ECSU Development Learning Center Gives Training
ECSU Development Learning Center (DLC) is providing trainings on capital investment and revenue enhancement planning using blended approach of e-Learning, face-to-face, and woreda net to 213 people in eight different cities across Ethiopia.
E-Learning Advisor with ECSU DLC, Christian Zange, said the capital investment and revenue enhancement planning training was given as part of the government’s urban reform program. He said the cost of the training was fully covered by the German NGO GIZ, formerly known as GTZ. Three staff members from ECSU DLC, Christian Zange, Abebe Kebede and Aleazar Ali, gave a three day face to face training in each of the eight cities including Debre Markos, Nekempte, Gambella, Assosa, Semera, Dessie, Mekele and Adwa.
Zange, who is from Germany, said,
“When I started working in Germany 10 years ago, the Internet was slow and people didn’t see the importance of e-Learning but now e-Learning has become really common. … An individual in Mekele do not need to leave from his work area if he gets training though e-Learning. E-Learning is student centered and self managed.”
Blended approach, a combination of face-to-face approach (two face-to-face sessions held at the beginning and end of the training) and e-Learning and woreda net, is being used to provide the trainings.
The training mainly aimed at helping the participants in preparing capital investment and revenue enhancement plan. Zange said, “We have received the instruments developed by GIZ. The trainees have to be trained in order to use these instruments.”
According to Zange, the participants who are experts working in the city administrations were very much motivated and they are actively participating in the training.
Zange concluded,
“ECSU is building the capacity of civil servants not only in Addis Ababa but also in other regional states.”
Aleazer Ali, Training Coordinator at the ECSU DLC, on his part said,
on average 25 trainees participated in each city, and at the end of the training in June 2013 at least 20 are expected to graduate though the pace of e-Learning is determined by the trainee him/her self."
“We recruited a teacher here at ECSU to follow up the trainees. If they have questions, the teacher would respond,” Aleazer said.He further indicated that exercises are given online. They have to do those exercises and submit it as part of the e-Learning process.
The training on capital investment and revenue enhancement planning will help the city administrations generate more money for different investment activities. The government gave such trainings a priority because the city administrations have to cover their administrative expenses.
Aleazar further noted that e-Learning is taking a huge part in any part of the teaching learning process these days. Aleazar also said with the expansion of broadband Internet connection in the country e-Learning will also be expanded and would soon become more common.
He said ECSU is a pioneer compared to other universities in the area of introducing e-Learning to regions.According to Aleazar, ECSU also gave human resource development courses in Hawassa two years ago.