Editorial

Citation

Wilson, H.C. (2001), "Editorial", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310daa.001

Editorial

In my role of university lecturer I become involved in the electronic delivery of educational topics. Trying to use electronic systems to enhance the delivery of information in a meaningful manner to a diverse group of learners is full of pitfalls and blind-alleys. Information presenters are too often over-involved in the topic to spare adequate time to ensure that the subject and the chosen electronic delivery method are suited to this form of study. It these types of situations there is often no "best practice". For example, it is frequently not possible to use the same system to deliver a program in mathematics and biology. Each topic has its own unique learning points and information assimilation. This is very true when trying to use the Internet to deliver educational programs on disaster response – it is seldom possible to use the same system for the general public and experienced response personnel. Each group has its own specific learning style and the delivery system has to be tailored to meet those requirements.

There are many examples of electronic training schemes out there on the Web – some good, some, well, not so good. To try to create a system of "best practice" I hope to set up an electronic conference to look at training via the Web. This will be an open forum beginning with some thought-provoking taster papers. If you are involved in this form of teaching and would like to submit a positional paper, then please contact me on h.c.wilson@bradford.ac.uk, showing the subject line as ElectroTeach.

Once I have enough papers these will be posted on a Web site and other contributors will be invited to join in the debate.

Henry C. Wilson