Teachers and tutors supporting learning within a collaborative eLearning environment require specialist training in order to make the transition from face-to-face tutoring to an electronic delivery.

Tutors working in eLearning require an understanding of learning, pace of learning, needs analysis, basic skill needs, group dynamics and equal opportunities.   Within eLearning they also need to know how to restructure a curriculum for delivery through this methodology and need to give consideration to student assessment/evaluation.   Tutors need to know about how to deal with issues of confidentiality, student dependency on the system,  ‘over demanding’ students and issues of copyright in relation to on-line resources etc.

Learn Net Advisors & Research is able to offer a discreet training programme, at a distance, that will prepare educators (or other people working as supervisors, advisors, workplace educators, mentors etc.) not only to work within this new medium but to appropriately facilitate and support personal development.. This is delivered in collaboration with Bournville College of Further Education  (email for  course dates available).

Local educators in Birmingham, UK, tutoring in CMC for the first time, write of their feelings of exposure, vulnerability, difficulties in facilitating learning without the advantages of non-verbal communication, and the difficulties of supporting students through the more psychosocial subjects such as self-awareness at a distance.  Tutors require support in adapting their curriculum into a remote medium, and need to completely rethink and explore teaching styles, whilst fully utilising their previous skills and knowledge.

This is a challenging and rewarding area to work in.

Location of Learning:

Learning through collaborative environments can take place in the students' home, place of work or access centres through the use of computers, telephone lines and modems.  Similarly, the locality of the tutors is irrelevant to the delivery of the programme and less importance can be placed on the tutor working from the organisations workplace.

Collaborative eLearning allows organisational boundaries to be reduced and facilitates the delivery of a seamless service between agencies working in together.