Course Overview

The NGO Training Program is an initiative run by the Department of Community Services (DoCS) as a means of providing education for the Non Government Organisations (NGO’s) that it provides funding for. The purpose of this course, “Understanding the Impact of Alcohol and Other Drugs [AOD] is to provide an overview of many of the key issues that workers are likely to encounter when working with clients with a range of alcohol and other drug [AOD] related concerns. It is currently run as a face-to-face program conducted under the NGO Training Program, run by the Department of Community Services [DoCS]. It is attended by a large majority of individuals who come from a range of community centres in both rural and urban NSW. The cost of travel and accommodation is covered for people attending the courses are covered by DoCS. It has been chosen as one of three courses to be run using an e-learning platform. It is hoped that this project will be successful and eliminate the need of course attendees to consume time and travel costs which could otherwise be used with clients.

 Introduction

 Over the past decade, there has been an increasing growth in the awareness of the applications and benefits of e-learning technologies in educational and organisational contexts. The Department of Community Services [DoCS] has decided to use e-learning technologies as a platform for their internal training course titled “Understanding the Impact of Alcohol and Other Drugs” in an attempt to shift the training from a face-to-face mode to an e-learning format. Based on the context and needs of the learners, who in this case are the employees of DoCS, the e-learning applications to be utilised in the course are the Wiki and Weblog. This approach allows learners to work both individually and collaboratively to create a meaningful learning experience that will ultimately have a positive impact on their work performance.

 The design of the course aims to provide participants with a meaningful and user-generated learning experience where their knowledge, understanding and application of the course content can be applied in the workplace and when working with clients. The continual advancement of e-learning strategies has seen the emergence of many educational technologies that can be used as e-learning platforms, including virtual worlds such as Second Life, pod casts and webinars. However, the design of the course has been heavily influenced by the characteristics identified in the Learners’ Profile and have had a major impact on the technology selection of the course. Among others, the main factors were the limited or absence of Internet access, the spread of employees across NSW including many rural areas, the knowledge of course participants having only basic computer skills, as well as the resistance to change and technologies among older cohorts.

 The methodology behind the course structure was to gradually introduce the concept of e-learning in a non-threatening and self-paced way [Gaillani 2003] The structure of the course is based on the cognitive learning theory, which emphasises that learning is an active process in which new meaning is developed on the basis of past and present experience. Re-emphasising the principle of the cognitive learning theory, the sequencing of the course modules follows the concept of “Progressive Differentiation”, whereby in order to maxmimise learning, information is presented in an organised manner establishing logical relationships between the key ideas and concepts of the modules.  

 Embedded within both the cognitivist theory and the constructivist theory is the notion “discovery learning”, whereby learners’ construct, rather than receive, knowledge and meaning through means such as reflective learning and collaboratively built recources. To facilitate reflective learning among course participants, the inclusion of a Weblog as an e-learning tool has been integrated within the design of the course. Similar to a Wiki, a Weblog is an online technology that users set up individually and add “posts or pages” to their sites about topics and discussions of their interest. Throughout the course duration, participants are encouraged to post their reflections of their learning experiences during the course activities to assist them to grasp key concepts, identify areas of improvement, and share any thoughts and opinions they may like to express. Users, as with Wikis, are able to view and comment upon other users’ posts.

 Both Wikis and Weblogs require Internet access, dial-up or broadband, and basic word processing skills in order for it to be successfully used as a learning tool. However, training may be required if users lack the skills or confidence to use more complex tools such as uploading videos on to the Wiki or changing the layout of the Wiki and Weblogs. In terms of privacy issues, a high concern among DoCS employees, both Wikis and Weblogs are in the public domain and so special consideration should be given by users as to what content is posted on these sites. Wikis allow individual users or groups to place restrictions on who can edit the page, while Weblogs, depending on the service provider, allow users to select the option of allowing unlimited views by the public to the site, or limiting Weblog views to members of the website only.

 Conclusion

 An analysis of the data provided by the Department of Community Services [DoCS] shows that e-learning is indeed an effective tool for providing education and training to the employees. Restricted by time and location, classroom based training would prove difficult and may even have detrimental effects on the motivation levels of participants and even their mental and physical health. The use of e-learning technologies such as Wikis and Weblogs creates a self-paced and collaborative learning environment that provides learners with a meaningful learning experience, resulting in longer retention and retrieval abilities. Easy to set up and navigate, these e-learning technologies reduce the amount of time needed for in-class training and allow learners to study at a time and place that is convenient to them.

 References

 Burns, R., 2002, The Adult Learner at Work 2nd edn, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest 

 Gillani, B.B., 2004, Learning theories and the design of e-learning environments, University Press, Maryland

 Hilgard, E.R. and Bower, G.H. 1975, Theories of Learning, Prentice- Hall, New Jersey

 Lee, M.J.W., “New tools for online collaboration: Blogs, wikis, RSS and podcasting”, Training and Development, October 2005, pp.17-20.