Additionally, unless carefully designed, they can be complex and difficult to comprehend. Highly skilled people who guide the learner in the workplace perform mentoring . This approach is inexpensive to develop because the expert already has the skills. It is provided at the time the participant needs it and does not require leaving the workplace. It does require some investment, though.
Quality control is difficult because there is usually no evaluation of it.
This form of training works only when properly planned to ensure that the mentor is available, able, and motivated. To merely give training participants the name and telephone number of the expert to call if they have problems is not mentoring. The danger in this approach is the potential to propagate bad practices if the mentors do not apply best practices. Computer-based training is useful in some situations. If well designed, it can be interactive, be used in dispersed geography, minimize travel costs, and reach a wide audience quickly.