A learner's experience: "Even if there's a war going on, we can still find a way to learn"
Ms. Najwa Qaisy worked for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Baghdad, Iraq. Recognising that opportunities for learning were limited in war-torn Iraq, Ms. Qaisy enrolled in COL's Writing Effectively programme. Initially daunted by the rigorous course, she was encouraged to continue through email communication with her Canadian tutor.
Ms. Qaisy completed the course during some of the worst days of the social unrest in June 2005. She often had to study without electricity. She hid her English workbook from raiding "death squads" who could burst into her home at any minute. Once she was held at gunpoint for hours while on her way to an Internet café. She also risked cross-fire and literally walked through bullets to get to a computer so she could submit an assignment to her tutor.
When asked why she persisted with her studies in spite of the many dangers, Ms. Qaisy said it comes down to the great value she places on learning.
"We have a saying in our culture, 'It's true that you're knowledgeable, but you can always be better,'" she said. "I was determined to improve my communication skills. My experience shows that even if there's war going on and schools are destroyed, we can still find a way to learn."
The key to her success, Ms. Qaisy explained, is the learner support she received.
"My tutor's support worked like magic. When I was overwhelmed, he encouraged me. He was always there for me. I wouldn't have completed the course without him."
Ms. Qaisy's appreciation of the value of her own experience led her to set up English classes for orphans and displaced children in her community. As the word spread, her class rapidly grew to 55 learners.
"This experience made me realise that one day when I look back at my lifetime achievements, I can proudly point out that I did something good for someone!" she said.
A partner's experience: "No one gets left behind"
In 2000 UNHCR was delivering COL's Writing Effectively course to over 5,000 of its staff around the world. Participants working in Kandahar, Afghanistan, however, were having difficulties. Kandahar used a radio-based email system that was incapable of carrying email attachments. This was a problem because all other participants were sending assignments to and from tutors by attachment. Post was not an option because at best it was exceedingly slow and at worse completely unreliable. It appeared as though the course would not be delivered in Afghanistan.
COL's experience with training in remote areas provided a solution. COL established a buddy system whereby the Afghanistan course participants identified a "buddy" in the closest regional office who had reliable, non-radio based email access. The buddy then became the liaison point between the participant and the tutor and the transmission of assignments and correspondence took place by land via UNHCR's pouch delivery system.
The Afghanistan participants, who so desperately needed the course, were able to successfully complete it. It is often field workers in the most isolated regions that require this course the most. COL's eLearning team recognises this challenge and will think 'outside the box' to ensure that any field staff who wants the course can participate.
Insights: guiding principles and things we've learned
COLeLIO recognises that successful large-scale, technology-enhanced training services rests on several key principles:
- Course writers and designers must be experienced enough to give attention to the nuances of culture, ethnicity, language and gender of an international context.
- Course developers and course deliverers must be attentive to potential environmental considerations on the global scale that might affect learners and learning, such as the Asian Tsunami, SARS pandemic in Asia and the war in Iraq. Courses must be flexible enough to accommodate abrupt changes in a learner's situation.
- A training programme needs to balance the isolation and loneliness of independent learning with human interaction and communal support - even if this comes virtually.
- Course developers need to find a balance between relying on technology for interactivity, while still designing for participants with technology-access challenges.
