July 9, 2004

Why the E-Learning Boom Went Bust

By ROBERT ZEMSKY and WILLIAM F. MASSY

Five years ago e-learning was everybody's buzz, offering the promise of a trillion-dollar market wrapped around the prospect of learning anytime, anywhere. All that is gone, replaced by a pervading sense of disappointment. In fact, e-learning is increasingly the butt of bad jokes, as in, "Can you imagine telling your children to go to their rooms and study college for four years?" The cynics have had a field day, claiming that e-learning has been just one more fad, little more than a reprise