January, 2003 Reprinted from Bank Investment Consultant Magazine Online Learning Matures, As Providers Court Banks Banks are finding that e-learning is keeping reps in production, while they're brought up to date on new products and services. And it's working. When National City Bank of Cleveland recently came out with a new wealth management service, the managers of its investment program were faced with the decision of how to teach its system to reps across a seven-state footprint. Steve Harris, vp and director of Wealth Management University at NatCity, opted to use Web conferences as an efficient and cost effective means of training. He arranged for conferences to be offered at 15 different times to the bank's reps. Harris says that online training has been successful at NatCity, as long as people are getting involved. "It is just too tempting to multitask during an online Web conference," he says. Across the industry, banks have been outsourcing training needs for quite some time. However, the mode by which information is delivered to users has changed dramatically. In the past, reps would take courses after work or during special sessions that would take them out of town--and out of production. That makes it hard on reps and their families, and extremely costly for banks. Now online training offers busy reps and managers the flexibility they need to immerse themselves in their course work at their convenience. Even executives at the top of the heap are extolling the virtues of online training. Scott & Stringfellow, the equity-shop brokerage subsidiary of BB&T, is in the final stages of installing a comprehensive new back-office system. "We have been doing online training with the new system, even on laptops, so when we turned on the switch in early December, people were comfortable with it," says S&S president and CEO Walter Robertson. "The online training was very well thought out and goes very deep in the organization." Dennis Mooradian, CEO of Wells Fargo Investments, is even more of an advocate. "We have had very good luck with online training. One of the best investments we have ever made in our Private Client Services group was PCS University Online. It has been effective beyond my wildest aspirations," he says. Providers are offering a wide variety of services as banks are branching into other securities areas. They offer a whole range of professional development services to help meet continuing education requirements, develop product knowledge on insurance and investments, understand compliance issues and market applications. Students can train online for Series 6 and 7 exams, as well as the CFP. And online learning offers banks the opportunity to deliver training inexpensively and efficiently. "A lot of folks are exploring online training in part because of the cost savings it provides and in part because of the efficiency it provides," notes Robert Powell, managing director at e-learning firm Acadient in Boston. Now a busy rep can put his children to sleep, have dinner with her husband, and then spend some time on the computer rather than having to attend an evening course during assigned hours. Training is becoming increasingly accessible and portable with the increased presence of online access in the home and office. "What we are finding is that people are increasingly pressed for time both during the day and after, and e-learning is becoming the way to deliver training effectively and cost-efficiently," says Charles Hoffman, director of e-learning at the American Bankers Association, which works closely with training and publishing firm Dearborn in Chicago to offer a full range of self-paced services online. Heywood Sloane, executive director of the Bank Insurance Securities Association says more providers are offering online training and building online content, and more banks are integrating these tools into their existing training and education programs. Sloane sees online training "not as a replacement, but rather a supplement, to classroom-based learning." The successful providers, says Sloane, are those that are understanding the trends that drive development in the e-learning industry, and are working to develop interactive courses that produce results. When online learning for bank reps first surfaced, course materials were essentially copies of what was in a textbook posted online and students were not pleased. Sloane says a major trend driving changes in e-learning is that providers are realizing the need for interactivity. "There's got to be more interaction between students and faculty," he says. "A gap exists. There is no immediate face-to-face interaction between students and teachers," explains Sloane. Increased bandwidth and other advances in technology can better approximate a face-to-face meeting. "As technological capabilities become better deployed, more content will be available and delivery of this content will be more active and more responsive," says Sloane. With improved technology, a teacher can see a student's facial expressions when he asks a question or a student can show a teacher a diagram illustrating what is befuddling him. Students need to be able to ask questions and receive an answer. "The response does not need to be instantaneous, but students should get an answer within a reasonable period," says Sloane. Providers are now grasping that if the user has the opportunity to participate in the learning experience, he will be able to better retain the information. A major component now being integrated into online training is a high level of interactivity using various forms of media to keep students engaged. With online courses, there is potential for students to interact at many different levels: with professors, with other students and with the content, notes Powell. To make training via Web conference more interactive, providers have introduced various ways for students to participate: polling during sessions and after, asking questions to facilitators and conducting simulations. "We need to integrate good adult learning principles into a Web conference to get it to work as a training tool," he says. To further engage students, providers are mimicking the best of what occurs in a classroom setting and applying it online. For example, many companies are adding live online guest lectures, which are archived for anytime access, to create additional levels of interactivity. Powell says Acadient is beginning to see that increased interactivity influences completion rates. Providers are creating higher-quality training products that are visually attractive and captivating technology to engage users. "One of the challenges in online learning is that you need to engage someone in the learning," says Powell. Sophisticated flash technology delivers animation and offers the element of eye appeal to keep users interested in the content. Online information is beginning to be offered in real time. Program materials can be updated quicker and disseminated faster with online courses than in a regular classroom. It is also cheaper to develop and distribute updated materials than printing new textbooks and training manuals. And as new advances in technology rise, providers are able to create new and improved content for users. Says BISA's Sloane, "This will increase its effectiveness and attractiveness." Computer-based training programs offer tracking systems, which provides managers with an efficient way of gauging effectiveness. Managers can assess in real time how employees are progressing, and tracking systems can send email to participants to remind them of assignments and upcoming sessions. Enhanced computerized reporting options also cut the administrative burden of tracking results. These components can help firms prove the return of investment and validate and verify to upper management that the training has met its objective. Banks can establish objectives and see if they've met them based on how reps are producing with their newfound knowledge. The industry is also getting a better grasp on the role of e-learning. Most experts agree that online learning will not replace the classroom and say clients are opting for a blended learning approach, combining aspects of online and face-to-face instruction. A lot of organizations are experimenting with combinations of e-learning and some other form of delivery such as a Web seminar or classroom-based learning," says the ABA's Hoffman. First, students can enroll in online courses that provide background information about a topic before attending a classroom-based course and enter with he same background as other participants. Second, a topic that requires a combination of product knowledge and experience can be introduced in an online environment and brought into a classroom to give students a chance to experiment and practice role-playing in a group setting. "We are finding that blended learning options are superior," says Marcia Burak, vp of Securities Products at Dearborn. And most agree that while the amount of classroom training may decline, it wont disappear. "Over time I think you will see more use of online delivery, but you will never see classroom go away," says Hoffman. says Howard Marks, CEO of another online training service, eMind."Not all types of learning can be done online. The tradeoffs must be carefully filtered." Providers and client banks must take two factors into consideration: what is our learning objective and what is the most appropriate vehicle to best achieve this objective. Clients can then work with vendors to customize courses. Powell says the industry's next step must be to discover who is well-suited for online learning and who is better suited for other methods. Online training in banks is also becoming more widespread as providers step up marketing. Hoffman explains that many vendors thought people would just accept e-learning, when in reality, providers "have to work hard to help managers understand how it can develop proficiency of its staff," says Hoffman. "We continue to view [e-learning] as a key method for delivering training throughout the bank. We're beginning to see more and more banks running pilots and experiencing it and there has been favorable reaction and I think it will be more widely used." BISA's Sloane says the level of sophistication of the content also influences the extent to which the student is motivated to take the course and succeed. He points to a new program--expected to be approved by the CFP Board late last year--being offered by Acadient Inc. and Boston University, which will offer an online program for financial planners to fulfill Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards requirements for instruction leading up to the CFP certification exam. And as more reps venture to obtain a CFP, which is one of the fastest-growing designations for reps, the feasibility of online courses to receive certification is becoming more of a reality. —Yonina Fishof