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Report: Geographic Distribution of eLearn Readers
A Look at this Site's Changing Community

By Bob Little, Jill Duffy / December 2010

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Report: Geographic Distribution of eLearn Readers

A Look at this Site's Changing Community

December 2, 2010

Over the past two years, eLearn Magazine (a publication of the ACM) has grown at a good clip. In 2009, we rolled up our sleeves and started publishing more content more regularly, bringing you new kinds of articles, blog posts, and other ideas to share and discuss at least twice a week.

In 2010, we focused on keeping up that pace while making a few more adjustments, broadening our scope to include more information about e-learning worldwide, as well as seeking out all the new ways that "learning" is happening.

As we prepare to roll into 2011, we wanted to reflect on these changes and let our readers and future authors know a little more about who makes up the eLearn Magazine community.

The biggest segment of the eLearn Magazine community (just less than half), are readers in the U.S. (45%). And while the raw number of American-based visitors to the site has increased between 2009 and 2010, the percentage of U.S. visitors overall actually declined slightly from 48.6%, indicating that more and more eLearn readers are coming from outside the States.

Comparing two six-month periods in 2009 and 2010 (July 1-December 31, 2009 and June 1-November 30, 2010; see the tables below), the magazine has seen a remarkable increase in the total number of readers from four countries: the Philippines, Malaysia, India, and France.

Filipino readership more than doubled, as did Malaysian, and the total number of readers from India nearly doubled (80% increase). The number of visitors to the site based in France increased by a solid 80% as well.

eLearn Magazine
Reader Representation by Country

January 1, 2010-Novemeber 30, 2010
1. U.S. (45.6%)
2. U.K. (5.8%)
3. Canada (5.7%)
4. India (5%)
5. Australia (4%)
6. Philippines (2.1%)
7. Malaysia (1.8%)
8. Germany (1.7%)
9. Spain (1.2%)
10. France (1.1%)

Mexico and South Africa have shown more interest in eLearn Magazine, as well. While the raw number of visitors were much smaller than from the other countries previously mentioned, they too more than doubled.

The number of visitors from the United Kingdom and Canada are on equal footing and make up significant portions of the overall eLearn Magazine community-almost 6% each. A recently published report in IT Training magazine says it's been business as usual in 2010 for the U.K.'s e-learning sector, with the top 10 firms' combined annual revenue rising only slightly from �38 million to �38.09 million in 2010 compared to 2009. The numbers can be largely attributed to the rise of Kineo, a content production house that champions the use of open-source systems.

Interest and involvement in e-learning is shifting. As rapid authoring tools get into the hands of subject matter experts, they are producing e-learning materials for use in their organizations. "Content neutral" educationalists working as instructional designers are less in evidence than they were. This means that e-learning is now a peripheral subject for those who see their main profession as something else. In turn, this could explain the reduction in readership figures for e-learning-related specialist publications.

Another key trend in developed countries has been to outsource aspects of instructional design to developing countries, where labor rates are cheap. We wonder how this—in conjunction with the increase in innovative learning strategies being rolled out in schools for children and young adults in developing countries—affects the countries' overall interest in the e-learning world.

The growth in the magazine's readers from Australia and South Africa—and even the regular appearance of Canada and Germany among the list of readers—is more an indication of the growth in interest, albeit from a fairly small base, in e-learning among its practitioners around the developed world.

eLearn Magazine Reader Representation by Country


6-month period:
June 1, 2010-Novemeber 30, 2010
6-month period:
July 1, 2009-December 31, 2009
1. U.S. (44.8%) 1. U.S. (48.6%)
2. U.K. (5.8%) 2. U.K. (5.6%)
3. Canada (5.7%) 3. Canada (5.5%)
4. India (5.5%) 4. Australia (4.7%)
5. Australia (4.3%) 5. India (4.4%)
6. Philippines (2.5%) 6. Germany (1.8%)
7. Malaysia (2.1%) 7. Philippines (1.6%)
8. Germany (1.4%) 8. Spain (1.5%)
9. France (1.2%) 9. Malaysia (1.2%)
10. Spain (1.1%) 10. Saudi Arabia (1%)

About the Authors

For more than 20 years, Bob Little has specialized in writing about, and commentating on, corporate learning—especially e-learning—and technology-related subjects. His work has been published in the U.K., Europe, the U.S., and Australia. Contact Bob at [email protected].

Jill Duffy is senior editor at eLearn Magazine and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).



Comments

  • Fri, 23 Jul 2010
    Post by Ryan Tracey

    That's good advice to start with something simple. I would also suggest using the LMS for what it is really designed for: administration. LMSs are great for registration, assessment, grade keeping, transcripts, performance agreements, development plans etc. IMHO, they shouldn't be twisted into content management systems.