it@ab Blended Learning Programme Combines Technical Knowledge and Business Skills

2004-06-23. State-of-the-Art Technologies have always been a prerequisite for economical success, but on the other hand it needs more than just technical knowledge to run a prosperous business. The current it@ab programme is designed to put across both technical education and also valuable business skills to the participants from various Southern African countries. The second month of training focuses on the fruitful integration of advanced Internet and e-commerce OSS techniques, with comprehensive management and business insights.

Future business related IT consultants from developing African countries, like their colleagues from all around the world, have to face a challenging set of objectives.

e-Business Applications – Chances and Challenges of Internet Driven Technologies

e-business applications are closely connected to Internet technologies, their possibilities and shortcomings. As for the technical part, Internet security and safe payment methods formed a major part of the it@ab timetable May 2004, completed with the handling of collaborative learning environments.

Security problems with Internet based transmissions are widely discussed topics nowadays. The it@ab participants consequently dealt with safe transmission and encryption methods as well as methods and tools for the detection of security problems in network environments.

The technologies - preferably safe technologies - offered by Internet, open the field for a wide range of business applications that have not been possible so far. One of the modules of the it@ab course consequently addresses Internet and communication technologies as main means to enable e-business applications with a strong focus upon Open Source technologies.

E-business applications thus form a mix of technology driven new ways of generating business and “traditional” skills that make business profitable and fruitful. Customer relationship management skills are amongst these competences that greatly benefit from electronic media, quality management, information retrieval and analysis for lead generation and supporting the business process as a whole. Even Internet law and legal facet of e-business were addressed in a dedicated unit.

Strongly Business Oriented

“Especially the lessons concerning IT-Consultancy, e-Learning and e-Security were very helpful for me to continue with my project of implementing a Learning Management System (LMS) for my home-company Lehlaka Technologies and our customers”, said Frans Nkoe, a participant from South Africa. All participants of this programme have the task to carry out an individual business oriented e-project whilst attending the curriculum in Germany. These e-projects are a vital component of the programme-agreement between the partner-organisations in Southern Africa and InWEnt.

Active, Cooperative, and Guided Learning

The didactic concept of Blended Learning - classes with face-to-face education taking turns to autonomous computer based telelearning - again proved successful.

Active, cooperative and always guided learning sessions as well as the direct implementation of the gained knowledge in the individual e-projects of the African home-organisations, those are certainly some of the strongest points of the it@ab capacity building programme that InWEnt offers for the Southern African countries. “We learn incredibly much in a short time”, reports one of the participants, “and that’s certainly because we always have to be active ourselves.”

Contact:
InWEnt gGmbH / Cologne
Frau Renate Finke
renate.finke@inwent.org

Contact:
21 LearnLine AG / Freiburg
Herr Rainer K. Kasemir
rainer.kasemir@21LL.com