Our commitment to ECDL stretches back nearly 3 years now. Our "middle"
end user courses which are taught in the traditional manner are based
around the ECDL syllabus as their starting points (we run some
beginners courses and more advanced follow-on courses which is why I
say "middle"). Thus people are trained to ECDL standard even if they
opt not to take the tests.
Similarly we offer CBT across the network, with weekly drop-in sessions
where CBT is available along with a human to answer problems. Again
people are encouraged to take the training even if they don't want
the tests. And the CBT has meant that people unable to come to
traditional courses, who need specific training covered by ECDL or
who need training now without waiting for a course can be
accommodated.
The uptake has been fairly slow - we offer training to students and
staff. Recently there does seem to be more recognition of the need
to establish base-line skills and libraries is one area where there
has been an exponential growth. There is a growing awareness of ECDL
due to word of mouth, adverts, job descriptions and advertising
(anybody see the Guardian yesterday?) This is also spilling over into
the student body where much more interest is being shown - and students
are commenting that it has helped them in their study as well as job
seeking.
Problems? There is a perception by some that ECDL is "beneath them".
But I've yet to find anyone who has done assessments or tests who
hasn't learnt something. The legal people were looking for a method of
certifying IT skills, and ECDL was suggested - but rejected as taking
too much time. Given that we quoted 60 hours training for 7 modules I
don't see how they could be fully IT literate with less.
We haven't embedded in any courses, though I'm now finding some
students sent by their tutors which is encouraging. We've been run on
a very marginal-cost basis (charge for tests and logbook only); we are
now increasing our fees to staff to reflect 50% of real costs, and
encouraging students to gain funding through ILAs (which actually
brings their costs down).
Hope that helps.
Paul
On Wed, 21 Mar
2001 09:43:56 +0000 Spencer Jordan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I'm interested to know how colleagues have found the European Computer
> Driving License as a means of developing staff and student IT skills.
> Have colleagues found it a useful 'off-the-shelf' solution in trying to
> embed IT skills across their institution? Or were there significant
> problems in its uptake? What other options are there?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Spencer
>
> Dr Spencer Jordan,
> Networked Learning Support Co-ordinator,
> University of the West of England,
> Coldharbour Lane,
> Bristol,
> BS16 1QY.
>
> -----------------------------------------------------
> This mail was sent through SilkyMail v1.0
>
-------------------
Dr Paul Davis
[log in to unmask]
01865 283414
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