A new trend in e-training : virtual class room

Alok Goel* and Prof. Jyoti Sardana**

Abstract

Electronic learning (e-learning) is gaining an educational foothold all over the

world. This new trend of e-learning provides cutting edge dynamic, interactive learning
web based virtual class room experience to students and trainees. In today’s web based
knowledge economy, live, contemproary, effective education and training systems are
essential to enhance learner competitiveness. New technologies and tools provide greater
flexibility, easier access to information and the opportunity to match learning to specific,
individual needs and circumstances in contrast to traditional E-Learning methodolgies.
Strategic alliances of leading universities, e-learning and technology companies are
forming to provide online delivery of sophisticated, media rich, interactive education and
training on a global basis. Hundreds of e-learning companies are competing in this new
market space with content, technology and services.
This study elaborates on virtual class room, a new emerging learning tool in e-
training. Virtual class room saves time - Conventional learning processes like class
rooms require space and cost more, in terms of infrastructure required, getting all the
learners and trainers together, etc. When new technology emerges, a higher education
institution faculty tries to implement ICT to support learning and advancement and their
assumption is that all the staff willing to use it. But the fact that not all faculty will have
open minded with the upcoming technology. This study highlights the rationale and
motivation reason for a faculty to explore the VCR and e-training. Knowledge
Management comes up as vital technique in VCR concept where it can be used to
capture, organize and deliver the knowledge and can be used to quickly identify the most
relevant information and distribute it to meet specific needs. The present study further
explains issues and challenges encountered over implementation of VCR in real life
environment.
A grounded theory approach is being used to gain an understanding of the
concerns of stakeholders involved in VCR implementation for e-training. This study
reduces the knowledge gap regarding the e-training skills, e-learning usage and
identification of VCR as an innovative learning tool. This paper also illustrates some of
the advantages which technological training has over conventional face-to-face training.
Keywords: Virtual class room, e-training, knowledge management; ICT
*Research Scholar, Department of Management Studies, ** Assistant Professor - Indian Institute of
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. Management Technology, Meerut, UP
[email protected], [email protected] [email protected],
(M) 09868561609 (M) 09837047021

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Introduction and back ground to the study:

e-learning denotes information and communications technology enhanced

learning by delivering learning contents and activities via Internet, intranet/extranet,
audio/ video tape, satellite broadcast, interactive TV, and CD-ROM, i.e. via an
environment consisting of hardware, software and personnel. E-learners learn in a multi-
faceted learning programme that utilizes distance learning, interactive cable TV, virtual
class room and the Internet to connect learning environments to homes, places of work,
and the community at large Mason, (1999); Baker College System, (2002).

According to Jack Welch, CEO, GE “An organization’s ability to learn and

translate that learning into action is the ultimate competitive advantage.” In present
knowledge economy learning has attained such a pivotal role in the lives of professionals
and for the growth of an organization, the best suited learning is e-learning. Only the
companies that leverage on e-learning would survive as e-learning alone can answer the
global educational need of organizations and individuals. The following are the
definitions of e-learning given by different people and organizations: Kaplan-Leiserson
(2001): e-learning “covers a wide set of applications and processes such as Web-based
learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms, and electronic collaboration. It
includes the delivery of content via Internet, intranet/extranet (LAN/WAN), audio- and
videotape, satellite broadcast, interactive TV, and CD-ROM”. Stokes (2000): e-leaning
“is a means of becoming literate involving new mechanisms for communication:
computer networks, multimedia, content portals, search engines, electronic libraries,
distance learning, and Web-enabled classrooms. E-learning is characterized by speed,
technological transformation, and mediated human interactions”.

e-learning include “a range of activities, from the effective use of electronic

resources and learning technologies in the classroom, through to a personal learning
experience enabled through individual access at home or elsewhere”. Jay Cross, a CEO
of e-learning Forum, a 1,200-member think tank and advocacy group, and founder of
internet time group and a veteran of the software industry as well the training business
coined the term “e-learning” in 1998. Waller and Wilson (2001): e-learning “is the
effective learning process created by combining electronically delivered content with
(learning) support and services”.

e-Learning has completely transformed the concept of learning with introduction

of plethora of training technologies such as WBT (Web-based training), CBT (computer-
based training), ILT (instructor-led training), audio video conferencing and e-meetings. e-
Learning offers several advantages over traditional training methods, such as reusability
of training content, global availability of the training content with the help of the Internet,
reduction in cost of rework in the training content; and environmental friendly as it
requires minimal use of paper. Meeting citizen’s basic needs such as quality education
complemented by more initiatives in the field of e-learning and its adoption by the
traditional institutions of higher education will be a move which will prove to be like a
real catalyst in India’s knowledge economy, Bhattacharya and Sharma (2007).

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 Murray (2003) suggests that people are realizing that online learning is not about
ever more sophisticated technology but how that technology is used. CDAC and IGNOU
are two of the India’s most esteemed organizations in their respective fields, which have
held conferences in the field of e-learning. “Online Education is coming up as the biggest
challenge to distance education in the near future,” Professor H.P. Dikshit, former Vice
Chancellor, IGNOU (Dikshit, 2006). One of the world’s leading management schools
IIM Calcutta amongst others entered into a strategic alliance with NIIT, Asia’s largest IT
trainer to offer executive development programmes through virtual classrooms. How
organizations approach e-learning, the first steps taken and the initial reason for using e-
learning all affect the way that learner will respond. E-learning was, and often still is,
heralded as a way to make significant cost savings. A key question that arose in the study
is why was e-learning proving to be so hard to implement? Simply providing e-learning
is not enough. You have to get people to use it. It is clear from the literature review that
there is no universal template for e-learning and how e-learning is implemented needs to
be carefully tailored to suit each organization.

E-learning should not necessarily be used to replace classroom training as it is not

suitable for everything. You need to make sure that the learning or training needs drive
the technology rather than the other way round, and the technology itself can pose a
multitude of problems. Holstrom (2003) has found that reaching all learners is neither
cheap nor easy. It requires a reassessment of assumptions about delivery systems and the
learners themselves in terms of IT proficiency, self-managed learning proficiency and
language proficiency. e-learning definitely led to learner convenience in terms of
availability of self-paced, local, customized learning and opportunities for self
development Mittal (2008). The case highlights the rationale and motivation reason for
a faculty to explore the Virtual Class Room and e-training.

Case selection

It was decided to conduct the study in a ‘knowledge intensive’ e-Learning

Company which has taken massive strides in the field of technology based learning. G-
Cube emerged as the most suitable case. Not only were management very supporting but
employees also engaged in assignments covering entire gamut of e-Learning services
ranging from content to technology, in a rapidly changing technology area where
knowledge turnover is considered high.

Research Methodology:

An exploratory, inductive approach using grounded theory is adopted for this

study. Grounded theory is a well-established inductive process for developing theoretical
models with a high level of rigour. This inductive approach is being used to gain an
understanding of the concerns of stakeholders involved in providing e-learning solutions,
design, development and delivery of e-learning.

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 This practitioner oriented paper builds upon a case study, which explores the
Virtual Class Room technology as innovative solution for e-learning and integrates the
findings with contemporary knowledge on e-learning. This research included interviews
with certified trainers, course developers, instructional designers and instructors to get a
better understanding of the organisational context. The data for this case study included
analysis of interviews with a range of stakeholders. The interviews were analysed using
a constant comparative process of the main themes as described by Glaser and Strauss
(1967). The paper is based on the practical experiences. The authors’ experiences are
transferable and there are a number of key messages which will be of use to e-learning
implementers.

G-Cube Profile:

G-Cube established in year 2000 is today a 100 strong team with a collective
experience of over 500 person years in e-learning domain. It is an end-to-end eLearning
organization that has wide experience in developing cost effective, scalable, and robust
training solutions. Its core focus is on content development and learning technologies. G-
Cube’s mission is to achieve “Happiness for all”. The vision of the company is to be a
globally respected learning technology & knowledge solutions.

G-Cube services cover the full gamut of e-Learning services ranging from content
to technology. Services include e-Learning Consulting, e-Learning custom content -
Conceptualization of e-Learning units, Instructional Design and development of most
suited content. G-Cube learning technology solutions include best-of-the breed e-
Learning solutions such as Wizdom Room VCR, Wizdom Web LMS and Wizdom
Assessment Engine, including LMS, VCR, and Content Authoring Tools.

G-Cube. G-Cube has implemented over 30 virtual universities on Wizdom

Learning platform, and have delivered over 500 custom content projects to customers
spread across the globe. The company unleashed the potential of internet to provide
range of e-learning services such like: virtual classroom and learning management
system.

G-Cube was declared winner in Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific and
Fast 50 India 2009. G-Cube is ranked 36 with percentage growth of 182%, Deloitte
Touche Tohmastu reports (2009). G-Cube won apex award of excellence for special
purpose electronic & video publications, apex awards (2010).

Organizational issues and factors for successful e-learning:

There are certain elements that are very crucial to the successful management of
e-learning in an organization. These are: organisational; technological; curriculum
design; educational systems design; and finally e-learning course delivery. These
elements are represented in a top-down framework in Figure 1 McPherson and Nunes,
(2003).

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Design issues: implementing e-learning environments means much more than just
designing a few web pages and specifying their sequence, is crucial for the success of any
e-learning initiative. Today, such an approach is wholly insufficient to effectively support
the learning processes envisaged in academic learning .

Technological issues: ICTs form the backbone for e-learning. The success of e-learning
cannot be attributed solely to the acquisition of leading edge technologies, but is far more
dependent on what is done with these ICTs in terms of both design and delivery

Delivery issues: e-learning enables access for an increasing number of students in both
traditional distance education and further and continuing education. Transforming
delivery of courses, modules and sometimes even entire programmes into mixed or multi-
modal environments requires widely permeative changes to information management,
organisational behaviour, pedagogical approaches and staff attitudes (Duke, 2002, p. 25).

Fig. 1 Success factors for e-learning

The problem trainers facing has been that e-learning has proved long in lead time
to produce, inflexible to amend and prohibitively expensive for most businesses. The
core problems focus around cost and control, because e-learning has been an information
technology that needed to be developed by IT experts. The need to involve computer
programmers in the development process meant that conventional trainers lost the close
control of the project that they desired.

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G-Cube e-learning solution:

G-Cube e-learning solutions addressed all the above mentioned success factors which
needs to be taken care of. G-Cube e-learning authoring software tools are now able to
provide trainers with tools that allow them to produce highly sophisticated e-learning. In
the process, G-Cube incorporated the solutions of all the organizational issues & barriers
in way of successful e-learning and developed the following three core products to make
e-Learning more engaging and easier.

Wizdom Web Learning Management System: Wizdom Web provides an integrated

platform for content management and delivery of learning – be it online or
classroom based, and has come to be considered as critical to the growth and long-
term success of an organization. SMEs and big corporate companies have
streamlined their tutoring process with the help of Wizdom Web, which has now
become an integral part of their training and learning-oriented tasks. Over 500,000
users worldwide use this robust yet flexible Learning Management System
everyday.

Wizdom Assessment Engine: e-Learning would lack sense of purpose if the learner's
progress and skills cannot be assessed. Wizdom Assess is a powerful
assessment engine that allows trainer to author and manage content,
schedule and notify, manage certificates and more.

Wizdom Room VCR: Wizdom Room is virtual class room technology designed for
today's global, fast-paced business world. Wizdom Room can able assist you in
redifining your long-distance training programs and even make them more "real"
and effective than actual classroom training.

G-Cube’s other revolutionary e-learning tools:

m-Learning: G-Cube’s m-Learning venture is a revolutionary idea which has widened

the access to learning & aims at not only reducing social exclusion but accelerating
enhancement of workforce and encouraging healthy competition too. Mobile learning is
actually e-Learning through hand-held computational devices. These devices easily
transform into tools for accessing courses through online content delivery systems, or
from offline LMS stored locally in the sets. m-Learning is ideally meant for those who
are always on the move, tech-savvy, know what they want. m-Learning can be
accomplished on PDAs or smart phones and other similarly-enabled mobile devices.

Game Based Learning: G-Cube provides game-based learning objects which enhances
the learning experience so that learners may get the most out of the training sessions
using this innovative concept of learning. Game-based learning is interactive, breaks the
traditional mould of training and converts serious training programs into fun-based
learning. Game-based learning can be very effective when blended with the elements of
game into the learning sessions.

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G-Cube’s leading edge approach:

G-Cube VCR (Wizdom) is virtual class room technology designed for today's
global, fast-paced business world. Virtual class room is a class that has the students and
teachers linked together on a network using the Internet or intranet etc, while physically
being miles apart, interacting and studying in real time. Its distinctive features that make
it stand apart, are its:

G-Cube's Virtual Class Room ‘Wizdom’ turns the world of learners into a REAL
class room. The interactive sessions bring together the learners from across multiple
locations through the small screen of the computer. Wizdom Room is built using
Macromedia Flash technology, and thus instructors or participants don't need any
additional plug-ins to download except Flash plug-in, which is installed in almost all the
computers. Wizdom Room has all the advantages of the conventional e-learning plus
it’s live. It gives you the power to learn live via the Internet. Advantages of Wizdom
Room are:
• Reduce training travel, facilities and communication costs.
• Deliver online training in a format that replicates typical classroom interaction.
• Record training sessions for later use to leverage value.
• Empower employees to share knowledge with each other as subject experts.
• Provide users with the access to the comprehensive knowledge repository.

Basic features of the Wizdom Room which make it an extremely effective and efficient
tool for learning:

Virtual Collaboration Environment-

 Communicate live to any number of people using Audio & Video Tool
 Make Presentation, Share Word Documents, Excel Sheets, Images and other
information and attend Polls on the fly
 Integrate with Wizdom Web LMS to pick up content or assessments to be
dynamically shared with participants
 Interact via Chat Tool
 Draw on whiteboard to express yourself better and personalize user interface

Knowledge Management System -

 Automatic Repository Creation
 Support for Meta tagging of sessions on the required parameters
 Flexibility to Integrate with Existing Structure
 Extensive Search Facilities on Various Parameter

Web Based Management System -

 Provide all users with Tools and Information that fits their role and preferences
 Control the entire e-Technology platform from an intuitive web based interface

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Built on Flash Communication Server -
 Highly robust and flexible development platform, giving you peace of mind and
low cost support system
 Built on platform independent technology.

G-Cube’s VCR Session Manager:

In online teaching and training, one need to be empowered, in G-Cube VCR has this
special feature by which administrator/trainer can create sessions for future event, or
create sessions on the fly. The power to manage sessions and learners, and pre-create
agendas is what makes the Wizdom Room a successful e-Learning solution. It
continuously sends alerts on what all has been completed and what all needs to be done,
so that the time schedule is not disturbed and training is on time.

Session Manager offers the following features and benefits:

 Through the same interface, session notification and reminder emails are also sent
to trainers and learners
 Trainer can create an agenda for the session and attach Documents, Animation,
Videos, Audio Files etc with the agenda items, so that when the session starts the
trainer need not have to search for those items
 Learners can log on to the session manager and search and view their past
recorded sessions at the time of examinations or assessments
 Trainers and learners can also provide and view feedback about the session

G Cube Auto Bandwidth Management:

Any virtual class technology can be successful only when technology behind it becomes
transparent and participant is able to focus on the learning rather than spend time
struggling with making the tool work. Fluctuating Internet speed makes sessions
uninteresting and frustrating for the users

• Auto Bandwidth Management System of the Wizdom Room manages the

bandwidth and automatically reduces the data transfer, and frame rate for the user
in case the bandwidth goes down.
• A strong bandwidth management system helps the learner to focus on what is
being taught as the system takes care of managing data flow and keeps the session
running even in adverse bandwidth conditions.
• Wizdom Room also efficiently manages the sessions at the server end, so that if
only two people are talking to each other it dynamically starts a P2P session to
avoid data routing through server
• With the internet as backbone of all sessions on the Wizdom Room, auto
bandwidth and intelligent session management ensures that users don’t experience

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any unnecessary blips during their sessions, whether it is a tutorial or a corporate
training session

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Record and Playback Session in VCR:

Being a trainee/learner, you may have to come to online training sessions again at the
time of your examination, assessment test, etc, or you may just want to revise your
lessons time and again. Record and Playback tool of the Wizdom Room enables users to
do just this. These lessons form a vast knowledge bank which is easily accessible for
ready reference for both the trainer and the learner

The record and playback system has myriad advantages:

• Students and trainers work at their own pace with no botheration of taking down
notes. It stores all the lessons that are later easy to access and search.
• The modules can reach a wider range of people and individuals as they can be
accessed at all times and open up another revenue stream for you.
• An invaluable library is built and maintained for future reference
• The editing tool helps the trainee add notes or comments and even tag it for future
use. This makes it value added tool and personalized

Reporting:
Prepares reports on all aspects of the training like the number of students, the length of
the training session, the amount of interaction the progress of individual learners, etc. It
allows the mentor to know exactly what was taught and how.
Some of the benefits and features of the reporting facility are:

 Prepare reports on aspects like the number of students, the length of the training
session, the amount of interaction between trainees and mentors, the pace of
progress of individual learners, the time taken by the mentors to answer the
trainee's queries during the session, etc.
 You can also generate financial reports, such as, minutes/sessions sold, payment
details, payment modes etc.

Functioning of G-Cube’s virtual class room (wisdom) is unique?

G-Cube’s Wizdom classroom provides rich virtual classroom experience to

learners. The effective internet based learning provides innovative dynamic platform for
learners. As a comprehensive platform in e-learning technology domain it has following
feature set:
Using Web-based interactive programs both the trainers and the learners interact
in a “real” time environment. At the appointed time both the students and trainers come
online to attend the class. Just like a regular, conventional class. Once a session starts,
everyone is a part of the live session that is seen by all the students, however away they
are from each other. Virtual class room works using audio and video conferencing tools
that are easily configurable and can also be used to show pre-recorded video tapes and
CDs as well. Virtual class rooms have redefined e-Learning in today’s world. Students
can interact with the trainers and they can solve their queries instantly online. Not only
this, students can also interact with each other with the help of a chat tool feature. This is

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just like ordinary chatting tools used by Web users all around the world. More and more
advanced e-Learning solutions are being designed everyday, at the heart of which are the
virtual class rooms, which are being touted as a better option to regular class rooms.
Students can interact with the trainers and they can solve their queries instantly online.
Not only this, students can also interact with each other with the help of a chat tool
feature. This is just like ordinary chatting tools used by Web users all around the world.
Virtual class room have an edge over conventional class rooms as they can be recorded
and played back verbatim by the learners, something not possible in a regular class. Just
like the class room has a black board, virtual class room also has a software tool called
whiteboard – which can be used to explain certain queries and draw diagrams, etc. Other
standard tools like presentations, image files, html files etc can also be uploaded on the
whiteboard – thus if you already have some study material then it can be easily plugged
into virtual class room. Online test and evaluation feature are also available that
constantly gauge the extent of understanding of the trainee and provide feedback on
assignments.

Unique features of G-Cube VCR (Wizdom):

• Using G-Cube web based interactive wizard schedule a session and add students
who would attend the session. The mails will automatically go to all the students
who have been invited.

• On the appointed time, one can launch the session, and students would join the
session from their college/home/office by simply clicking on ‘Launch Session’
link. There is no need to download any software prior to joining the meeting.

• Once a session starts, live session can be shown to all the students using our
Video tool. Video size is easily configurable and can be set as twice the size of
what is shown here. Pre-recorded video can also be shared with the users.

• One can also talk to students and interact with them to solve their queries using
the Audio tool.

Wizdom Web provides an integrated platform for content management and

delivery of learning – be it online or classroom based, and has come to be considered as
critical to the growth and long-term success of an organization.

Discussion:

Virtual class room saves time - Conventional learning processes like class rooms
require space and cost more, in terms of infrastructure required, getting all the learners
and trainers together, etc. virtual class room and other e-Learning tools, on the other
hand, save space and cost much less; it can accommodate a large number of students
within the same training solutions at no extra costs. Moreover, teaching in a traditional
set-up has its own limitations and a traditional teacher can never provide 24 X 7 services
to his/her students, which can be delivered through e-learning. e-Learning is fast

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becoming the ideal choice for the executive on the move. Interaction between teachers
and students, just like a regular class room with an added advantage of recording and
sharing data, information and entire e-Learning sessions. Storage of whole process of
training through an Automatic Repository Creation on the computer for future reference.
Standardization of content. Due to standardized content, a change of trainer does not
hamper the training session.

Wizdom Web provides an integrated platform for content management and

delivery of learning – be it online or classroom based, and has come to be considered as
critical to the growth and long-term success of an organization. Learning opportunities
exist in the arena of Virtual class rooms in the fields of skill and process training by
experts to diverse group of physically distanced employees. When only a few experts are
available –and it is not possible to bring them to a regular class room. Great
opportunities also exist in areas new induction training where a standardized induction
program will help a new entrant. When the organization has employees spanning
continents it will be useful to have virtual class room’s for them all. In fact the whole
world is now becoming a global class room with colleges, institutes even Universities
holding virtual classes for its students and the corporate world using it to train its
employees across the globe.

Implication of G-Cube VCR are further illustrated with the help of a success story
recently accomplished by G-Cube which entails the implementation of e-learning in Bajaj
Allianz in a real time environment. Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd. is a joint
venture between two leading conglomerates -Allianz AG, one of the world's largest
insurance companies, and Bajaj Auto, with an asset management value of Rs 5,500 crores
and over 850 offices and 4 million satisfied customers. The objective of this e-Learning
initiative was to conduct company-wide skill assessment of the employees, and effective
knowledge dissemination for the geographically distributed offices in the fast growing
company needs. Bajaj Allianz chose to G-Cube e-learning solution to give it accuracy in
skills assessment and flexibility in offering training. Some of the challenges faced
addressed during the implementation of G-Cube VCR:
 Bajaj Allianz sought a fast rollout of the eLearning environment that was
integrated with their proprietary HRMS, and which was customized to meet their
specific requirements
 Since skill assessment and competency mapping was important objective for
client, system had to fully support client’s job and responsibility matrix mapping
to course objectives.

G-Cube offered the solution in the form of Wizdom Web Learning management system
(LMS). It had following salient features:
 A comprehensive Skill Gap and Competency Analysis module with integrated
Workflow Open API’s to integrate seamlessly with existing HRMS
 Precise Assessment and Reporting capabilities
 User-friendly training platform with multi-lingual interface capability
 Wizdom Web LMS not only tracked and reported learning activities but also
helped the HR department in analysis and future planning of training.

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  Complete flexibility to increase supported user base at moment’s notice

Implementation of the Wizdom Web LMS was an important step for Bajaj Allianz
learners because of its easy-to-use, robust, flexible and multi-faceted features. G-Cube
Wizdom Web LMS gave the following benefits to Bajaj Allianz:

 It became a very handy tool for the L&D department in training needs analysis
and learning management.
 Wizdom Web offered Bajaj Allianz employees with a self-paced, easy-to-use,
flexible learning environment.
 It also helped develop an internal networked platform where employees discuss
and interact fruitfully with the help of tools like discussion board, surveys, and
newsletters.
 The system supports various training formats, such as Video, Multimedia, PDF,
Word documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, HTML, and SCORM 1.2
conformant courses.
 It reduced the company training costs considerably, and achieved ROI within first
year of Implementation.

The research study is original since it takes a critical research approach aimed at data
directly from practitioners’ views, understandings and opinions. Thus, the success of e-
learning cannot be attributed solely to the acquisition of leading edge technologies, but is
far more dependent on what is done with these ICTs in terms of both design and delivery.

Conclusion:

e-learning has a largely positive interpretation. Tools such as virtual class room
are attractive and are seen as true problem solvers for a wide array of problems. G-Cube
believes in a holistic approach. G-Cube helps e-learning users to reduce costs while
improving performance. It helps to build solutions that encourage new business models
and increase performance levels. Its approach is a powerful blend of management and
technical expertise combined with deep industry knowledge. This case study will be of
value to anyone seeking to better understand e-learning or to improve blended learning,
employee training, and human capital creation. Emerging educational technologies,
particularly those in the area of ICTs are providing new ways of educating, training and
learning to supplement and complement education resources to meet the challenges of the
twenty-first century. This paper contributes to the understanding of e-learning tools viz
VCR among managers and HRM professionals more broadly in Indian context.
G-Cube attempts to collaborate with clients business needs and technology
leadership teams to implement the systems and applications that deliver results to the
business without increasing the application management overheads. e-learning that
exclude any face-to-face contact may have limited prospects, but blended learning offers
significant potential both on and off campus and should be pursued if the benefits of e-
learning are to be fully realized. This case study will be useful for further research and
practice of relevant and effective e-learning solutions.

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 www.gc-solutions.net, www.elearningguild.com and www.prlog.org

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