The Centre for Forest Education and Training (Pusdiklat) entered the world of E-Learning with huge enthusiasm and motivation. “Beyond my expectations” Director Dr. Agus Justianto summarised the results of the E-Learning Discovery Workshop, which was organized in cooperation with FORCLIME.

The workshop, held on 23 and 24 September, was supported by Elke Wemhoff from GIZ E-Academy and two more E-Learning consultants. The basis for the workshop was an assessment analysing technical readiness as well as general conditions for the introduction of E-Learning complementing the training offer. Through discussions with the management, trainers and staff of PUSDIKLAT as well as the Regional Training Centres (BDK) and the Forest Vocational High Schools it became obvious that the demand for using E-Learning is huge and that for upcoming trainings a special focus on Human Resource Development for strengthening Forest Management Units would be suitable as a first E-learning project.

“Think big, start small” was the motto for about 50 workshop participants for developing an E-Learning strategy and identifying a pilot training. In unison it was decided that an E-Learning design seems to be the perfect solution to train the future 41,800 new Forest Management Unit staff, one of the key performance indicators of CFET to be achieved within the next five years. The discussion regarding vision and objectives showed that this pilot project should be followed by further E-Learning development activities.
 
Thus, the workshop objective was also the starting point for building E-Learning competences among the staff. The participants were introduced to different forms of E-Learning delivery, learning management systems and authoring tools to design E-Learning training. Challenges and benefits were analysed as well as the needed processes, workflow and tasks to be able to conduct E-Learning successfully. Furthermore, guests from LAN, the Ministry of Finance (BPKP) and the Provincial Forest Training Centre East Java were present during the workshop and provided their positive experiences with E-Learning as a complementary asset to conventional face-to-face trainings. Participants also realised that E-Learning requires motivation for self-learning, which means trainers also need the capacities to create interactive and interesting E-Learning material, in contrast to ‘conventional’ reading material.

The next step for the implementation of E-Learning in PUSDIKLAT will be a work retreat at the end of October. It will be the start of several activities to train selected trainers and staff of PUSDIKLAT and BDK on how to develop E-Learning materials, compile them to a training course and integrate the courses into a learning management system. These competences will be directly applied to design an E-Learning course for FMU staff – “to make the E-Learning dream become real or, better, digital”.

For further information please contact:
Edy Marbyanto, Strategic Area Manager for Human Capacity Development
Anne-Cathrin Vonarx, Adviser for Human Capacity Development