Covid-19 has shocked the world and disrupted our lives in the way we learn, work and even socialise, forcing every educational institution to reinvent itself in the way it delivers its learning. In academia social and physical distancing is accepted as the new norm.
But long before the Pandemic, the advancement of technologies and increased internet speed led a general consensus that an in-person classroom is not the only approach to education. Most renowned academic institutions across the world are today depending on ICT to offer online degree and/or career development programmes. Consequently, finding the right partner that can support your current and future online education is key to providing an effective learning solution.
ICDL eLearning Advantages
ICDL eLearning offers students 24/7 access and flexibility. They can select and sail through interactive performance-based ICT courses, enabling them to progress at their own pace and gaining them more time to learn and supplement other courses or extracurricular activities to their learning. A study by Brandon Hall Group states that it typically takes a person 40 to 60 percent less time to learn a particular material via e-learning than in a traditional classroom setting. This is due to a student’s ability to engage in an online course when and where they needed it, without having to deal with the burden of physically attending classes at specific times.
The cost of operating a school and its delivery of education is different for every institution and often decision-makers misconstrue eLearning to be an unnecessary cost burden on their budget. But in fact, traditional classroom learning has become way too expensive due to the increasing cost of human resources, administration, equipment, and facilities. eLearning significantly reduces the direct cost on schools. All learners would need is access to a computer, WIFI and eLearning content.
Schools have spent a lot of time repurposing space and planning movement routes within their facilities, to create a safe learning environment for their students. This may have solved the student flow issue, but what about the learning management? Reinventing school timetable and including all essential programmes is equally important. eLearning provides an ideal platform to provide hybrid learning that supports students’ ability to learn certain subjects on their own.
The use of tablets by students whether they are engaged in remote learning or in the classroom undoubtedly improves their understanding of topics and their independent learning abilities. The tablet serves its purpose during the early years of school education as it is easy to use and requires little or no digital skills. As for the students attending middle and high school education, the tablet becomes very limiting as they get involved in more complex subjects. Hence, they need to build their digital skills to be able to use fully-featured computers, operating system and software. The ICDL LMS with its content offer a range of interactive ICT courses that build students’ confidence to be able to use computers for more complex learning activities.
Acquiring the latest skills in teaching and their subject-matter is the responsibility of every school and teacher. Most teachers think that they do not have the time to spend on training, but through Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes, teachers can further develop their skills to be able to maximise students’ learning benefits. For example, using technology to teach and integrate into teaching has become a must in today’s classroom regardless of subject-matter. With the adaptation of eLearning to the world of CPD, teachers have the flexibility to independently learn on the schedule that best fits their personal and professional lives.
Integrating eLearning as a component into blended learning and education can be a critical step to those teachers responsible for the delivery of inclusive education and conforming with special educational needs frameworks. eLearning offers limitless learning opportunities within a comfortable environment that is dynamic, responsive and motivating. In addition to developing a relationship with technology, students will build greater determination to participate, perform, and retain control over their courses to keep up with classroom pace.
As expected from a product catering to the Arabic market, the ICDL LMS and its content come in Arabic and English, with powerful features, analytical reports and learning interactivity. Branding your eLearning platform with your school logo to create a familiar look and feel is probably essential to gaining acceptance by your students and teachers. Hence, ICDL offers its expertise to handle all your customisation requirements including adding more personalised features as well as developing and hosting your own courses on the ICDL LMS.
Finding the right partner is a vital step toward implementing a successful online learning solution within your school. Your selection of an eLearning partner should not only be based on his diverse content, but on whether or not the eLearning platform being offered can deliver the features you want today and, in the future, and if the provider is capable of extending scalable solution with the support needed for your teachers to seamlessly manage, assign, as well as track all classroom activities and student progress.
The ICDL Learning Management System (LMS) is user-friendly hosting carefully designed eLearning courses, ranging from Office applications to more progressive ICT topics such as Artificial intelligence, Cyber Security, Social Media, Web Editor, ICT in Education, and much more. All ICDL course content are mapped to the official ICDL syllabus. Its content has gone through a rigorous review process to ensure meeting the localisation requirements of the region in terms of culture and language. ICDL meets the national qualification framework and endorsed by renowned universities around the world. All our online courses are approved by the ICDL Foundation to lead learners to ICDL certification.
