Chapter 9 of the text focuses on real student support concerns in higher education--library, counseling, and help desk.
This made me wonder about learner support outside of the higher ed realm.
In my organization, we have many DE programs on clinical topics. Physicians and nurses get continuing education credit for these activities and must have appropriate paperwork to document their completion of the activity (and passing of the post-test). These folks must submit this documentation at regular intervals to maintain their practice licenses.
Right now the type of learner support my organization provides is fairly basic--we provide the documentation participants need for their licensure and answer any questions they have. So far we don't do enough to provide support outside of "regular business hours" but I can imagine for a provider of a great deal of DE, this would be necessary. Other than that, there are not a lot of support services that we provide now or may need to provide.
What about others who are working in DE outside of higher ed? What type of learner support does your organization provide?
I was wondering about the "emotional support" aspect that was mentioned in our reading. I suppose HR would handle that, but I've had several employees refuse to go to HR. - Kendall
ReplyDeleteHi Dierdre,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the corporate perspective. I can not answer your questions as I work in higher ed but I can tell you my institution (individual campus) does not offer support services during off hours. This is something we have been discussing at my office is how can we provide these services and not take a hit on the budget. As an adult learner I am concerned we are not adult friendly unless the adult is available between the hours of 8 and 5.
Most of our adult students attend courses in the evening and there is a skeleton crew available to answer questions but no counseling or advising services.
You have given me more to think about and see how we could provide these services even if it is only once or twice a week.
Debbie