Developing e-learning programmes

One OGB experience

The Project* Objective

To improve the speed, quality and effectiveness of the humanitarian community to:•save lives•protect livelihoods•defend the rights of disaster-vulnerable people.*Wording from ECHO contract

The Project*

Result

A critical mass of national humanitarian stakeholders and staffin five diverse disaster-vulnerable countries have improved individualand organisational capacity to mount faster, higher quality responses.

*Wording from ECHO contract

Why e-learning?

• Global reach• Sustainability• Value for money• Innovation• Catering to individual

learning needs

How to evaluate our experience?

Project achievement against plan?•project plan•budget•time schedule?

Project achievement against vision?•“the best pilot ever”• “something we will be proud of”?

The Stumbling Blocks Unrealistic planning parameters:• Time frame of one year• Limited budget (£45k grant)

The innocence of the uninitiated:• “We’ll do e-learning!”

– Type?– Content?– Technical requirements?– Expertise needed?– Processes?

July 2011: Start of project/Scoping

July-October 2011: Extension request Planning & Tender

process

November 2011 – January 2012: Design

phase

January-May 2012: Re-thinking, Re-Design Course Development

May-July 2012: The Moment of Truth Content & Technical review, development

of Beta

July-September 2012: Pilot phase.

September-October 2012: Review of

evaluation data, pilot feedback, score

analysis,

October-November 2012: Editing and

Reviewing final/Gold version of courses

December 2012: Final courses shared with ECB agencies,

follow-up interviews conducted

The Stakeholders Internally • OGB Senior Management• HD technical and project staff• e-learning experts• procurement dept.• legal dept.Externally• ECB peer agencies• design and development consultancy• platform management

Enabling Factors

• Research: studying e-learning examples• Engagement of ECB agencies• Availability of internal resources

(money, staff, e-learning expertise)• Flexibility: space for learning from mistakes• Commitment to a shared vision:

quality over cost or time• Good relationship with the external company• Energy, stamina and perseverance

What the Courses are About • Both courses place the learner into a simulated emergency context and

require them to complete various tasks in an interactive way. • Learners are given realistic challenges and problems to solve, testing their

planning and decision-making skills. • The simulated scenarios are emergencies (e.g. a drought, flooding,

earthquake) in both rural and urban contexts. • The courses take about 4-6 hrs to complete but do not have to be

completed in one sitting: the bookmark facility ensures that you can exit at any time and return to the same place you left off – even if there is a power cut.

• The courses include materials that you can print, as well as links to online resources.

Information, Education and Communication (IEC) in WASH emergenciesThis course is about health and hygiene promotion in a WASH emergency.

It helps the learner practise critical reflection throughout the simulated project, with reference to the context they are working in, the population affected by the crisis and decisions to be made.

Course objectivesHaving completed this course, it is expected that you will be able to:

•Describe the key elements of an IEC intervention in a WASH emergency

•Carry out an analysis of the emergency situation and select appropriate IEC methods and materials for the context

•Plan, implement and monitor an emergency WASH IEC intervention

Technical Project Management (TPM) in WASH emergenciesThis course is about planning, resourcing, and implementing a technical WASH engineering project.

It introduces and familiarises staff with standard project management stages and tools in a creative, practical and innovative way, and covers areas such as logistics processes, risk management, and quality control.

Course objectivesAfter completing this course, you will be able to:

•Describe the key issues of quality, cost and time when planning and implementing humanitarian projects

•Demonstrate the use of critical thinking in technical project management and develop confidence to take decisions in real-life situations

•Identify common project management planning tools and apply them in project planning and implementation.

Feedback from participants“I feel I understand better what my manager is doing, and what he needs from me to be able to manage the projects. For example with the Sandy storm response, I feel I understand better why he is asking me for some information. It was the first time I did an e-learning course. Since then I have done several through LINGOs. I like the medium a lot. It did take me a bit of time to understand how to navigate the courses, but with practice, I found it easier and easier.”

WASH Assistant, Haiti

“I feel I understand better what my manager is doing, and what he needs from me to be able to manage the projects. For example with the Sandy storm response, I feel I understand better why he is asking me for some information. It was the first time I did an e-learning course. Since then I have done several through LINGOs. I like the medium a lot. It did take me a bit of time to understand how to navigate the courses, but with practice, I found it easier and easier.”

WASH Assistant, Haiti

“I have now a very different approach to IEC and information dissemination. I am really appreciating the cultural aspects to consider in a WASH project. I have never thought about this before. So now I can design appropriate communications materials, even for mass media etc. Recently we did a “clean-up” campaign using banners and poetry. We took learning from the training and allowed the community to design the messages themselves. Then we adjusted them to meet national standards and core messages etc. But the messages came from the community first, so they were more appropriate.”

Project Officer, Zimbabwe

“I have now a very different approach to IEC and information dissemination. I am really appreciating the cultural aspects to consider in a WASH project. I have never thought about this before. So now I can design appropriate communications materials, even for mass media etc. Recently we did a “clean-up” campaign using banners and poetry. We took learning from the training and allowed the community to design the messages themselves. Then we adjusted them to meet national standards and core messages etc. But the messages came from the community first, so they were more appropriate.”

Project Officer, Zimbabwe“And the use of a Gantt chart, this is very good, as in my job I am doing several things at the same time, this is very hard to manage. So I have now developed my own Gantt chart for my project here, and I shared it with my team. It has really worked and been effective. It is really assisting me, keeping all of the right things happening at the right time. And now my team has seen it, so now everyone knows what is happening and there is not so much rushing. Now we all know what should happen at what time, and what things happen together.”

WASH Officer, Kenya

“And the use of a Gantt chart, this is very good, as in my job I am doing several things at the same time, this is very hard to manage. So I have now developed my own Gantt chart for my project here, and I shared it with my team. It has really worked and been effective. It is really assisting me, keeping all of the right things happening at the right time. And now my team has seen it, so now everyone knows what is happening and there is not so much rushing. Now we all know what should happen at what time, and what things happen together.”

WASH Officer, Kenya

What we are proud of

• Participation rate globally,across the agencies

• Accurate pitch of Englishlanguage usage

• Glowing feedback fromparticipants

• Quality of M&E mechanisms

What we need to remember • Technical experts are not e-learning

experts• E-learning consultants are not familiar

with the reality of humanitarian work• To access innovative products, people

need help and hand-holding• Planning…

“Poorly planned projects usuallyend up needing more and moreefforts as time goes by andas deadlines approach.”

Further Resources

• Cathy Moore’s blog for nice example:

http://blog.cathy-moore.com/2010/05/elearning-example-branching-scenario/

• On how long it takes to develope-learning:

http://www.chapmanalliance.com/howlong