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.