|
 |
About Us
The WEA CGfL is a leader in innovative e-learning for the adult and community sector. |
Our History |
The WEA Community Grid for Learning (CGfL) was set up within the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) as a partnership project in Greater Manchester and has involved a wide range of statutory and voluntary bodies, working together to develop and deliver online learning content. These include libraries, community and disability organisations, black and minority ethnic groups, family centres, social service bodies, regeneration agencies, adult education services and UK Online centres.
The Workers' Educational Association (WEA) is the UK's largest voluntary provider of adult education. Founded in 1903 to support the educational needs of working men and women, the WEA has maintained its commitment to provide access to education and learning for adults from all backgrounds, and in particular those who have previously missed out on education.
|
| What we've achieved |
Launched in 2003 with a team of six e-learning and networking specialists, WEA CGfL has established an online portal - www.learners.org.uk - which offers, 24-hour-a-day access to high quality and compelling interactive courses and a VLE offering our most popular courses with full e-tutor support.
Written and presented in clear and straightforward styles, the courses are attractive to adults with less confidence in their learning abilities. The material is used widely within the WEA and by others both online and in different blended learning contexts.
Our emphasis is on collaboration and aggregation of effort. After a successful 30 month 'proof of concept' period we have found that by working with partners we can provide an effective service, capitalise on existing NLN and other assets and expand opportunities for disadvantaged learners. We can also secure more effective use of digital resources and provide high quality CPD and training in the use of ILT for people working in ACL, in libraries and in the voluntary and community sector.
|
| The Pedagogy |
To be successful e-learning must motivate and arouse the curiosity of learners. This is a tougher task when working with less confident learners than it is with postgraduates. Our online courses are created by our team in partnership with tutors, community professionals, librarians, volunteers and learners. The production and delivery of our courses are guided by 4 principles: listen, reflect, create, engage.
There is an emphasis on interactive fun material, which encourages learners to progress to other learning. Most of the courses are in short modular form and can be undertaken in anywhere between 15 minutes and two hours.
A number of the courses have a strong Skills for Life orientation and are used by WEA tutors in conjunction with traditional face to face courses and with Employer Training Pilot (ETP) courses.
Courses have been designed for the learners web site in a variety of formats to suit different learning and teaching styles. WEA CGfL's e-learning designers are proficient in using a range of e-learning authoring tools including Flash, Dreamweaver, Seminar, Quandary and Webquests. We have trialled Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) such as Claroline and Fronter. Our VLE of choice is Moodle.
|
| The Technology |
All of the CGfL materials on www.learners.org.uk are hosted on our own firewall protected servers, located at the WEA offices in Manchester. These are connected by a 10Mb link to the JANET system via Manchester Computing at the University of Manchester, which has been throughout an important partner in the project. The system operates with a high level of redundancy.
Where possible we have preferred to use open source solutions and meet relevant standards for content creation to facilitate repurposing of materials.
|
|
|
