Barriers to eLearning in rail

Abstract

This article is one in a series of papers tackling the issues of eLearning in the global rail industry.Little research has been conducted into the learning approaches and methodologies undertaken by rail education and training providers in preparing the rail workforce for the digital revolution. An online survey probed rail education and training provider’s ‘opinion’ on digital learning so that further research could be conducted in the future on the issues and challenges identified. The resulting paper focuses on the results of the survey conducted in April - May 2018 of 31 individuals mainly from the Higher Education sector and representing 15 countries.Analysis showed the majority of respondents had some eLearning experience, either as a course organiser or as a participant, with levels of digital proficiency being wide-ranging.Five different barriers’ categories are investigated in this paper. The results suggest that the greatest obstacles in developing an eLearning portfolio of courses in rail relate to the appropriate course to develop in an online format, the types of technology to be used and cost/benefit analysis related barriers. Issues related to interpersonal barriers were seen as the least problematic.Based on the results presented in this paper, suggestions for overcoming the barriers to eLearning in rail are recommended with some specific actions for decision makers when upgrading staff eLearning skills.