From user training courses and central support to creating local user competence for mentoring colleagues: A preliminary study in Malawi

Learning to use distributed business systems requires expensive and sustained training efforts. An approach to nurture local users to become mentors for colleagues has been developed as an alternative to training courses. A user level plus a mentor level distance learning course were evaluated amongst users of a health information system in Malawi. The user level course was adequate for users with some computer fluency, while IT novices required a mentor present. The mentor level course required the mentors to have higher system competence than most of the relevant users had. An advanced level course between the user and the mentor levels is therefore suggested, in addition to including more practicals and cooperative, reflective components in the mentor course. With such amendments, distance learning courses can replace most face-to-face training courses and training of trainers approaches for implementation of information systems.