Section: Analysis Development focus: Why e-Learning is far from boring Innovative technologies mean there's more to e-Learning than 'tick box' regulatory requirements By 2020, eLearning will make up 95 per cent of the learning market -- that is the prediction of Craig Weiss, one of the world's leading authorities on online learning. His assertion is that face-to-face learning methodology has been the same for 400 years but in 20 years eLearning has transformed the learning space. Yet if asked for their perception of eLearning, most advisers would probably have a similar response. The words "boring" "dull" and a "necessary evil" would likely feature heavily and with some justification, given firms' traditional predominantly regulation-driven relationship with eLearning. Lifeless Most advisers' experience of eLearning is mandatory compliance training; working through typically lifeless "click next" page-turner courses at your desk, courses you just want to get finished as quickly as possible, pass the test and get back to work. Yet when you consider how online people's everyday lives have become, isn't it common sense that professional development is taking the same course? eLearning is now a catch-all phrase for the online platforms, tools, Apps and courses that can help advisers and firms not just tick the compulsory regulatory boxes but do so as part of a whole managed career and business development opportunity. Take meeting the challenges of the RDR, for example. The CII Qualification Gap Fill tool, widely used throughout the industry, aided both advisers seeking to meet the RDR requirements and non-advisers wanting to ensure their knowledge was current. Upgrades to the online compliance and competency system Financial ASSESS saw the launch of a new CPD recording and management system, which continues to prove pivotal in advisers managing post-RDR CPD requirements and maintaining their Statement of Professional Standing. Meanwhile, thanks to innovations like the CII CPD app, enabling advisers to record CPD on or offline at the time, with the app automatically syncing with a firm's CPD recording and management system, mobile CPD is a given. Would you ever have considered any of this eLearning in the traditional sense? Probably not but these are the sorts of advantages eLearning is now bringing to advisers and it continues to evolve. Feeling the benefits Online academies and learning and development platforms now allow for personalised learning pathways, combining libraries of high-quality learning assets, including regulatory training, ongoing training and competence and CPD. Advanced diagnostic, content creation and management tools are putting in place robust developmental programmes promoting individual career progression and enhanced professionalism. The expectation is that all this is available to be accessed 24/7 via iPads and other mobile devices as well as desktop PCs and laptops. As technological hurdles around Flash animation software have been gradually overcome and apps have become increasingly commonplace, a new enhanced role for eLearning that is accessible when you want it on the move at the point of need has been created. On-the-move learning is mirrored by the increasing delivery of "chunked up" course content, with a strong trend towards video content, as standalone programmes of "bite-size" learning, which is a proven means to reinforcing and embedding learning. Meanwhile the "gamification" of eLearning, whereby the concepts of gaming with tangible rewards and incentives combined with exceptional graphics and interactivity are applied to learning experiences and courses, is another means by which engagement and fun are being put at the heart of end-user experience. New breed A new breed of content creation tools integrated into learning and development platforms are also giving firms an efficient, simple way to create and deliver high-quality training, including customising role relevant content to include, for example, client-specific case studies, videos and procedure documents. Particularly important in the financial advice sector, where regulation and legislation change frequently, such tools provide the time and cost-effective scope for firms' own subject matter experts to edit and update content directly, meaning that each adviser always has access to the most-up-to-date training. Some of the very advanced technological developments going on behind the eLearning scenes means no longer will an adviser's records be tied into one body or employer's systems. This is a massive shift in advisers "owning" their own information, meaning it will be much simpler to take your complete record with you, especially good for showing a potential new employer what you have been up to. It may no longer be eLearning as you know it but over the next five years all advisers' careers will be inherently shaped and managed by learning technologies. And the real beauty of these is the ownership they give you over your own professional destiny. eLearning doesn't seem so dull now does it? Mark Jones is business development director at Unicorn Training Copyright of Money Marketing (Online Edition) is the property of Centaur Communications and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. 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