E-Learning.org

T+D, July, 2003 by Eva Kaplan-Leiserson

As the use of e-learning around the world grows, organizations of all types are getting involved. Last fall, I profiled governments GO TO "E-Learning.gov" (October 2002 T D). This month, not-for-profits.

CARE. Working in more than 60 countries around the world, this international humanitarian organization aims to find lasting solutions to poverty. Its CARE Academy Online, developed by Knowledge Anywhere, provides critical job aids for the organization's employees worldwide. One advantage of the e-learning approach: easy measurement and cost accountability for reporting back to donors.

The Urban League. This not-for-profit helps empower African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream. The league worked with Knowledge Anywhere to augment its employment and training program with Web-based courses that help laid-off workers boost their skills. After the addition of the courses, available to users 24/7, enrollment in the employment and training program rose by 50 percent and job placements increased by 20 percent. Technology for All. Bringing technology to underserved communities is the goal of this not-for-profit, which benefits from the help of e-learning companies SkillSoft and Centra. Sponsor SkillSoft has granted e-learning scholarships to TFA through the SkillSoft E-Learning Foundation, and has also given the not-for-profit complete access to its online library of more than 4000 courses.

Synchronous learning supplier Centra provides TFA with its Web collaboration platform, CentraOne, which enables the not-for-profit to host meetings and training for program administrators at 300 partnering organizations. PBS. The Public Broadcasting Service offers PBS Campus www.pbs.org/campus a free Website listing distance learning courses in colleges and universities across the United States. Each course listed represents a partnership between PBS and the sponsoring school. PBS provides the course materials; the college provides the instructors, registers the students, and awards the credits and degrees.

More than 230,000 students earned credit from PBS distance learning courses in 2002. Since 1981, 6 million students have been awarded credit in PBS courses.