture. And for that, hardware deficiencies need to be addressed as soon as possible to enable video viewing."

Through Blended Learning and videos, the KMUdigital project introduces companies to digital learning and a new corporate culture. Why did you choose blink.it as a tool for this?

S. Enzler: "What I find very appealing about blink.it and what led me to see it as a key element for SMEs: It is simple and works reliably. Especially in SMEs, the worst thing we could have done is to overwhelm employees with complexity. With blink.it there was no risk of that: Even an employee who only briefly engages with it can operate it immediately.

Simplicity, in my view, is part of the solution to the acceptance problem of eLearning in SMEs. Along with this strong involvement of employees and communal learning, blink.it makes a valuable contribution to the project as a simple platform. This simplicity makes blink.it a particularly suitable tool for medium-sized enterprises. And throughout the course of the projects, we are jointly working to improve the tool further for this specific purpose."

Thank you for these fascinating insights!