Ana-Paula Correia, Sean Hickey, Traci Lepicki & Alicia Willis
The Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE) has been a key player in transforming education through blended and online learning. CETE’s expertise in learning and training development has enabled it to adapt to evolving workforce demands and technological changes especially as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for flexible online learning experiences.
CETE’s latest initiative, “Go Digital,” aimed to address certain challenges in online education. The program focuses on instructional design, assessment, and delivery in the online environment as it recognized the barriers faced by adult learners, including the lack of digital skills and unfamiliarity with online teaching tools. The solution involved a collection of interactive online modules that cater to various professionals, including learning and development experts, trainers, teachers, and HR professionals. The modules emphasized self-paced learning, leveraging the ubiquity of smartphones and catering to the needs of busy adult learners. The design of the modules also incorporates evidence-based components, including interactive scenarios, multimedia elements, and formative assessments. The modules are developed to align with accessibility guidelines and are created using the Rise 360 platform.
This initiative provided practical implications for designing effective online learning experiences, it served as both instructional content and examples of best practices, offering educators the tools and guidance needed to create engaging and effective online learning environments. The approach emphasizes the importance of not only teaching what to do but also demonstrating how to do it, bridging the gap between theory and practice in online education.