Dave Young
07 Mar 2016, 07:28 AM
Chapters 2 › Unit 6: Share Your Story! ☝: Share Your Story! ☝ View instructions Hide instructions

Share Your Story! ☝

Digital Learning at Payserv Zimbabwe

3

At Payserv we have been using an Online Learning System provided by Learning Management Resources in South Africa. LMS have the franchise for a US product called 'Skillsoft'. Skillsoft provides a host of courses ranging from IT technical, IT user (such as MS-Excel) to soft skills. The system is stored on the company server and staff members can access from their work-stations or from home. Feedback from the first year of use was exceptionally good inasmuch as a great deal of training was done and they reported a high level of engagement with the system. It was particularly useful for technical staff to develop their IT skills. The added benefit to customer service staff to learn communication skills was very useful.

BUT....the system needs a champion to encourage the majority of learners. There are some earners who are self-engaged but probably only 10% of the staff as a whole. Without the champion the system can easily fall into disuse.

Now we have a need for our Zambia office to learn about Anti-Money Laundering systems and methodologies and we were excited to find that Skillsoft were able to provide these courses. Without them, we would have had great difficulty sourcing course material.

Personally I have attended several MOOCs in recent years. My first was 'E-Learning and the Digital Space' with Coursera/Edinburgh University. I had expectations that the course would help me to manage and administer Skillsoft, but it turned out to be far different and gave me an insight into the much wider concepts of E-learning. I have tried to encourage others at Payserv to attend MOOCs but so far succeeded only once with a young technologist who found a particular opportunity for himself.

Comments

Ioannis Angelis
about 8 years ago

Dave,
I feel your challenges being like mine. It is great that you seem to find a way to increase your learners engagement. On this topic there will be an interesting discussion on week 3, where I will elaborate during the webinar on an engagement model that I have developed. It would be nice to see you there.
I have taken the Edinburg University course as well and it had a profound impact on the way I see any digital learning initiative today. I pay much more attention and focus to its human attributes rather than its technical ones.
Yannis

Dave Young
about 8 years ago

Hi Yannis - thanks for the feedback and comment. I agree with your comment on the human attributes of digital learning - so much more important than the digital medium itself. I see the digital medium as a vehicle to bring learning to people but people need to learn how to use it effectively. On all my MOOCs to date I have found the discussion forums to be the value add and learners who don't take part in these forums are missing a huge element of the learning. Then there are assignments. If learners don't do the assignments, they lose another element. I remember on 'E-Learning and the Digital Space' we were required to present an 'artefact' on the web. For me this was a huge step into the dark. I had no idea what an 'artefact' was let alone how to prepare one. But I learned and presented my artefact and received such good feedback from my colleagues. It lifted me immensely. On the same course I found myself taking part in a 'voice thread'. At the beginning of the course I didn't know what a voice thread was and then to take it another step further, one night (it was night for me) I joined a 'Google Hangout' for the very first time and 12 of us from around the globe - from California to Washington DC, to London, to Spain, to me in Zimbabwe, to Melbourne Australia and to Beijing - we talked about our experiences for over 90 minutes. Amazing!

I look forward to the webinar on Week 3 and will do my very best to be available.

Dave

Dave Young
about 8 years ago

PS: I'm a bit slow on this course as I am completing another MOOC with the University of California (San Diego) on "Learning How to Learn." It has been valuable.
Dave

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