IS E-LEARNING FOR ME? EXPERIENCES OF AN INTERN PROGRAM IN A CENTRE FOR EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGYCheryl Brown & Kathy Lewis
University of Cape Town
Our colleagues
E-learning as a profession in SA Lack of •Skills
•Diversity•Interest
Aim of program
Grow Capacity
Amongst previously disadvantaged South Africans and Africans
Build the next generation of e-learning professionals
Challenges Net generation in the workplace Internships and learning process Organisational culture E - learning versus e - working
Net generation in the workplace
Characteristics civic minded with a strong sense of local and
global community. prefer to experience the world at first hand
rather than being told what to like or do. function at speed distinctive sense of entitlement and
narcissistic attitude want a lot of reinforcing feedback and, in a
world of the “instant celebrity”, expect to be admired.
Net generation in South Africa
Characteristics still a work in progress - socio-economic
conditions produce graduates with very different life experiences and exposure to technology
skills shortage enables graduates to negotiate the terms of their employment more than any previous generation
black graduates see themselves as more mobile than white graduates.
While graduates believe they are entrepreneurial, they rate themselves low on having a “free agent disposition”
Organisational culture high performance
organisation people who are
“self-authoring” and use their jobs to take ownership of and create their own work, at whatever level.
Organisational culture requires people to be
self-starters, capable of working independently, able to learn autonomously and figure things out for themselves
Deep-ending” is a norm in this kind of culture
Internships and learning process Apprentice-style
internship Managing learning
and managing performance are inter-related
Independence and creative self-reliance are intrinsic and necessary to culture
Internships as learning process
Experimented with various approaches to reflection public blogs individual journal
writing Wiki performance
management system
E-learning versus E-working
Work challenges adapting to the nature of a workplace working in a team being part of a group what is entailed in having a job responsibility interacting with people working collaboratively managing work pressure:
Outcomes# Age Race After internship
A 34 F B Permanent position as teacher applying Ed Tech
B 24 F I Permanent position in CETC 24 F C Contract position at UCT in related field D 24 M C Contract position at UCT in related fieldE 26 F B New internship in different fieldF 23 F C Perusing work in different fieldG 21 M W Permanent position IT business sector. H 25 F C Left to complete studiesI 23 M B Left to travel J 27 F C Permanent position in CET
Benefits real, live projects training and travel build personal profiles motivate for new activities and infrastructure and
be responsible for their implementation form external connections across the globe that
have remained valuable. hone teaching skills by running workshops ability to understand technical issues CET culture personal “edge”
Lessons learnt a better understanding of interns learning styles formal sharing of aspects of learning facilitation
and supervision external management coaching to work with
interns individually and collectively training in mentoring submission of reports or case studies - another
strategy for reflection informal learning “events”
New Approach “Developing e-learning professionals
in African higher education”
Thank you