Business lead in e-learning

In your article "Questions of cost and usefulness dog e-learning" (4 June), it was reported that academics see e-learning as expensive and time-consuming when it comes to teaching students. Clearly, more needs to be done to engage universities in using e-learning effectively if they view it only as making lecture materials available online.

Our experience in delivering e-learning for business, through programmes such as Learning through Work, demonstrates that the most successful types of e-learning include all those aspects that academics say e-learning cannot replace: face-to-face feedback from tutors, the ability to network and share content with other learners (via social networking) and the flexibility to learn at a time and place that suits the learner's needs.

When implemented correctly, e-learning can save money and time, and it can be delivered economically. Perhaps higher education institutions could learn from how businesses are using e-learning.

Raj Kakaiya, Employer operations director, learndirect Business.