January 2008 saw the commencement of a pilot project involving SkillCentric's engagement in a contract with the South African Management Development Institute, recently renamed Public Administration Leadership and Management, which is a government department tasked with developing the skills of junior management in government. Sub-contracted by VALOR IT, SkillCentric initiated the pilot project geared towards the online teaching of bid committees.
The course is very important because it has a direct impact on bid committee members making good decisions in government purchasing. The pilot online course was based on the two-day Bid Committee workshop. Shaun Lake from SkillCentric says: “The need for an online approach to training is great; government organisations were stretched to accommodate the demand and needed a way to reach a large student population located in every corner of South Africa.”
The pilot project drew to an impressive conclusion at the end of April 2008, with the tutor expressing his satisfaction at the high standard of work delivered in the final project, and completion rates of over 70%. Key to the success of SkillCentric's e-learning technology is the ease of use and robust nature of the platform, including well-constructed exercises, high-quality tutoring, and the ability to function on a low bandwidth.
An interesting finding from the pilot project was that workshops are only able to offer students group activities due to time constraints, whereas online tutorage allows students to complete exercises individually and gain personal attention from tutors, thereby enhancing the learning experience.
Lake says: “The automated reports sent to management initiated interest, which in turn led to management giving more support to students. The success of the pilot project has resulted in a second phase for the online Bid Committee course, where we anticipate over 2 000 students throughout South Africa will enrol and complete the course by March 2009.”
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