The growth of the eLearning industry during lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many organisations to adapt their ways of training staff. Face-to-face training simply hasn’t been plausible, at least not in the sense of its standard definition. This has meant many organisations have turned towards eLearning as a solution to training staff during the pandemic.

Last month, we released a blog that demonstrated the eLearning trends that we had identified since the start of lockdown. The research for this helped us understand which of our eLearning topics were the most urgent, what topics were less urgent, and how many more people we saw completing their training during lockdown.

We thought we’d take a step back now and look at the bigger picture. How has lockdown affected the eLearning industry as a whole?

Here’s what we found…

Usage is growing, and it’s not going to slow down

With the eLearning market being valued at $176.12 billion in 2017, and expected to reach $398.15 billion by 2026, it’s logical to assume that eLearning is a growing industry that will continue in its upward trend regardless of economic circumstances.

However, with the COVID-19 pandemic taking the world by surprise, the eLearning market has still seen accelerated growth.

This is attributed to many factors, including the fact that globally there are 1.2 billion children out of the classroom that have needed to make the switch to eLearning to continue with their education.

Additionally, in the UK, the government’s furlough scheme allows for employers to provide training to furloughed employees. Many employers are providing their furloughed staff with eLearning to ensure that their training is up-to-date for when they return to work, and also as a way of keeping the employee engaged with their organisation whilst being furloughed.

People are using learning to upskill during lockdown

With the unprecedented pandemic causing people all over the world to find extra time that they may not have had pre-pandemic, many individuals have seen this as a fantastic opportunity to learn new skills through the use of eLearning.

Many individuals are doing this to become more employable after COVID-19, to help them in starting their own business or side project, or simply because they were interested in the topic. Regardless of their reasoning, this has caused a spike in the usage of training in soft skills.

We have been keeping an eye on search trends in relation to eLearning since the start of lockdown, and it is currently experiencing record search volumes!

Could a blended approach to learning be the future of workplace training?

Right now, and certainly in the last 10 or so years, eLearning has become the obvious choice for organisations looking to train staff on any topic. And since lockdown measures have been put in place, many face-to-face training providers will have certainly taken a hit.

Nobody really knows what the face-to-face landscape will look like after lockdown, leaving eLearning as a favourable option for organisations looking to train staff.

However, if the face-to-face training industry does bounce back, then a blended approach to learning could be an option for businesses looking to train staff, particularly in areas that face-to-face training is necessary, like first aid training. We have many clients that use a blended approach successfully and even we can see the benefits of it. 

On the other hand, we hear time and again about the success of organisations who have transitioned from face-to-face training approach to an almost 100% eLearning method, so whatever happens over the next few months in regards to lockdown and social distancing, it will undoubtedly have a huge impact on the future of workplace training.

A quick note on eLearning

To summarise, the eLearning industry is one of few sectors that has thrived during this difficult period, and organisations and individuals alike are benefiting from having eLearning at their disposal during lockdown.

Here at iHASCO, we create all of our courses in-house with quality at the forefront of our minds. By blending together engaging components such as presenter-lead footage, stunning animations, interactive choice slides, and many more features, we can offer users what we believe is some of the most engaging content on the market.

With that said, what can iHASCO do for you? Here are just a few things we can do for our clients:

• Help your organisation easily work towards legislative compliance
• Save you time and money by switching to our cost-effective eLearning solution
• Help your organisation get back to work safely & smoothly

We’re so confident that our content will help break the negative stigma surrounding eLearning that we let anybody claim a no-obligation free trial to any of our courses!