DESIGNING EDUCATION SITUATIONS THAT USE DIGITAL RESOURCES AND ONLINE APPLICATIONS

Even if we have educational software, digital resources, online applications, or a virtual learning platform, learning activities planning is not easier or less accurate. Learning and assessment need to be designed even more closely and better tied to learning objectives, to avoid distractors, to fit on the time available, to maximize the potential of digital support to increase the participation of all students, to complement classroom learning with learning activities at home (flipped classroom). In the context of the “conventional” instructional design, centreed on the calibration of the finalities and methods based on content, theme, audience and available resources, the article presents several models of organising learning originally built to support the design of digital educational games (Quinn, 2005), which can be used to understand how we can transform a didactic activity into an attractive education situation, similar to ludic activities, especially when we can integrate new technologies. We present a selection of three models - mini-scenarios, chained scenarios, conditional scenarios - progressively ordered according to their ability to increase engagement and attractiveness of learning activities

eLearning in Romania: the State of the Art

Las instituciones educativas rumanas, impulsadas por la dinámica socioeconómica y con la ayuda de varios programas de ámbito nacional destinados a promover el acceso a equipamientos TIC y a unos e-contenidos de calidad, empezaron a incluir, hace quince años, las nuevas tecnologías en su programa de desarrollo. Varias iniciativas intentan mantenerse a la altura de las corrientes, acciones y principios del e-learning imperantes en Europa y el mundo, centrándose en la adquisición de equipamientos TIC y en sus usos administrativos, y poniendo énfasis en una adecuada integración del software educativo y en la formación de los recursos humanos

Lessons learned from developing online training for humanitarians

A comprehensive online learning programme with more than 200 courses was built by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies between starting with 2009 and 2015, offering development opportunities to the Red Cross and Red Crescent (RCRC) volunteers and staff to broaden their understanding, to strengthen their organisations, and to be better prepared in providing humanitarian aid. While it is difficult to say to what extent factors such as training, job mentoring, and induction programmes contribute to job performance and to an organisation’s efficiency, it is certain that staff and volunteers willing to undertake courses are more open to transformative and creative approaches, more prepared to tackle with new challenges, more likely to have a stock of knowledge and competencies broader than their own specialisation. Learning and “knowing to learn” are conditions for competitiveness and high performance. Over time, generally speaking, implementation of training as a priority personnel policy proved to have the most significant effects on productivity growth, therefore, efforts towards building a learning culture and delivering quality (online) learning are key for developing organisations, their staff, and the quality of services provided. An online training would make a significant difference in learners’ behaviour if it follows several practical guidelines in development, accompanied by thorough checklists to ensure relevance, consistency, alignment and to assist training programmes’ lifecycle