From policy to practice – Is learning the missing link?

Since the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness , a slew of events, statements and policy discussions have focused on the role of training and learning within the larger context of capacity development . As integral players in the development process, training and learning practitioners continue to encounter enormous obstacles in their attempts to enhance the operational effectiveness and to improve the impact of learning and training programmes, let alone meet the growing demands of measurement and knowledge management. It is time to put the tactics we promote into practice and to train each other in a participatory and experiential environment. From the 7-11, December the ITC-ILO will host the

More video’s to learn

The amount of visual aids is growing in the learning atmosphere. Already two topics were introduced here in this blog:

• Learning and training in an audiovisual world
• The importance of visualization

In addition we would like to point out that more and more ‘lectures’ become available in audiovisual format.  One of the famous examples are the  global TED lectures (ideas worth spreading) . They are more and more visible on the internet. Next to this we would like to share Academic Earth with you. This channel is hosting free video courses from leading universities (Stanford, MIT, …). In fact this nice collection of video’s refers to initiatives of several institutions and universities that already were available on the net for some time.

• Stanford University on iTunes
• Berkely University on iTunes
• Oxford University on iTunes
• Cambridge University on iTunes
• London School of Economics on iTunes

Any other usefull audiovisual contents that can be explored to enrich courses at ITC-ILO?

The Turin Learning Approach

How will you learn at ITC-ILO?

View this document on Scribd

Tools for Learning

In the past years DELTA got numerous requests of what kind of learning tools are available for a range of specific learning outcomes. While we are developing the learning toolkit ComPASS we would like to share already some useful learning tools. Jane Hart made a selection of 25 tools for Learning Professionals, based on a research of what learning professionals use most frequently. Have a look at them and if you want to apply them in your own learning and training context do not hesitate to contact us.

Web2practice: emergent technologies and innovative practice

The participatory web, one of the central themes of the Lifelong E-Learning course at ITC-ILO welcomes the downloadable web2practice guides from JISC. In a way they are related to the Web2.0 in Plain English guides which were blogged in an earlier post. It aims to help you to enhance your working and training practice by understanding the potential of web2.0 tools.

Facilitate F2F learning – TLA

To consolidate or acquire new competences implies both formal and informal learning. These are more efficient if facilitated by trainers able to construct knowledge in a collaborative manner… The Turin Learning Approach defines parameters to guide trainers in their role as facilitators.  In this video, trainers talk about their learning experience in becoming familiar with it: have a look at it and take a glance of the TLA!

Practical use of participatory learning methodologies

After reviewing the statistics of this blog we discovered that blogposts related to facilitation methods are most popular. Among them are posts about ‘world cafe‘, ‘fishbowl‘, ‘open space‘ and ‘peer assist‘.  Last year the LED conference was organized at the Centre (LED = Local economic development) and used in a systematic way a lot of these participatory methodologies.  To illustrate this we integrated  an overview of the methods that were used in the LED conference. In this way you can see how these learning techniques are applied in practice.

UN microblogging. The rise of twitter.

Twitter has been non-stop in the news lately. According to EDUCAUSE we could consider Twitter as an on-line application which is part blog, part social network application and part mobile phone/IM tool. Users update on a regular base their network in 140 charachters on their projects, ideas, experiences, thoughts, …  and it this way Twitter creates a interconnected network of users. People either access it through the internet or through their mobile phone.  Organizations start to pick up twitter as a tool for external communication, public relations and continuous dialogue with their stakeholders. Development organisations use it to promote their mission statement. A series of UN agencies (UNHCR, UNDP, FAO, IAEA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, UNODC, UNESCO, WFP, UN Staff College, UNITAR)  are already involved and other organizations do so too  (World Bank, OECD).  The Web2forDev site identifies microblogging as a useful tool for internal knowledge sharing.

UN e-learning Kampus

UN Staff College initiated a United Nations knowledge campus last week in order to share knowledge and experiences on technology enhanced learning in the different UN agencies. The on-line campus hosts a catalogue of e-learning courses available within the UN system and highlights some interesting e-learning exhibits. This week several discussions will be organised on specific topics including:

- The pedagogical potential of blogging.
- Serious gaming as learning and development.
- Learning in the Web2.0 area. Integrating social software in blended learning programmes.
- Developing a LMS in UN system organizations. Best practices.
- Techniques to deliver real added value in the web2.0 area.

Go to www.unkampus.org and join the discussion !

E-Learning Africa

Last week ITC-ILO participated in the annual E-Learning Africa conference, held in Dakar this year. It is the opportunity to share the latest insights and trends on technology enhanced learning used in projects all over Africa. 1315 participants from 85 different countries ensured a rich input and interesting conversations. DELTA moderated and presented at two sessions, focusing on game-based learning and on designing, developing and managing virtual learning environments.