Computer delivered education may be a key stroke.

Here is a great article by By Jon Boone of the Financial Mail.

Like so many other technologies that rode high during the dotcom mania before crashing ignominiously back to earth, e-learning is enjoying a revival. Those who were burned first time round will feel a queasy sense of deja vu at hearing the advantages of computer delivered education: it is easier to tailor around the diaries of busy people and it can be used to train very large numbers of people all at once.

Paul Palmarozza, president of Intellexis, speaks for many in the industry who have less misty-eyed view of its potential. "About 25-30 per cent of training is now done through e-learning. At the time of dotcom people thought it would completely take over but I think we now know it will get to about 20-40 per cent and stay there."

The learning interfaces are improving too with companies making them more interactive and making better use of video and graphics. All of which can add to the cost of e-learning, making it substantially higher than the old classroom model. Estimates vary but developing just one hour's of e-learning can cost up to Pounds 20,000.

In the world of financial training e-learning's second coming has been helped by the belief of US regulators that better trained employees will be less likely to bring the company to its knees in a mire of scandal. The multiple-choice, box-ticking nature of computer learning and assessment at its simplest lends itself perfectly to companies trying to find cost-effective ways to ensure very large numbers of their staff are Sarbanes-Oxley compliant. The same is true in the US for anti-money laundering regulations brought in with the Patriot Act.

At the the higher end of the market technology has become part of financial institutions' basic expectation. Jonathan Shaw of 7city says his company now routinely records classes that can be watched online for those who were not able to make the session.

E-learning also makes it easier for students to take their work wherever they chose. 7city says it has seen a 300 per cent increase in the number of downloads of recorded lectures via podcast and webcast over the past six months. Companies looking to raise the general level of financial competence of their workforce are not, Mr Palmarozza says, interested in squandering large amounts of their employees' time with three-day training courses.

"They want short, sharp courses that are tailored to the specific needs of their company and where the learning process can continue in their own time." But financial trainers are not just disinterring the old thinking and technology of the late 1990s. The best providers have realised that computers do not replace teaching, they merely improve it when it is done with a bit of careful thought. "Blended learning" is thus the buzzword for combining teaching and technology. Experts continue to hold forth in front of classrooms of executives, but some of their traditional functions have been hived off to computers. So, students will be expected to prepare for relatively straightforward subjects by learning from the computer rather than a trainer charging by the hour.

It also allows for continuous assessment of how students are progressing. Mr Palmarozza: "It is now pretty standard for us to run a computer pre-test before the course to see what areas need to be the focus. Another test afterwards can show both the students and their company that they have achieved value for the time spent."