On Thursday 24th May City of Westminster took part in the first test-run of a new e-learning scheme, Building Engineering Services Training (BEST). This project aims to take the classroom online so that students can attend courses online. The lessons are fully interactive both for students and teachers through visual and audio aides.

Five students took part in the trial, which will make expensive courses more cost-effective for educational institutions to run. Safari Lushonbo, 39 years old on the City & Guilds 2330 Certificate in Electrotechnical Technology says, "this way of learning will be really good for people who are unable to leave the house as they will be able to stay at home and learn." Keith Joscelyne, 16 years old also on the City & Guilds 2330 Certificate in Electrotechnical Technology commented that it "would be good to be able to learn at work whilst on an apprenticeship or another form of work-based learning." Another benefit shared by the class is that students feel more confident asking questions and participating in lessons as there is no physical peer pressure.

Ala Uddin, Director of the Faculty of Technology said, "this has got great potential and there are many benefits of both learning and teaching within the e-learning framework. This is a new technology that will take time to operate more effectively, but the concept is excellent. It also opens up doors for sharing good practice with other organisations."

The Information Learning Technology Development Coordinator, Patti Taylor was in charge of the session of lessons, which last approximately 20-25 minutes each. She commented that learning is a social experience and that students must be really motivated in order to succeed with distance learning, but having the choice to learn both in a college and online makes education accessible to all.

 

Friday, May 25, 2007