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Success rates amongst it learners 80% higher using new online learning system

The results of initial trials of a new online learning system, Course Manager, designed to help employees improve their IT skills as part of the Skills for Life initiative, have just been published. They reveal 80 per cent higher success rates than previous results with training programmes that use traditional systems.

Course Manager is an online client management and tracking system developed by Nottingham based company atyourpace, part of the UNOCO Group, to help manage learners taking part in LSC funded programmes. The aim of the system is to monitor learners’ progress more effectively and move them through a systematic learning process which continually assesses their needs and allows for progression.  It is suitable for use by the Learning Skills Council, learning providers, employers and other stakeholders to manage LSC funded programmes.  

The new system was trialled as part of a project called IT@work, a collaboration between the Learning Skills Council (LSC), Atyourpace Ltd and Network Learning, another company in the UNOCO Group, which is dedicated to the development of education and skills.

More than 1,200 learners working for 100 different companies, ranging in size from 3 to 10,000 employees, from the both public and private sectors were involved in the trial.

During the trials two qualifications were assessed: Begin IT, a foundation VRQ for those with no previous IT knowledge, and iTQ, an NVQ Level 2 programme for those with some IT experience, both programmes developed by atyourpace.  Using a successful combination of learning techniques and resources such as multimedia tools, online learning and standardised portfolios, learners completed online assessments.

The trials produced excellent overall results.  88 per cent of the students successfully completing the Begin IT course with 94 per cent then going on to pass the next stage - iTQ. 86 per cent of the students who went straight onto the iTQ course also went on to pass it. 

"The high levels of engagement, retention and achievement are due to using traditional principles of assessments combined with widescale use of new technology," said chief executive officer of the UNOCO group, Ted Stanley.   "These include e-portal communication, password protected access to information, and online tracking of the learners’ progression."

"These new learning systems have also been well received by the companies involved in the trials," continued Ted.  "They particularly valued the fact that the training is delivered in the workplace and is contextualised to the company where the learners work."

The results of these trials also support the argument that IT should be included on the Skills for Life agenda, which aims to provide learners with foundation skills and knowledge, currently only in literacy and numeracy, before progressing onto further learning.

Ted Stanley of UNOCO is on the steering group of the ICT Skills for life bulletin and part of the ICT Pathfinder Project which aims to develop and pilot approaches to delivering the ICT Skills for Life curriculum.  UNOCO group companies are actively working with the DFES, KPMG, FE Colleges and private learning providers on a number of initiatives in addition to those in these trails, to develop policies and practices relating to ICT as a Skill for Life.

For more information please contact:

Ruth Gross/Dianne Allen, Gemini PR & Marketing 0115 852 3850
Ted Stanley, UNOCO Group, 0871 433 3363