The
Inland Revenue (IR) is implementing an online skills programme across all of
its grades. The courses, which will potentially be taken up by 70,000 members
of staff at various UK locations, are being provided by UK eUniversities
(UKeU). This is the government-backed company specifically set up in 2001 to provide
online learning from UK universities to students and businesses.
“We
see this partnership with UKeU as a key part of our goal to make all of our
staff e-learning enabled within the next few years,” said Lin Hinnigan,
director of learning at the IR. “We firmly believe e-learning skills will help
us to become an even more responsive organisation.”
The
programme will be based on existing student support materials developed for
UKeU’s Learning Environment, created in partnership with Sun Microsystems. The modules
will include ‘What is e-learning?’, ‘Drive your own learning’, and ‘Online
discussion’ – all designed to help staff learn the necessary skills for
studying online.
It
is hoped that following completion of these courses, staff will
have acquired a positive attitude towards e-learning and
should learn quickly and confidently from an e-learning package.
John
Beaumont, chief executive officer at UKeU, described the programme as an
important milestone for UKeU. “Working closely with the IR to understand its
requirements, we can develop a high-quality, bespoke programme to help people
to achieve e-learning skills that can further their careers,” he said. “The
flexibility of online learning has enormous potential for such organisations.”
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Recent online courses set up by UKeU include a BA Enterprise with the
University of Glamorgan, for those wanting to develop their entrepreneurial
skills, and a new foundation degree in hospitality management with the
University of Derby.
The
foundation degree forms part of UKeU’s remit from the Government to widen
access to higher education.
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