Powered by Moodle, an online learning platform and course management system, the online staff development programmes are built on the premise of providing well-crafted internal and external content to staff.
It serves as a ‘go-to’ source of short learning programmes for staff aimed at promoting personal and professional growth. Upon completion of some of these short learning programmes staff will receive a certificate as well as a digital badge to use on LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
The online staff development programme is available to staff at the Educor head office and its brands, including Damelin, CityVarsity, ICESA, Central Technical College, INTEC College, Lyceum, Damelin Correspondence College, Dermatech, CityVarsity Online and Damelin Online. Each of the brands have a dedicated online staff development training champ who is equipped with the skill on how to register and train staff on how to use the platform when required.
Some of the short learning programmes include How to Hold a Conversation, Time Management, Microsoft Office, Leadership Development, PowerPoint Skills, How to Use Google Scholar to Find a Book, The Introduction to Teaching and Learning and so much more.
A key feature on the platform is the EBSCOhost resource which is an information database that provides premium research information such as e-journals, magazine subscriptions and e-books to assist staff who are studying and staff who want to increase their knowledge.
The information for the online staff development is provided in what is referred to as "Just in Time (JIT) bite-sized snuggable nuggets". This simply means that the information on the platform is short, quick, well researched and ‘to-the-point’ and is easily accessible and understandable for staff.
Online staff development manager Lorraine Rajagopaul said that her team started with the project in December 2016 and by February 2017 the programme was officially launched. “I am extremely passionate about this project. When I think back to when I started my career, there wasn’t a ‘go-to’ platform that we could turn to source information regarding our jobs or basic working skills. We were forced to turn to peers for advice and whatever they had told us, we took as gospel. However, technology has advanced ten-fold and in recent years, it has become all about providing valuable content to strengthen skills and improve personal and professional performance,” she said.
Educor has a dedicated online staff development administrator, Nomcebo Zondi, who is responsible for registering staff on the platform. “The online staff development programme is so easy to sign up for. The staff member has to simply send me an email requesting to register on the platform. I then log them onto the system and generate a username and password and send this information to the staff along with a step-by-step guide on how to use the platform. It’s really easy,” said Nomcebo.
According to the academic advising centre manager, Nthabiseng Monica Dew, she and her team are extremely impressed with the platform which plays an important role in their growth and development as a unit. “We have worked with the online staff development team in order to develop an exclusive AAC tab where staff can access a library of information pertaining to the Academic Advising Department. Our tab features valuable content for our advisors to access whenever they require a refresher on certain policies and procedures, brand information and personal recordings of inductions which serves a key purpose when it comes to training new staff that come on board.
Nthabiseng added, “We have also collaborated with Educor’s brands in order to share information, informative videos and important campus event dates on this platform so that we are able to assist our students with all types of questions they may have. The general content that features on the platform is also extremely helpful, specifically topics such as the Self Confidence and How to Hold a Conversation. The videos and content were informative and helpful, making the learning process really easy to understand.”
With such a great response from management at Educor, staff can only expect many more interesting and exciting additions to the platform. Should you wish to find out more on the online staff development programme, log on to www.educor.co.za.
