David Lush, creative director at e-learning company Gossip Multimedia, has delivered a warning to other e-learning providers that the fate of e-learning 'hangs in the balance' unless the quality of material produced improves.

He said, "e-learning has became a generic tool of training departments desperate to save money and deliver compliance within an unrealistic timescale."

Making his comments at the recent Interactive Content in Education Symposium, Lush claimed that too much educational material is being delivered through plain text on a screen, and that e-learning developers need to start creating content that is both engaging and interactive: "There is so much poor quality work being produced that many companies and organisations are wasting enormous quantities of funding. In addition, many users are wasting too much time in unrewarding experiences."

He went on to argue that e-learning content should be developed by what he terms educators, rather than trainers, whom he says are better placed to "understand the diversity of audience and the significance of the message."

On a more positive note, he went on to say that the use of broadband technology has the potential to allow e-learning developers to organize and structure learning in a way that is meaningful, and more importantly, that empowers the user.

David said, "These future developments should allow e-learning developers to stop being obsessed by the ever changing technology and to be liberated enough to take this technology for granted. Only then will we return to being excited by the content, by the message and by the freedom that we get from being informed."

What's your experience of e-learning materials to date? Do you agree they need improving, or have you found them to be a valuable way of developing your staff? Add your comments below.