One question I am often asked is how much e-learning costs. Of course the easy answer is "as long as a piece of string".

As this handbook makes clear there are many different options and possibilities for e-learning and the cost very much depends on what you want to do and how you decide to do it. There is a booming research industry around the Rate of Return on Investment (ROI) of e-learning and many rubrics and formulas have been published. However, most of these are focused on either e-learning in universities and educational institutions or on e-learning in large companies and I doubt their applicability for Small and Medium Enterprises.

It is possible to spend very large amounts of money on establishing e-learning provision; it is also possible to provide learning on a shoestring budget.

"There are essentially three main types of costs involved in e-learning (xx):

• Set up costs - these involve having all the necessary technical infrastructure in place to host and deliver an e-learning solution, and include things like hardware, client software and server software
• Content costs - these involve the costs of designing and building bespoke content or purchasing off-the-shelf ready-made e-learning content
• Management costs - these involve administering, supporting, maintaining and managing e-learning solutions."

These three types of costs will depend on whether the solutions are built and/or managed in-house or outsourced/purchased (see the section of the handbook on e-learning providers).

Whatever your decision there will be costs for:

• tools and systems - to develop and or deliver the solution); and
• people time - to develop and/or manage the solution (ibid.)

In deciding what e-learning system you wish to implement you will have to ask yourself whether you have the required tools and systems to develop and /or host the solution or the budget to acquire the tools and systems and whether you have the requisite technical and pedagogical skills and time to develop, deliver and manage the solutions

At the end of the day cost and availability of budget will be a big factor in determining what approaches to e-learning you adopt. But it is possible to develop quality e-learning on a shoestring. The important thing is to first work out what pedagogic and learning approach you want to implement and then to consider the options in technical and financial terms.

In any case, one of the biggest expenditures is likely to be in staff time to take part in training and learning activities. But, as I said in the first section of this handbook, training should not be seen as a charity or social or legislative obligation. Training can improve the competitiveness of your company and lead to higher quality and reduced production costs.

Many SMEs will be eligible for grants, either for training in general or specifically to pilot e-learning programmes. Obviously these vary from country to country and you will need advice of what grants are available in your region. In many European regions, grants are available for the European Social Fund to support e-learning provision.

11.1 Key issues

• What is your budget for e-learning provision? Is this a one off expenditure or do you have an annual budget?
• Do you have a costing model? If not, who can assist you in working out the costs?
• Are you eligible for a grant to assist you with e-learning costs?