THE world over, e-learning is fast changing the system of higher education as well as corporate training. Anyone can access content any time and anywhere, thus reducing learner mobility to the minimum. Subu M Kota, president and CEO of the consulting and online learning giant, The Boston Group and IntraLearn, USA, speaks to Thomas P Abraham on e-learning and its potential.

How big a role does e-learning play in higher education today? What are the prospects for growth in e-learning and online campus systems?
Well, e-learning is the fastest-growing sector of the higher-education market. If you look at where the servers, databases and applications are being purchased, the fastest-growing segment is e-learning. Even bigger than e-learning is e-education — which is the way the Web is used to serve not just the core teaching and learning process, but a broader set of services for students and faculty. Even though it is the fastest growing segment, it is the newest and holds great opportunity. We are moving from an old economy to a new economy view in higher education. Instead of the typical four-year degree, it’s now a 40-year degree, where more and more students take advantage of technology to learn throughout their lives, whether they’re full-time or part-time students or already employed.

What is Intralearn’s vision for higher education? How will it help colleges and universities meet their technology challenges?
Intralearn has a vision for what we call the connected learning community, which, simply put, gives students the ability to learn anytime, any place and on any device. The concept of connected learning community is to give students a very rich learning experience, which includes how teachers can provide a more personalised and relevant learning process, as well as how schools, businesses and the community are connected in a dynamic, collective learning environment. With that vision in mind, we need to make sure that we have technology to support it, and with Microsoft.NET, we have those technology building blocks. What we now have to do is promote the .NET vision by working with partners who are leaders in their specific line of applications.

Intralearn is the number one provider of e-learning solutions for higher education in the US. What other educational sectors is Intralearn reaching?
From the beginning, Intralearn recognised the international nature of e-learning, reflecting not just the US market but the global market, because educational institutions around the world are inextricably linked. But we serve all sectors of the e-learning market. Though we have over 550 installations, we have higher-education institutions, which is where we started and which represents our greatest market penetration. We also have corporate training, association and government customers.

How will alliances with Microsoft help Intralearn to grow?
I think our relationship with Microsoft is critical in several ways. The first is development. Over 50 per cent of our installed base use Microsoft technologies on the operating system and server side, and those institutions obviously care about scalability and stability. So, the relationship is focused on development-related collaboration between Microsoft and Intralearn. we think it will expand the capabilities of the Intralearn product over time. The benefits of .NET and other Microsoft initiatives will allow us to deliver functionality that, if we relied simply on where the operating system and database are today, we wouldn’t be able to deliver.

Does Intralearn and Microsoft granting preferred status to each other’s technologies, mean anything for e-learning customers and end-users?
The .NET framework creates a more seamless experience for users of Intralearn as they interact with third-party Web sites or different ERP systems, for instance. This is critical. The Microsoft .NET strategy provides much more personalised learning than we typically get today.