Online courses are especially valuable for pre-workshop
preparation, or for post-workshop follow-up, but can also be delivered as
standalone courses for those unable to attend face-to-face training.
The Training Station brings together the team which devised,
created and managed the BBC’s online learning platform, iLearn. This gave the
team direct experience of creating more than 150 online modules, translating
them into 15 or more languages and delivering them in a wide variety of
situations to thousands of learners.
Today we use Facebook, blogging platforms and even
short-form messaging such as SMS and Twitter to communicate and educate. However, we find there is still a need for a
dedicated learning platform (often known as a learning management system or
LMS, or virtual learning environment, or VLE) which gives programme managers a
clear oversight of activity and enables professional courses to be quickly
assembled and made available to learners.
We recently developed an online learning platform which
would work in Arabic and Farsi for the US-based organisation, Internews. We
then created brand new courses for working journalists – among them, modules in
journalistic ethics, reporting human rights, and operating safely.
We have built an all-new learning platform for Nigeria in
conjunction with the British Council and are currently developing an online
Masters course in conflict-sensitive journalism.
