Executive Summary
 

This first online course offered by APRTC was designed to improve participants' abilities to "access and take advantage of networked computer resources and to use and understand information as presented by computers." The course was piloted for 1 month from 23 April - 19 May 2001 with two facilitators and 15 participants. Facilitators were based in Bangkok Thailand and participants accessed the course materials and communication tools from Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Of the 15 original participants 3 formally dropped out during the course due to time constraints. Participants were also diverse in terms of their backgrounds although most were industry employees (one was a university professor) working at various levels in their individual companies.

At the end of the course all participants were requested to fill in an online evaluation of the course. Results of participants' responses indicated that:

  • Most of the lessons were rated Excellent to Very Good but it appears that several could be improved or perhaps removed from the course (e.g. online libraries, computer mediated conferencing, gateways)

  • Most aspects of the course were rated highly. Participants found it relevant, readable, attractive and easy to use. Their only concern had to do with the time requirements. 

  • We underestimated the time it would take participants to complete the course. We had estimated about 10 hours but, on average, participants put in almost 14. They felt that it would require approximately 18 hours to do justice to all lessons and exercises.

  • Most suggested that the course workload should be lightened to allow participants time to fully complete all exercises and the course project. There were, however, no suggestions about which lessons to drop.

  • It appears that the distinctions between the various search tools were not well understood and may, in fact, be unimportant. These lessons can perhaps be grouped and considerably shortened.

  • It was recommended that we spend more time introducing the Learning Management System software - Blackboard.

  • Several participants suggested that we build in more structure/guidance and step-by-step instructions particularly at the beginning of the course.

  • The work of the facilitators received high marks. Participants felt them to be knowledgeable, available, clear communicators and skillful in keeping the class motivated.

  • All participants indicated that their colleagues would benefit from participation in such a course and felt that the online format would be appropriate for delivery.