flexibility in terms of time and place and the potential associated with individualized learning paths, it tends to be more compatible (in comparison to class courses) with the needs and time schedule of those organisations for whom the supply of training and education is not the principle aim.
Within the context of an enterprise, the Open and Distance Learning offers a variety of opportunities.
These can be:
- Training can start at any time
- A high number of people can be training simultaneously
- The material are modular
- The need for absence from work can be avoided
- Training is contextualized
- Can be more efficient in cost terms.
Innovation in training (as in other complex systems) is based on the ability of designer/planners, coordinators, trainers and tutors to design correctly new methodological approaches and to gradually incorporate them within current practice and activity. By adhering to these principles and with this perspective, the training trainers activities undertaken by SCIENTER have attracted and involved a number of interested vocational training centres as well as firms/enterprises and public organisations. In fact SCIENTER has coordinated the Leonardo Da Vinci Multipalio Project, the pilot phase of which has involved the training of more than 150 trainers from training centres, firms and Universities. The ODL pilot course focused on the design/planning, organisation, management, monitoring and evaluation of the Open - Flexible learning training system. Path personalization offered, was assured by the provision of flexible training material supply, organized in modules that were selected according to personal interests and aims.
The SCIENTER learning supply includes short introductory seminars on Open - flexible learning/eLearning and/or training modules. These are both provided using traditional class methodologies or open learning approaches. The topics cover the design/planning, the delivery and the evaluation of training actions and learning resources. Class sessions include the use of different methods and tools for example, a simulation game “Flexibilities”, which allows evaluation of the different dimensions of flexibility of an Open - Flexible Learning system from the perspective of a training centre.