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This chapter describes how e-learning at IBM is created. It explores the extent to which e-learning is feasible and the decision criteria used to determine the appropriate level of e-learning. It examines how much e-learning is being developed and implemented at IBM. It explores the rationale for the various e-learning applications. The chapter also examines how e-learning effectiveness is determined, based on numerous interviews of key e-learning professionals. IBM was selected because it has a large number of employees and it operates globally — conditions that lend themselves to e-learning. IBM has invested substantial resources in implementing e-learning. Because of IBM's global presence, it presents an excellent forum within which the applicability of corporate e-learning can be tested.

This chapter offers a review of the literature on e-learning, including both academic and popular literature. Literature review provides a meaningful background to corporate e-learning and has led to the need for this book. It uncovers what has already been researched, identifies those experts who are studying the field, and indicates the importance of follow up. Academic or scholarly literature is based on empirical studies. These are based on controlled experiments, surveys, or interviews. Popular literature represents the thoughtful reflection of e-learning experts or advocates. Published material on e-learning at IBM has also been researched by the author and included in this chapter. This e-learning literature review also explores the reasons corporations choose e-learning as an option for learning.

This chapter explains the purpose of this book, which is to explore how IBM develops, implements, and determines the effectiveness of corporate e-learning. The chapter also provides background information on what e-learning is, how it can be applied, how effective e-learning is defined, why e-learning is important, and what e-learning adds to corporate training. It explains that Chapter 2 reviews the appropriate literature; Chapter 3 covers research methodology; Chapter 4 covers e-learning at IBM; Chapter 5 covers a comparative analysis of e-learning; and Chapter 6 covers the lessons learned and best practices in e-learning at IBM and other corporations.

This chapter covers the methods for conducting research on e-learning at IBM. A conceptual framework was used to investigate how corporate e-learning is developed, implemented, and evaluated in corporations with the primary focus on e-learning at IBM. The methodology begins with a careful search of well-crafted questions. Personal interviews were the primary source of data gathering. A set of protocols or questions were posed to interviewees in order to understand how e-learning is developed, how e-learning is balanced with traditional face-to-face training, how corporations implement and support e-learning, and how corporations determine if e-learning is effective as a tool for learning. The determination of effectiveness was made from the interviewees' perspectives about how they define and measure effectiveness.