"With E-Learning, you can quickly reach the masses!"

Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Schaffer, with his e-learning solutions, your company aims to make learning accessible for all people - how is the content created that your clients use to train their employees? 

Wolfgang Schaffer: The production of digital learning content is fundamentally a multi-stage process that is based on a script which is meticulously broken down into a granular concept. Initially, one must pose a lot of questions: What exactly are the learning objectives to be achieved at the end? Which images and texts are most effective in this respect? And what is the best way to design the instructional sequence? After all, the trainee should not only be passively entertained but should really acquire knowledge and skills: Therefore, interaction must consistently take place in the learning process, such as in the form of small quizzes for learning objective control. This structure and the corresponding content can be implemented with various authoring tools, some of which we also produce ourselves. At the end of this process, there is – always in close collaboration with the author – comprehensive quality assurance, to ensure that the content, form, and pedagogical concept were implemented exactly as originally planned. 

Wirtschaftsforum: What are the biggest pitfalls in creating targeted e-learning content? 

Wolfgang Schaffer: Many of our clients are familiar with the concept of face-to-face training - some of them, however, mistakenly assume that the respective teaching concepts can be transferred one-to-one into an e-learning format. But this is almost invariably a misconception that almost never leads to success. In face-to-face training, the trainer can immediately tell if the employees have understood everything, whether questions need to be clarified, whether more in-depth explanation is necessary, or whether one can move directly to the next point. This direct feedback is lacking in e-learning – therefore, a truly precise concept must be developed here, in which one can only partially rely on previous experience from face-to-face training. 

Wirtschaftsforum: What hurdles does your company sometimes have to overcome in the area of e-learning? 

Wolfgang Schaffer: It is sometimes not so easy to convince experienced trainers and training managers that digital learning is not an enemy, but a significant enrichment and a sensible extension of the learning experience - not just in isolation, but also as part of blended learning concepts. For instance, using digital learning content to create a solid knowledge base even before a face-to-face training session can help achieve faster progress. From our perspective, particularly smaller and medium-sized companies still leave a lot of potential untapped here. As the technical prerequisites for effective networking of digital and analog learning worlds are long established with the variety of seamlessly usable mobile devices. 

Wirtschaftsforum: M.I.T e-Solutions has been active in the market for over 50 years - how do you assess the possibilities of using AI in your segment in light of this lengthy experience? 

Wolfgang Schaffer: Throughout our long history, we have experienced many technological changes: from the first video learnings through DVD to the seamless digital experience. AI is not a new topic for us per se - as we have been using relevant systems for over 15 years. What is new is that generative AI now also plays a role for the end consumer. At the same time, while AI is a facilitator for us, it is not a panacea - because it shifts the effort from content generation to quality assurance, which then has to be even more meticulous. Based on this strong foundation, we want to further enhance e-learning in the world over the coming years: We have been active not only in the DACH region but also in Southeast Asia and the African continent for a long time - naturally always with local content in the respective national language. We will now consistently continue to expand this global footprint as a reliable modern e-learning partner.