Improving Continuous Vocational E-Training

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Copyright © IFAC Infonnation Control Problems in Manufacturing, Vienna, Austria, 2001

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IMPROVING CONTINUOUS VOCATIONAL E-TRAINING Ileana Hamburg, Bucur B. Ionescu

Institut Arbeit und Technik, Wissenschaftszenrrum Nordrhein Westfalen Gelsenkirchen, Germany Tel: +492091707265/ Email: hamburg@iatge,de Pilot Center for Information and Communication Technologies (CePTlC) Bucharest, Romania, Tel. + 40 92434994/ E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: E-training, particularly based on the Internet and the Web, seems to be an innovative form of qualification in organisations. It supports processes of knowledge acquisition and transfer as well as life-long learning. In many cases the implementation of e-training within continuous vocational qualification is not successful. Based on their experience within national and European projects, the authors of this paper present some proposals for improving continuous vocational e-training and give examples. Copyright ©2001IFAC Keywords: e-Iearning, Internet, Web, virtual community, competence centre

traInIng in companies, a permanent and competent use of them is still mISSIng. Often, the implementation of e-training within continuous vocational training programmes failed because the companies lack of thinking about their needs in this direction.

I. INTRODUCTION In order to cope with many changes and developments of today, key qualifications are required from the company's staff like mental flexibility and fast adaptation to new structures as well as competence in the use of new technologies for their business (e-business).

Based on their experience acquired from national and European projects (e.g. within the programs TEMPUS, LEONARDO, SOKRATES), the authors of this paper present some possibilities to improve the use of new e-media in continuous vocational training (part 2).

E-training, e.g. "electronic delivery" of training material and innovative methods to acquire knowledge and skills by using information technologies like the Internet and the Web supports life-long learning processes in order to achieve nowadays required qualifications. Some characteristics of the e-training are presented in part I of this paper.

As examples, some results of the Leonardo-EU PROJECT WOMEN'S QUALIFICATION FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND NEW FORMS OF WORK ORGANIZATION (WOQUATEWO) and the QuatroGerman project FRAUTELNET - COMPETENCE NETWORK: VIRTUAL LEARNING will be briefly

Although in many countries there exists some experience in the management of projects about e-

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presented and some steps within the on-going EUcooperation EURO H between the Institut Arbeit und Technik, the CePTIC and other European organisations about the use of e-training for the integration of disabled people in production are described in part 4 of this paper.

In many fields the innovation cycles are very short, so that conventional training processes are not suitable for knowledge mediation because the duration of training measurements exceeds the innovation cycle. Today is not sufficient to finish a training course. The learning "in stock" should be transformed into "learning on demand" (life-long learning). Different forms of technology assisted trammg support life-long learning processes but additionally they require competence in the use of the technology.

2. E-TRAINING - AN INNOVATIVE FORM OF QUALIFICATION IN COMPANIES Nowadays many companies build combines in order to remain competitive; they have to supply their staff globally with relevant knowledge in order to assure a world wide implementation of the combine strategy. Only a purposeful transfer of information and knowledge which is tailor-made for the employees needs can assure innovation, quickness and profitability.

In this paper we present such training methods based on network technologies like the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW), e.g. the e-Iearning. A main characteristic of the e-Iearning is that the network technologies are used to: • create, foster, deliver and facilitate learning any time and anYWhere, • deliver individualised, comprehensive and dynamic learning content in real time, • facilitate individuals and organizations to keep up with rapid changes in the information society and knowledge-based economy.

In Germany (as well as in other countries) many companies like DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Lufthansa, Bertelsmann, Deutsche Bank, Metallgesellschaft, SAP develop own Corporate Universities and build learning alliances with Business Schools like Harvard, Insead or IMD (Kraemer, 1999).

The e-Iearning could take place individually or as a part of a class. Online classes meet either synchronously (at the same time) or asynchronously (at different time), or a combination of both. Some examples of e-Iearning are a free tutorial, a forcredit course or degree, certificate training, high school classes or online continuing education classes.

But the knowledge mediated within the education and training in schools, universities and companies changes rapidly. Figure 1 shows the half life of knowledge. Knowledge

One of the advantages of the use of Web for etraining is that it is able to support images as well as many other file types, including hypermedia documents containing sound and videos, which can be viewed with external viewer programs. In order to be able to send and receive hypermedia files, servers and clients communicate by using the Hyper Text Transmission Protocol (HTTP). Files are written using the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), which is a language for logical document layout.

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Web-based learning technologies are changing how learners communicate with their professors and with each other. Nowadays, the e-Iearning students have not to wait days and weeks for responses; e-mails are answered faster than phone calls or faxes. They can access not only local libraries but also vast amounts of information available on the Internet.

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School Knowledge 20 Years -------------------University Knowledge 10 Years _._._._._._._._._. __ _ Professional Knowledge 5 Years .......................................................... Technological Knowledge 3 Years - - - - - - - - - Computer Knowledge I Year

An advantage of the Web is that information is dynamic. So trainers can update their material whenever there is a need for it, students are kept up to date with the most recent changes and news about the learning material. The hyperlinks allow students to browse, jump between links in order to find relevant information and to perform searches easily.

Fig. I. Half life of knowledge (IT-Magazin, 200 I)

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Flexibility is another main advantage of Web-based e-training. This refers to flexibility of time or/and of place for study, to the choice {"modularity") of learning content, to possible frequent updates and to the ability to respond to specific demands. So Webbased e-Iearning facilitates the development of continuous and life-long learning processes by serving ever changing needs of learners throughout their life-span and by supporting connections between learning and working.

Some organisational aspects that have to be considered could be the following: • estimation of integration possibilities of etraining in the existing structure of the company, • analysis of the necessity to build new organisational forms (e.g. conventional or virtual teams) which support new forms of learning. The following personnel aspects should be included in the guide: • existing individual and collective staff qualifications and the required ones, • didactical methods of training, • the development of the Web-based elearning environments taking into consideration the qualification and the interest of different target groups.

One downside of Web-based online classes is that the students are not able to meet trainers/tutors and classmates face-to-face. Social communication which is an essential component of every educational activity is missing. The cooperation, which in traditional classes happens sometimes instantaneously, has to be facilitated by a conscious effort to build e-Iearning (online)communities.

In order to support life-long learning, the content of Web-based e-learning modules should be closely integrated with the work of the trainees, and the knowledge and skills they are learning should find immediate application within their work and life.

3. IMPROVING CONTINUOUS VOCATIONAL E-TRAINING Studies and discussions with persons responsible for vocational training in companies show that the technique often is not the barrier of e-training success, but other aspects like the following : • the companies have forgotten to involve their staff into the development of the etraining concept, • there are many e-Iearning providers who wanted to sell their licences only and the clients remain alone with their difficulties, • some managers consider as main aspects for e-Iearning only the decreasing of travel costs and of the absence from the work because of the training.

Referring to social aspects of e-Iearning, the building of learning communities: they cannot be created by one person. Although the trainer (professor) is responsible for facilitating the creation process, the community is entirely dependent on participants and their willingness to contribute time, attention, ideas and commitment. In order to be considered "present" in a virtual classroom, the students have to access the course site online regularly, and to put in their answers and comments. Nevertheless, it is often worthwhile to supplement "virtual" co-operation by some degree of real face-toface interaction and hands-on experience. Particularly input and output workshops could help the building and maintaining of a "real" learning community and the understanding of the training program.

In the following we present some aspects which can contribute to improve continuous vocational etraining. The first aspect is the carrying out of deep needs analysis in the company and based on results of it to build the concept of e-training. This analysis should include technical aspects, organisational aspects, as well as personnel ones.

If the Web-based trammg environment supporting the e-training is new for the trainees, an additional workshop is sometimes necessary in order to get competence and confidence in the use of the learning environment. This helps trainees to concentrate on the learning content, and not on the technical difficulties by using the environment.

As technical aspects we consider: • the estimation of technical frames of the vocational e-training like the places of training and their equipment, • a review of different existing standard e-Iearning programs and their evaluation referring to quality, context of application, provider, user friendliness, compatibility with other existing software etc., • confidence by dealing with computers, Intranet, Internet and with the Web in the company.

Within the process of developing Web-based training, care has to be taken to provide solutions, which are right for the medium, but also right for the users. For example: it is necessary to define the level of hard- and software, which the target groups of learners can be expected to be using and to design the learning environment accordingly. On another level, trainees need help and orientation in order to find the

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and Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language), which is used for the required CGI-programming.

right kind of information in the masses of material published on anyone topic on the Internet. Another aspect that we use in our projects is the consideration of all mechanisms to distribute the knowledge of different experts about e-training projects, e.g. through building of e-training competence centres.

Concerning the technical service, it was a major objective to keep the necessary equipment for the trainees at a minimum, in order to avoid technical discrimination. The main objectives of the EU-PROJECT THE VOCATIONAL TRAINING BY ODL OF YOUNG PEOPLE WITH LOCOMOTORY DISADVANTAGES (short title EURO H) (Hamburg, Ionescu, 2001) are: • to improve skills and competence of young people with disabilities in some disciplines, • to improve the quality of and the access to continuing vocational training for young people from Europe with mobility impairments by using open distance elearning, • to promote and reinforce the contribution of e-vocational training to the process of innovation.

4. EXAMPLES The Leonardo-EU project WOMEN 'S QUALIFICATION FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND NEW WORK ORGANISATION: NEEDS ANALYSIS AND VOCATIONAL UPDATING STRATEGIES -WOQUATEWO (Busk, Hamburg, Beer, 1999) had to give practical answers to questions about trends of women employment, qualifications and the use of e-Iearning to improve them. These answers are based on comparative studies carried out in all partner countries: Germany, UK, Denmark, Italy. In Germany, deep analysis of the e-Iearning needs including technical aspects, organisational aspects, as well as personnel ones (see part 3 of the paper) have been carried out in 150 manufacturing companies. The companies belong to the sectors: electrical industry, print industry and synthetic material industry. Based on the results of the analysis, the project partners develop a guide QUALIFICATION FOR CHANGE. This document discusses the process involved in initiating and realising an e-training program which supports change in a company and empowers its employees.

In theory e-Iearning plays an important role for a better social integration of disabled people: • by facilitating access to new services, new knowledge and new forms of work like teleworking from any place without having to travel using only the necessary equipment, • by breaking the isolation that disabled people feel in life and learning through their integration into a virtual learning community, • by restoring a social identity for them through giving access to work or helping them to maintain a job by improved qualification.

One of the aims of the project FRAUTELNET COMPETENCE NETWORK: VIRTUAL LEARNING was to provide Web-based e-training for women which work in administrative jobs close to production. This training should link sound "generic" know-how with tightly fitting solutions for the companies (Engert, Hamburg, Terstriep, 2000a, 2000b) by using a Webbased learning environment where self-directed learning is combined with collaborative learning in virtual communities.

In practice, there is not much knowledge about the modalities of e-training for handicapped persons and so a controversial issue about the use of it for the optimisation of handicapped qualification. As a result of collaboration between Romania and Germany , we proposed an algorithm in order to elaborate an efficient methodology for the vocational e-training improvement. We will apply this algorithm in our project.

The development of a project learning community was not very easy. It was initiated in the first input workshop and coordinated by the trainers. Some of the exercises belonging to the training modules have been chosen so that they could be solved only through cooperative work in the community.

The steps of this algorithm are the following:

The e-training courses "IT-Management" , "Projectmanagement" , "eCommerce" and "Telecoporation" have been coordinated by a decentralised team and offered to women in small and medium companies in North Rhine-Westphalia. The design of the virtual learning environment is based on the combination of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), JavaScript

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to set up specific web sites; to identify general software requirements;

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to identify specific software and hardware requirements for teaching, including conversion packages and mouth and eye control devices and text phones;

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to obtain and install additional hardware and software;

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to set up various facilities online, including online working area, discussions forum, consultation forum and notice board;

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to put the modules on the web; to organise training sessions for experts and support staff in a pilot distance learning centre;

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to design certain improvements of a pilot elearning centre, using a feed-back mechanism;

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to identify additional support mechanism for people on training modules ;

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to evaluate the facilities provided by the pilot distance learning centre on the basis on the opinions of the different categories of people who used this centre;

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to set up databases on education and training, employment and disability as a publicly available resource.

The centre will provide a modem online working area consisting of the following facilities: • interactive and hard copy versions of the all training modules, • a consultation forum with experts and special on-line workshops, • appropriate software and hardware to allow access and easy use by different categories of people, including people with disabilities . Some activities of this centre take place within the project EURO H. The centre will be connected with similar centres in the European Union.

5. CONCLUSIONS Results of our studies and projects show that elearning is much more than transferring a curriculum form paper to the Internet; more time and effort is needed for the need analysis and planning processes and for building learning communities

The final elaborated data bases will provide a complete information about: • national and European legislation on equal rights and equal opportunities, including disadvantaged people categories as local, regional, national and European minority, as women or as people with different disabilities, • employment facilities for all above-mentioned categories of people, • ways of computer technology access for all who want to use the e-training learning/qualification modules.

It is recognised also by the EU commission which has organised an e-Iearning conference in Brusselles this year to work at new strategies for e-Iearning projects.

Acknowledgements. This paper was elaborated within the EURO H 2000 Project - ROlOOlBlFfPP 141043fP2&P5, financed by European Union.

A virtual learning community consisting at the moment of some European experts in e-Iearning trainers with experience in teaching disabled people as well as members of organisations of disabled people and last but not least of some disabled students is set up. During the project the community will be extended with other specialists.

6. REFERENCES Busk Kofoed, L., I. Hamburg and D. Beer (1999). A training model for women: new opportunities with new technologies and new forms of work HeI Miinchen. organisation. In: Communication, cooperation, and application design, processes, pp. 568-572. Engert, S., I. Hamburg and 1. Terstriep (2000a). in Supporting continuous learning manufacturing companies by cooperative, web-based learning. In: 4th International Conference on Engineering Design and Automation (EDA 20(0), 2000, Orlando, pp. 633-638. Goshen, KY : Integrated Technology Systems. Engert, S., I. Hamburg and 1. Terstriep (2000b). Telelernen - Lemen fUr und mit InternetTechnologien: das Beispiel FrauTelNet. In: Frauen in der Informationsgesellschaft; Internationale Konferenz im Rahmen der deutsclzen EU-Priisidentsclzaft: Dokumentation der Konferen z vom 17. April J 999 in Diisseldorj, pp. 130-134. Bielefeld. Hamburg, I., B.B. Ionescu and S. Balanica (2000). The role of virtual communities in improving

Starting this year, the CePTIC in Bucharest, Romania and the IAT in Gelsenkirchen, Germany , work at the development of a European Competence Centre of e-Iearning, which will co-ordinate the quality of the e-Iearning activities on the European level particularly in the field of disabled people qualification. Our competence centre will be a professional platform for information, learning and communication facilitating staff of different organisations from the partner countries which would like to improve situation of handicapped people to get information referring to different topics, products, services as well as to exchange experiences within discussion forums, per e-mail or in chat-rooms. It is intended to offer e-training in basic disciplines like mathematics, in Internet and Web and tele-working for people with locomotive disabilities to support their integration into modem European economies.

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the quality of the ODL. In :Optimum Q, 10, pp. 174-180. Bucharest. Kraemer, W., M. Muller (1999). Virtuelle Corporate University Executive Education Architecture und Knowledge Management. In: Electronic Business and Knowledge Management (A.-W. Scheer (Ed» , pp. 491525 . Heidelberg.

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