The Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR) yesterday launched its revamped Qatar National e-Learning Portal.
A platform for all government employees to achieve personal growth through a massive list of 2,500 online, asynchronous courses, elearning.ictqatar.qa, is part of an initiative of the telecommunication regulator that goes back to May 2007, officials said.
“This (launch) is a third pilot and is streamlined according to international standards,” ictQatar e-Inclusion manager Reem al-Mansouri told Gulf Times.
“Through the initiative we have been examining the prevailing environment in Qatar. The challenge we have is not in the availability of technology but of adoption,” al-Mansouri pointed out.
The courses, all of them free to government employees, range from business, IT, and human resources to marketing, personal development and management.
“The Qatar National e-Learning Portal offers certified courses that will help our citizens advance their careers. The new portal allows for a more personalised approach to learning and can help employees’ better set goals and track progress,” al-Mansouri said earlier during a presentation.
The reconstructed portal has an individually-designed page for each government ministry and entity, allowing for customised learning to meet the needs of their specific employees.
“Human Resource specialists within each government entity can work with their employees to identify the appropriate courses to meet their development needs, set an achievable timeline to complete the courses and monitor progress against goals. This can be directly linked to an employee’s National Development Plan,” officials suggested.
Interested employees contact their HR representatives who get them an access code allowing them to browse the listings and enrol.
“For our part, we will also be training the human resource specialists at different organisations who will go on to monitor progress of those enrolled,” al-Mansouri said.
The opportunity to learn also comes with a reward as many of the more popular IT and management courses carry the internationally-accredited certification of such organisations as Microsoft, Cisco and PMI.
In 2007, when the programme was first launched, a total of 1,818 courses were taken while the figures surged in 2008 with 1,962 courses completed.
“We know people who take the courses will be impressed by the variety being offered and their high quality. The courses utilize a variety of multimedia platforms to engage the learner,” al-Mansouri reiterated.
The courses, according to her, are sought through an international content provider. They are generally timed, once started, and take about four hours to be completed.
E-learning experts from the UK, Australia and the Qatar Petroleum shared their experiences of adoption afterwards.
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