As technology invades our lives more and more, the need to retrain and keep in touch with the latest skills outside the office door becomes more apparent. And the solution could hardly be more obvious. Harnessing the Internet, multi-national corporations, employers and teachers are tapping into its obvious potential to teach new skills and develop new training programmes.
A number of global technology companies have spotted the opportunity to sponsor and promote e-learning in Ireland. IBM's Reinventing Education programme is a multi-million dollar international scheme with the aim of bringing technology into the classroom. "This is our flagship sponsorship programme," said IBM's Patricia Knight. "It is over three years since we started and we now have 13 schools in three sites."
IBM is engaging in the project to "improve educational standards", which is the "overall aim of the project", she said. The programme is being co-ordinated along the lines of a partnership between the local community, the Department of Education and IBM.
As a direct result of the project, teaching staff have become more aware of technology, and are, according to Knight, revelling in it. "Individual teachers have shown delight in it, it is a tool they have not had before." St Vincent's School in Dundalk is one of the schools which has been on the receiving end of the programme, to the tune of a one million dollar investment by IBM.
"We have a partnership with the Department of Education, where each invests a million dollars in it," Knight said, including "the hardware, the software and the consultancy." Distance learning is enhanced with a variety of web-based applications and by using video conferencing.
Distance learning has not only been used to ease teacher stress levels, but to reach out to business people attending conferences on the other side of the globe. In this way, the Internet has proven to be a means of connecting employee and pupil alike, and expose them to new ways of learning.
"We were one of the first companies to use the term e-learning," explained Kate McCarthy, Managing Director of Smartforce Ireland "It is out there and people are using it but it does mean different things to different people. One of the best definitions of e-learning is that it is using the power of the Internet to provide a richer and better type of learning environment. For a student to be able to access the training, they do not have to have any special kind of hardware or software requirements. It is done online."
The company recently launched an e-business portfolio with the ability to deliver more than 400 hours of teaching and covering eight independent certifications.
Delivering a course online poses many of the same demands, issues and challenges which can be experienced in a school-based situation. The differences being experienced can be all day availability, difficulty in assessing particular pupils and being able to identify non-participants sooner rather than later.
The Dublin Institute of Technology in Blanchardstown, Dublin, is increasing its places with the help of Lotus's e-learning pilot programme, which will be on offer at the institute next year to students and local businesses. The present building infrastructure cannot cope with the influx of students taking up its courses, so Lotus's answer is to put course material on the Internet with their product Learning Space, thereby allowing more students to learn.
Their Java-based "virtual classroom" enables teachers to conduct live interactive classes, deliver presentations, share live applications and present Web content. Assessed on an ongoing basis, students can post questions to the lecturer on the Web or by e-mail. "Lotus has a product called Learning Space, which has primarily gained a toe hole in corporate e-learning," explained Dr Brian O'Donovan, Senior Development Manager, Lotus Development Ireland although "it has not gained such a toe hole in academic circles."
Learning Space not just serves to feed the education system with new ways of teaching but also allows Lotus to put their name on a worthy cause. "We thought it would be good for Lotus's image to get involved in it," said Dr O'Donovan. "It is basically a tool for storing and managing online classes. In previous and more traditional methods of learning, such as the open university system the instructor would have to set an assignment, the pupil would then send it back to be marked," explained Dr Donovan. This is not the case with Internet based learning, which can "allow real time collaboration between student and teacher, such as chat rooms and video streams."
The Internet can be beneficial to those trying to learn or train remotely, allowing them to engage in all of the interaction normally synonymous with attendance in a classroom, thereby eliminating the cost and inconvenience of having to attend. Furthermore, it reduces the need to invest in expensive physical infrastructure by the academic institution.