E-Learning = Environmental Learning

A recent study by the Open University that found huge energy savings associated with online learning. How do these findings apply to organizational training? Here are some practical ways to use e-learning to reduce energy consumption.

Could e-learning help save the environment?

This was a question I started to ponder when planning a recent trip to Chicago. I was unable to find a single hotel room available because a massive convention, hosting 27,000 professionals, was in town. The sheer volume of people converging for this face-to-face event made me think about its impact on the environment. Consider all the plane, train, bus, and car rides that delegates took in order to reach the conference. Think of the hotel rooms heated, the towels and sheets laundered, and the restaurant meals cooked for them to enjoy lodging and food during their stay. Finally, try to imagine the number of printed handouts that were distributed during the conference.

A similar phenomenon occurs, albeit on a smaller scale, every time employees travel to attend training sessions, seminars, or face-to-face meetings. Even training events within one's own city are not without an environmental impact when travel is involved, or when meeting rooms need light and heat. With rising fuel costs and pressure to cut energy consumption, e-learning is looking like an increasingly attractive, as well as environmentally responsible, choice.

Energy and emissions savings

Although organizations have always reviewed the cost reductions associated with e-learning, few have examined the environmental and energy savings. E-learning's wide range of format, including live online classrooms and seminars, self-study courses, online collaboration, performance support, and rapid e-learning, offers many alternatives to traditional methods of learning and training that are viable ways to reduce training's environmental impact.

A recent study by Britain's Open University, "Towards Sustainable Higher Education: Environmental Impacts of Campus-Based and Distance Higher Education Systems," found that on average, the production and provision of distance learning courses consumed nearly 90 percent less energy and produced 85 percent fewer CO₂ emissions per student than conventional campus-based university courses. The main savings were due to a reduction in the amount of student travel, economies of scale in the use of the campus site, and the elimination of much of the energy consumption of students' housing. In other words, studying from home and using a home computer was far more energy efficient.

How might these findings compare in the world of training? According to the most recent ASTD State of the Industry Report (2004), employees in North America receive in the range of 30-38 hours of formal training per year, of which nearly 63 percent is delivered by a live instructor, face-to-face. That's nearly 19-24 hours per year per individual in classroom-type training. Whether this training takes place at the employee's work site or in another location, it's fair to assume that most of it involves employees leaving their homes, desks, or regular work sites, traveling somewhere and sitting in a room to receive their training.

Unless by bicycle or on foot, most travel consumes some form of fuel. The time spent attending a training session also requires energy in the form of such services as heating and lighting. The most recent data available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on energy consumption in the workplace, "Energy Information Administration: 1999 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey," shows that approximately 70 million BTU or 20,515 kwh of energy (heating, air conditioning, and electricity) is consumed per year per worker to supply the needs of commercial buildings. Although only a small fraction of workers' time is spent taking training each year, if you multiply these figures by the number of workers, you're looking at a significant level of energy consumption due to the provision of live training.

The Open University study examined in detail energy costs associated with classroom learning in terms of CO₂ emissions, and compared these to the costs of learning via a computer. Computers are no environmental saints: They burn energy at least 0.125 kwh per hour for a desktop PC, and can contain toxic materials such as lead, cadmium, and PCB's that pose serious health and environmental hazards. Despite this, the CO₂ emission levels associated with computer use were significantly less than those associated with more conventional instructional delivery methods, and much of the studying was done from home using computers that students already owned.

Saving trees

E-learning can also save trees. Many e-learning courses are entirely self-contained, presenting all learning content online, or providing alternatives to paper-based forms of communication through such tools as email, PDF manuals, synchronous classrooms, and other web-based tools. To provide each delegate at that Chicago conference with just one 10-page hand-out would have used nearly an acre of forested land. In addition, when you factor in the resources required to manufacture paper, such as water, electricity, fuel, bleach, and other chemicals, you can see that paper leaves a hefty environmental footprint.

Interestingly, the Open University study found that e-learning offered only a small reduction in energy consumption and CO₂ emission levels (20 percent and 12 percent respectively) when compared to print-based distance learning. This was attributed to the fact that students participating in e-learning-based courses that the Open University studied often preferred to print their web-based course materials. In addition, their computer usage consumed energy.

Would these findings be similar in the world of training? Probably not. University courses usually require a great deal more background reading than a typical training course. For the most part, people dislike reading dense texts online and university students typically keep hard copies of their notes and reading for future reference and exams. This notion contrasts markedly with many training-related e-learning courses in which the content is designed for online reading and print-outs represent only a fraction of the course materials.

Converting to e-learning

The keys to saving energy and reducing emissions and paper usage are to

• convert applicable classroom or self-study courses to e-learning formats
• encourage e-learning either at home or at the learner's desk
• design courses to reduce the need to print out materials.

How can you put this into practice?

Blended online and face-to-face solutions. Move content that can be studied alone to an online self-study format. Provide expert support through formal email or web conferencing for small groups. Reserve face-to-face events for short, critical activities. In doing so, you will reduce the number of days and travel required for classroom training.

Blended online solution. Replace a one-day classroom event with a scheduled home study course. Employees stay home, take an online self-study course in the morning, contribute to an online discussion forum after finishing the course, and then convene for a web-based seminar in the afternoon. All training is tracked in the organization's LMS to ensure participation.

Web conferencing. Use this technology to bring together globally dispersed participants to meet, learn together, and discuss without ever leaving their offices. A key benefit touted by web conferencing software providers is the cost savings that customers see as a result of reduced travel expenses. These reductions also translate into lower energy consumption and emissions.

Online resources. Provide online resources to accompany e-learning courses, making them easily accessible after the course has been delivered. Reduce printing by making them easy to read online. Replace printed communiques and information sheets such as product or systems updates with email, PDFs, or other web formats. Build online libraries of knowledge resources that are easy to search, access, and read online, and provide employees with access to an online book service. This enables staff to read or browse books online using only the sections relevant to their needs. The service helps reduce the number of books printed, thus, saving paper. Bookmarking and notes features can also reduce the need to print the online materials.

The future

Emerging tools and technology will make access to information and training even more flexible. Reliance on specific times and locations will become less of a requirement for those seeking to improve their skills and knowledge. The energy consumption associated with travel and the use of conventional computers will decline as technological changes enable the transmission of richer content through ever smaller devices. The following are existing technologies that people are adapting to use in education and training.

• Devices such as handhelds, mobile phones, and personal entertainment devices (e.g., MP3 players) can download, store, and retrieve content from the internet, including audio and text files.
• New data transmission services, such as multimedia messaging system (MMS), enable transmission of audio and video files over wireless networks to handheld devices and mobile phones.
• The podcasting model, which enables users to subscribe to and download audio files, can be used by trainers for transmitting lectures, updates, and other types of audio to specific users.
• Blogs and their offshoots, audio and video blogs, can be used to supplement formal learning events. For example, a blog that documents a learners experience on the job can be shared with a mentor or future learners.

Changing attitudes and behaviors

A final, and noteworthy, finding of the Open University study was that student attitudes changed as a result of learning online. Study participants learned that it was possible to learn and work without traveling. Their new way of thinking also transferred to other activities, including shopping online, corresponding via email, and researching information on the Internet. Translation for the workplace: As people grow accustomed to using technology to learn, they may feel more comfortable using it for other activities, such as meetings and teamwork, or vice versa.

No one is proposing that we abandon all face-to-face events. Their value in certain circumstances is incomparable. However, for many situations, there is a choice. As cost-conscious organizations have tried to reduce energy consumption in relation to heating, air conditioning, and so forth, some will now approach training from a "green" perspective and start factoring in the environmental impact of their options when deciding which delivery method to select. It may mean fewer trips to exciting cities like Chicago, but at least it will be good for the planet.