Officers fired up to improve computer skills

Citation

(2003), "Officers fired up to improve computer skills", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 35 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2003.03735eab.002

Officers fired up to improve computer skills

Officers fired up to improve computer skills

Fire officers in Mid and West Wales are to be the first in Britain to embark upon a programme to improve their computer skills by studying and qualifying for the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL).

Fire stations have been equipped with a range of information-technology (IT) facilities enabling staff to gain access to the brigade's e-mail network, intranet, system applications and standard office programmes such as word processing, presentations and spreadsheets.

Robert Rees, Mid and West Wales Fire Brigade training manager, said: "We now see IT as an operational facility and therefore the requirement to maximize its use is essential. ECDL will give our officers the skill base to make effective use of the systems they will be using. Gaining the qualification will also help officers to progress up the career ladder, as we view ECDL as a prerequisite for the post of supervisory officer."

As the Mid and West Wales Fire Brigade covers 66 per cent of Wales and employs 1,400 staff, traditional classroom training was not considered possible. ECDL uses special software, enabling officers to study online through the brigade's intranet and self-test modules. In order to maintain control of the programme and monitor staff development, the brigade has achieved the status of ECDL accredited test centre.

Fire officers use computers for duties such as the control and mobilization of fire crews. They use software tools for presentations and trend analysis for arson and fire incidents, and for general administrative tasks.

Meanwhile, NETg has won a contract to provide Barnardo's – a UK charity that works with the most vulnerable children and young people, helping them transform their lives and fulfil their potential – with its online ECDL course in a company-wide IT training programme.

Following a successful pilot programme, Barnardo's will use NETg's ECDL course to train up to 6,000 employees in key IT skills in a drive to improve computer literacy across the organization, reduce the number of queries directed at the IT help desk, and increase productivity all round.

In addition to NETg's e-learning, Barnardo's will provide internal tutor support, chat rooms and workshops to give staff access to a blend of learning methods designed to meet individual learning requirements and to provide staff with maximum support while learning online. It is intended to make ECDL the core competency framework for IT skills at Barnardo's.

"The need to raise competency in key IT skills, to improve efficiency and to ensure that staff are prepared for future system upgrades and new implementations led us to implement the ECDL pilot scheme," commented Lisa Johnson, Barnardo's IT training and account manager. "The course enables staff to work at their own pace and at a time to suit them, which is a huge advantage for those with busy schedules and working remotely. We also recognized that we needed to put mechanisms in place to support learning and to cater for different learning styles, which is why we have adopted a blended approach."

The course was tested by a select number of employees during a seven-month pilot scheme. During the pilot, Barnardo's staff not only had access to the course on the intranet, but were also assigned a tutor to support them throughout the course. In addition, online discussion boards, chat rooms, workshops and learner packs were made available. This blended-learning approach was taken to ensure that staff had all the support they needed to maximize their time spent learning and to reduce feelings of isolation while learning online. The strategy proved successful during the pilot stage, so Barnardo's is offering the same support mechanisms to staff in the organization-wide roll-out.

An added advantage of using various learning techniques is that Barnardo's can cater for the diverse learning needs and styles that are typical of such a large organization. The use of e-learning alongside classroom support and mentoring also allows Barnardo's to deliver ECDL training without having a major impact on resources, and without fully using the trainers' time so they can also focus on other important IT skills.

To help to encourage e-learning, each delegate and his or her line manager is asked to sign a contract which agrees to the employee being allowed time within working hours to learn online. This commits staff to the training and ensures they are comfortable about taking time out from their working schedule to learn online.

The course will also be provided on CD-Rom, to give users, in particular the organization's 200 plus remote workers, extra flexibility in how they learn.