Technology-Based Learning Strategies Report - APEC HRDWG Wiki

primarily or solely online. The University of Phoenix is a pioneer in the latter and providesasynchronous activities, group study, and meetings with an academic counselor.With the widespread adoption of TBL, measuring its effectiveness has become more of apriority. Different facets of evaluation include measuring learners’ satisfaction with theexperience, measuring their skill gains through pre- and post-tests (sometimes in comparison tolearners who received traditional classroom approaches), gauging how learners applied their newknowledge in work settings, and estimating how the institution itself benefited from employeelearning. In return-on-investment calculations, the latter entails an assessment of whether thebenefits are commensurate with the cost of providing the training.Although rigorous wide scale research evaluating TBL’s effectiveness by any of these criteria issparse, the available evidence seems to suggest that TBL generally seems to work at least as wellas traditional approaches and is often less costly. Nonetheless, it also seems clear that, to realizeits full potential, TBL should not dispense with opportunities for human interaction (either faceto-faceor electronically), and that it should provide opportunities for the active engagement oflearners, provide content that is relevant and linked with what learners already know, and offeropportunities for feedback and support.What is clear as well is that TBL is rapidly evolving in adopting these principles, as newtechnologies emerge and old ones fall out of favor, as training designers and educators learn howto use these tools to increasingly better effect. Recent trends include the gravitation towardsonline delivery and the adoption of Learning Objects. The latter consists of small units ofinstructional content that can be assembled, reused, and rearranged for use in multiple lessonsand courses.v