e-Learning – Page 4 – ITC ILO Blog

The growing importance of social media

e-Learning, Innovation / May 13, 2010by /author/wambeke/

Social media is becoming more and more important, also for learning and training institutions. In the upcoming ITC-ILO WebforDev course a community of practicioners will evaluate the impact of web 2.0 trends in the field of learning and training. Do we use social media in order to innovate the way we learn and train and where can it create a pedagogical added value ? Think about it and have a look at the revised version of the social media revolution.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng&feature=youtube_gdata]

Lifelong E-Learning and new technologies

e-Learning, News / April 6, 2010by /author/wambeke/

Today DELTA has launched the fourth edition of Lifelong E-Learning. In the upcoming weeks a group of 15 international participants will explore the educational landscape of new learning technologies in a collaborative way. Interesting practices that result from this group and that are relevant for this blog will be shared. If you want to know what the course is about, you can consult the screencast below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSMx9frTzsM]

Learning through Communities of Practice- A selection of tools

e-Learning / March 30, 2010by /author/a-messutiitcilo-org/

Probably the notion of Community of Practice (CoP) has been one of the most used concepts in the domain of learning, training and knowledge sharing. While a lot of references are made to original articles of the founding father Etienne Wenger, through this article we would like to compile key essential resources which might be useful if you are going to design and develop a community. Being a focal point for high-level in-service training and providing related services focusing on the development of human resources, ITCILO has been actively working in the design and development of communities of practices focusing on sharing knowledge throughout international networks of practitioners.

Here below you find a list of resources in different format we created or compiled from other organizations and institutions.

Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System

This quick info sheet is part of the Share, Learn, Innovate Toolkit developed for OHCHR focusing on the following quick questions: What is a community of practice? When to use it? What technology?

Communities of Practice: Linking Knowledge, Policy and Practice

This background note by S.Hearn and N. White provides background information regarding communities in the Web 2.0 era and provides a series of considerations with reference to creating communities within and across organizations.

Turning conversations into Collaboration

This presentation looks at the key ingredients, with particular emphasis on the role of the community facilitator for building trust and cooperation, enabling conversations to become active collaboration and co-production. See in particular, facilitation mechanisms, levels of engagement, community archetypes.

Click on the image to enlarge

Cultivating Communities of Practice: A quick Start-up Guide

This visual inforgraphic developed by Etienne Wenger provides in a nutshell the key steps which are necessary to follow to design, build and maintain a community.

UNDP Communities of Practice Guide

By focusing on chapter 6 of this presentation you will capture the main steps for community development, including a practical example of a CoP action plan in a development institution.

UN microblogging. The rise of twitter.

e-Learning, Innovation, Tools for Learning / June 26, 2009by /author/wambeke/

Twitter has been non-stop in the news lately. According to EDUCAUSE we could consider Twitter as an on-line application which is part blog, part social network application and part mobile phone/IM tool. Users update on a regular base their network in 140 charachters on their projects, ideas, experiences, thoughts, … and it this way Twitter creates a interconnected network of users. People either access it through the internet or through their mobile phone. Organizations start to pick up twitter as a tool for external communication, public relations and continuous dialogue with their stakeholders. Development organisations use it to promote their mission statement. A series of UN agencies (UNHCR, UNDP, FAO, IAEA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, UNODC, UNESCO, WFP, UN Staff College, UNITAR) are already involved and other organizations do so too (World Bank, OECD). The Web2forDev site identifies microblogging as a useful tool for internal knowledge sharing.

UN e-learning Kampus

e-Learning, News, Tools for Learning / June 8, 2009by /author/wambeke/

UN Staff College initiated a United Nations knowledge campus last week in order to share knowledge and experiences on technology enhanced learning in the different UN agencies. The on-line campus hosts a catalogue of e-learning courses available within the UN system and highlights some interesting e-learning exhibits. This week several discussions will be organised on specific topics including:

– The pedagogical potential of blogging.
– Serious gaming as learning and development.
– Learning in the Web2.0 area. Integrating social software in blended learning programmes.
– Developing a LMS in UN system organizations. Best practices.
– Techniques to deliver real added value in the web2.0 area.

Go to www.unkampus.org and join the discussion !

E-Learning Africa

e-Learning, News / June 8, 2009by /author/wambeke/

Last week ITC-ILO participated in the annual E-Learning Africa conference, held in Dakar this year. It is the opportunity to share the latest insights and trends on technology enhanced learning used in projects all over Africa. 1315 participants from 85 different countries ensured a rich input and interesting conversations. DELTA moderated and presented at two sessions, focusing on game-based learning and on designing, developing and managing virtual learning environments.

mobile learning

e-Learning, News, Tools for Learning / April 5, 2009by /author/wambeke/

Mobile voice and data communication is more and more accessible and affordable in developing countries. Only in Africa there are more than 280 million mobile phone subscriptions. People who had never access to a phone landline, a computer, or a car own now a mobile phone. Organisations take this communication channel serious and start to connect :

– The UN Foundation recently published an inspiring report on m-Health for Development titled: The opportunity of Mobile technology for Healthcare in the Developing World.
– Unicef Innovation launched a platform for data collection, logistics coordination and communication allowing any mobile phone to interact with the web.
– Kiwanja.net specialises in helping out organizations to use mobile applications for social change. Frontline sms and NgOMobile are good illustrations of this.
– MobileActive is a growing community that documents interesting practices on how to effectively use mobile phones for social change.

ab-mobile-learning Read more

Networks

e-Learning / March 16, 2009by /author/wambeke/

Networks are powerful tools for sustainable development. In the scope of this learning and training blog we would like to stress the importance of networks in learning and training. This blogpost would like to highlight the “Work the net – a management guide for formal networks” from GTZ. Based on a general framework on networks it would be interesting to explore three questions :

– Why could a networks be important for learning and training?
– What are the structural and operational issues in order to make a learning network work?
– What is the difference between a social network, a community of practice (CoP) and a formal network and how can we integrate them in our learning and training activities?

networked_learning

The ADDIE Instructional Design

e-Learning, Tools for Learning, Training / February 9, 2009by /author/wambeke/

Needs analysis, training evaluation, designing a training session, selecting training methodologies and tools, facilitating a training….etc. Have you heard those expressions lately? Do you wonder what they imply and how they fit together into an integrated process? The ADDIE instructional design model provides a step-by-step process that helps training specialists plan and create training programs. The ADDIE design model revolves around the following five components:

· Analysis

· Design

· Development

· Implementation

· Evaluation

Self guided e-learning ?

e-Learning / January 27, 2009by /author/wambeke/

Due to economic pressure training organizations are reducing their training budgets. Demand in self-directed e-learning is increasing. DELTA recently got a lot of requests to design and development some of these self-guided e-learning. What are some of the possibilities?

Rapid E-Learning

To understand what it is about, let’s look at a definition of Rapid E-Learning according to the e-learning guild:

It is about:
* Courseware which can be developed in less than three weeks
* Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) act as the primary resource for development
* A well-known tool (e.g. PowerPoint) or user-friendly templates form the starting point for courseware
* Simple assessment, feedback and tracking are usually provided
* Media elements which enhance learning but do not create technology barriers may be included (e.g. voice)
* Learning modules can be taken in one hour or less, often in less than 30 minutes.
* Synchronous (scheduled or live) and asynchronous (self-paced) models may be utilized.

Important is to position this modules in the framework of the overall training. They are certainly not going to replace your F2F training, rather enrich it in a blended format as pre- or post-activities of a training.

elearning_treeofknowledge

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