What is e-learning and how can it be used by NGOs and other organizations

This document has been prepared for Child Protection Hub for South East Europe, 2016.

E-learning is defined as “the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological process and resources.”1 On a more simple level, it is electronic learning, or the achievement of learning through computers and mobile devices, for a part of, or for the full course. This can include education that is part of a college course or as a stand along module that can be either free, or paid and can at times result in a certifiable degree in the course.

There are many benefits to e-learning. It can be cost effective by reducing physical distances between the student and the place of learning. It also saves costs by catering to a larger number of students than a normal class, allowing for reduced prices for the courses. It also allows student to study from anywhere in the world as long as they have an Internet connection or access to a computer or mobile device. Finally, they also allow for courses to be developed in real-time in response to certain developments or crises and updated as needed. They are also accessible to NGOs and other groups around the world immediately.

NGOs and other organization can utilize e-learning platforms to provide a standard training and education program to all is members and volunteers around the world, bringing them up to date on all major developments and standard practices. This can be done with low cost, in a non-time consuming program and easily accessible around the world.

There are two types of e-learning, asynchronous and synchronous. This basically means that a course might be either self-paced where a student can study when they want to complete the course over the duration and pace that they prefer, or that the student has to follow a pre-arranged schedule of classes and online material with a real-time instructor in order to complete the course.

There are e-learning courses geared towards many different topics. There are free online courses that can be found on many websites covering many different topics. edX.org offers a large variety of courses from many distinguished universities around the world, including Oxford, Columbia and Yale. These courses can be accessed from the archives and taken at your own pace, or you can attend a course with a real-time instructor with the potential to earn a degree certificate if you complete the course with satisfactory grades. The courses on offer cover many topics, such as economics, computer science and programming, philosophy, philanthropy and courses related to the enforcement of positive behavior of children.

Coursera is another e-learning website that offers university level courses that can be completed online with the ability to achieve a certificate of completion. Additionally, they also offer courses in different languages, or courses with subtitles. This makes their courses more widely accessible.

1 Robinson, Rhonda; Molenda, Michael; Rezabek, Landra. "Facilitating Learning"(PDF). Association for Educational Communications and Technology. Retrieved18 March 2016.

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There are also e-learning sites dedicated to NGOs, such as the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, which is focused on providing resources that can help members of NGOs develop their organizations and increase their capacity and is “dedicated to educating and training current and future generations of humanitarian leaders.” Their website offers videos, podcasts, workshops and e-learning material free of charge for those interested.

There are also collaborative projects, such as The Sphere Project, which is a collaboration of many different NGOs that includes Care and Save The Children. This project aims to collect the best practices of many NGOs working on humanitarian issues, bringing together what they have learned through their extensive experience, and to make that knowledge accessible to other groups and NGOs looking to learn from their experience.

There are some local government e-learning platforms, such as ngolearning.com.au, established by the government of New South Wales to provide training for NGOs working with “children, young people, families and communities.” The website offers resources, podcasts ad online classrooms that help those who want to learn more about working with certain groups of people.

Another free e-learning site is hrea.org, which is an NGO that provides learning material related to human rights. Their course offering include a section on children’s rights that has courses about the Rights of the Child, Children in War, Child Participation and Education in Emergencies, among others. Their courses are available for a fee.

NGOs and other organizations that want to utilize the convenience of e-learning platforms but cannot find a specific course that they want to use for their members, can create their own courses. Eliademy and Weejeelearning, for example, allow for the creation of online courses through an easy to use and intuitive platform that allows for the assigning of grades and quizzes, awarding completion certificates, online chats with students, and you can even sell your course online. This kind of flexibility in creating, finding, using and distributing learning materials, makes e-learning platforms a go-to solution for many groups and organization.