Engaging SMEs in e-learning
he MoVIL project has highlighted the scale of the challenges involved in engaging freelance, micro enterprises and SMEs in e-learning. There is still a long way to go, both in getting the technical platform right, in getting the content right and in providing the necessary local, national and European infrastructure to support and encourage e-learning. In September 2003 just at the start of the MoVIL Project a survey was commissioned by the Directorate General Education Culture of the EC to lead as strategic study of e-learning in continuing vocational education particularly SMEs. The study ran concurrently with the MoVIL Project and the findings of this report were published in March 2005[1] (henceforth referred to as ‘the DG study’. Unsurprisingly the experience of the MoVIL project reflects many of the barriers to e-learning found by the study.
Engaging SMEs in e-learningAs the DG
study found MoVIL found engaging with SMEs without an incentive to be a challenge. It proved extremely difficult to engage SMEs in the pilots. The DG report found that priority of freelancers and SMEs is to survive, they have no free time and this is reflected in the MoVIL experience. The learning providers in the partnership were reluctant to use participants on existing programmes to pilot MoVIL as it was asking learners to donate their time to the development of something not necessarily related to their immediate needs.We like to discuss this challenge further with you.
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