Educating the Educators Online

Advances in Internet and mobile technology along with global access to broadband connectivity has led to a huge increase in the numbers of people studying and learning through distance education. E-learning because of its flexibility provides non-traditional students with an opportunity to incorporate study into their existing lifestyle, irrespective of geographic location or personal time constraints. At the University of Ulster a virtual learning environment (VLE), WebCT, was put in place in 2001 to meet the changing learning needs of students and, provide access to a dedicated area for each module of study. Wide scale implementation of e-learning brings with it a requirement for significant staff development in order to equip the tutors with the requisite skills and expertise to facilitate online tuition. This paper describes a unique e-tutor training program aimed at equipping online tutors with the skills necessary to mentor, facilitate and deliver a high standard of learning online. Analysis and evaluation of feedback from the e-tutor training program provides evidence of the need to implement such a program as a solid foundation for advancing the e-learning agenda.