Software Futures and Technikon SA (TSA), South Africa's largest tertiary educational institution. have entered into a joint venture that sees TSA offering the eCourse Internet training course to its more than 71000 students.
eCourse is in itself a ,joint venture company formed by Software Futures and the Internet Resource Centre (IRC). Technikon SA has contracted with eCourse through its Integrated Technology Centre (ITC). ITC director Deon van der Merwe says the Technikon understands the importance of the Internet on business, and accordingly it is offering the course to its students.
An initial step has been to certify the course material in line with the Technikon's standards. This accreditation is important for students, as it gives them assurance of quality education, says Van der Merwe.
"The Internet touches every aspect of today's business world," Van der Merwe adds. "As such we have considered it crucial to offer a course to help them come to terms with the Internet. We could have developed such a course ourselves, but we are committed to collaborating with the private sector, so we have partnered with eCourse to obtain this content. The JV represents an ideal opportunity to leverage the Technikon's existing IT infrastructure with the content from eCourse."
The ITC oversees the Technikon's "virtual campus", and supplies technology assistance for courses on offer. "We have lacked the Internet content to put in our virtual educational engine, but since the Technikon has certified eCourse's material, we can now offer students discounted rates to improve their abilities to function in the business world," Van der Merwe adds. The course is being offered to the Technikon's students, to the broader business community and in the rest of Africa, using the Technikon's channels.
TSA's virtual campus is a server, run by the ITC, that allows all Technikon staff and students to access and query any information pertinent to them, subject to security restrictions. The ITC has modelled five pillars of virtuality by which it administers the Technikon's infrastructure. These are access, training, infrastructure, content and support (via academic staff). The training and content pillars will be supplied by eCourse.
eCourse was developed by Neels Bothma, MD of the Internet Resource Centre (IRC), which focuses on providing training services centred on the Internet. eCourse was created to help businesses maximise the value of the Internet, to help them integrate it into their business, and to help them see where marketing opportunities exist.
The TSA plans to extend the reach of its Internet training by offering the course to other African universities and governments in an effort to increase the number of people able to use the Internet efficiently and effectively.
eCourse consists of 12 modules, the 12th being an exam. The other 11 embrace an introduction to the Net, e-mail for managers, FTP, Usenet, Internet Relay Chat, local and international search engines, Web design, doing business on the Web, managing the Internet, and applying it in one's field of work.
"Our relationship with Technikon SA underscores our commitment to addressing the South African skills shortage, and to provide accredited, business-relevant training through quality channels," says Anne Czerner, director of Software Futures' FutureSchool. "Technikon SA is a dynamic, progressive training organisation and we see the relationship as having benefits beyond this course."
To register for the course, visit http://www.trnsa.ac.za/enlighten
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