Hi -- I noted Barbara Smith's enquiry about e-learning opportunities for
museum staff and thought I'd comment about our experience in delivering a
variety of formal courses using print and electronic media.

We have been offering distance courses to museum staff since the
mid-eighties, and at present have over 100 museum and heritage professionals
taking a range of courses in distance formats using various combinations of
print, Web site, CD, audio, and threaded discussion software instructional
materials. While we have always had a distance ed component in our program,
the Internet has made a huge difference in the ways in which we are able to
deliver materials, encourage interaction among course participants, and
involve museum professionals from across and beyond North America. It is
great to see such a range of people interacting around common (or diverse)
issues and strategies. Shipping materials so far afield presents some
challenges at times, but the online exchanges are normally pretty
straightforward and enjoyable to facilitate. It is particularly rewarding to
see people working together on projects and assignments and to see them
relating their coursework to practical projects and issues in their
workplaces.

Developing and maintaining distance courses is extremely time consuming,
both for us and for the content specialists that we work with. Every detail
must be carefully thought through before delivery, and all the resource
materials must be incorporated since many museum professionals don't have
access to a full range of print reference materials within their
communities. The other element that presents a challenge is the provision of
on-line help, since technological problems can get in the way of
participation in fairly dramatic ways. We're fortunate to work in an
institution that has the resources for a help-desk, along with a range of
instrucitonal design, development and delivey support. Another perennial
challenge that we face is marketing distance courses to professionals who
have concerns about their ability to undertake (and enjoy) 'e-learning'. For
many, the prospect of undertaking course work on an independent basis,
outside the classroom, and using technologies is somewhat daunting, so we
face a constant challenge in reassuring people that the distance courses are
both effective and engaging. Certainly interest as grown in the past few
years as people become more comfortable with Internet technologies -- but
there are still a lot of people who see distance learning as a last resort!

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