Innovation Profile 039

Leaders need to experience new approaches

We all rely on our own experience when guiding or teaching others, but for people leading development of ICT in education this is hard. It is difficult to find the time to personally gain experience of new approaches to learning.

It is important that teachers do personally understand the power of e-learning. One good way this can happen is for teachers to use e-learning to help improve their own computer skills.

Though all educators using ICT learn to use computers for various tasks, this is often done by picking up skills just as they are needed. Inevitably there are gaps in one's knowledge. If you started to teach a new subject, you would study the subject in an organised way to ensure proper and full understanding. Surely we should try to do the same with computers.

Courses to train teachers in aspects of the use of ICT are being developed in many countries. This is leading slowly to a vision of the full breadth of experience and skills we will expect teachers to have with ICT in the future. The starting point has to be the basic skills in using computers and for this there is already an accredited qualification, the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL).

It is possible for all educators who are developing use of ICT to check their own computer skills and to gain experience of e-learning at the same time. NETg's comprehensive Skill Builder™ training course for ECDL Syllabus 3.0 provides learners with over 47 hours of study, using e-learning.

NETg have incorporated their unique Precision Learning pre-assessment, post-assessment mastery testing, and a high frequency of practice through guided simulations. Their ECDL course won the award of 'Institute of IT Training Online Course of the Year 2000'.

NETg also offers a total on-line solution in their partnership with ECDL/ICDL online testing provider Enlight TestStation. Together NETg and Enlight Teststation can deliver testing over the Internet as well.

At http://www.netg.co.uk/education an online demonstration of NETg's ECDL course is available. Try it for yourself and experience what e-learning feels like.

The NETg Company Profile on our web site will give you an overview of the company.

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If you know of examples of innovative use of ICT-for-learning that others would be interested in, please email innovations@eep-edu.org

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