Not so much
a research project as an initiative to address the skills shortage in the
developing technology based learning industry, Project Author evolved
from recognition by industry and commerce that classroom trainers did not
currently have the competences required for the design of digital learning
resources. It recognised that Technology Based Training was radically
different from classroom training, which is reactive to its learners, and
has a different skillset which emphasises anticipation of learners actions,
apart from the additional requirements of using the technology.
Project
Author addressed that need by creating an intensive short course for those
with an understanding of learning (usually trainers and teachers) with the
added dimension that the trainees were currently unemployed. It was linked
to a government initiative to retrain these people (as a Manpower Services
Commission TOPS course). The early versions of the course included five
weeks on secondment in industry and many organisations that provided
placements frequently took on their student(s) full time after the course
ended. Because it was industry based and funded from the Department of
Employment the course was freed from outside constraints frequently applied
to academic based courses. It played a pivotal role in creating the current
UK e-learning industry and many of its graduates now occupy senior positions
in the industry.
Project
Author serves as a model of how to deliver effective staff development.
