In the last few days I’ve found some interesting articles that show the extent to which online training is now being used in different industries. I thought these two examples from the transportation industry were worthy of a mention as they demonstrate the scale and credibility that online training is achieving.

Firstly, Ohio Country Schools are now using online training to train their school bus drivers for their school bus operator certification, as well as re-certification. The purchase of 10 laptops has meant drivers can now do their training at their own pace and the company no longer needs to worry about finding facilities to hold training sessions for the 63 employees. Not only is this a cost-saving initiative, it also means training can be done at any time from the main office.

On a larger scale, Ireland’s national airline Aer Lingus, has recently implemented an online training system to manage the annual courses that their 500 pilots must take to comply with EU aviation regulations. The airline says the switch to an online system will “save money on trainers and related course fees”. Plus, as you can imagine there are huge benefits due to the fact that pilots can access the course from anywhere in the world and their progress is tracked and reported. Previously, these same people had to attend training in a classroom which is not only expensive, it is also very difficult to organize when considering the nature of their job.

These companies are just two examples of many online training success stories out there. By introducing these online initiatives they show that they are capable of being nimble in a down-economy and are successfully adapting as necessary. I don’t just mean to budget constraints either, but in response to busier employee schedules they are offering more flexible, self-paced learning alternatives that employees can do from the comfort of their own home.