Canadian Council on Learning continues to produce useful reports - ranging from post secondary trends to corporate training. In a recent article, they tackle the looming skill shortages to serve corporate needs of Canada (a trend reflective of most western countries): "A decade ago the biggest economic challenge facing Canada was creating enough jobs for our workers. Within the next decade, our biggest challenge will be ensuring that we have enough workers and that they have the skills and knowledge they need."
Elearning records two sentences in the report - a bit short sighted. While they address many of the concerns, suggest several solutions (partnerships, setting clear goals, selecting right methods, etc.), the means of re-tooling a workforce is largely ignored. Like it or not, technology-enabled training will have an enormous presence in future corporate training. The use of learning management systems, video conferencing, professionally produced learning resources, online conferences, performance support systems, virtual mentorship, online meetings, and so on, will be a primary approach to gab filling needs of employers/employees (as well as re-skilling the workforce for new careers).