E-learning for social care consultation | Consultation paper

Overview
Aims of this paper	1
The social care context	2
E-learning in social care	3
Limitations and constraints	4
The strategic context for e-learning	5
Stakeholders and partners	6
Principles and aims	7
Key action areas	8
The kit	8.1
The know-how	8.2
The subject materials	8.3
The technical systems	8.4
The organisational systems	8.5
Action plans	9
Higher education	9.1
Social care workforce	9.2
Research and evaluation	10
Next steps	11
Consultation process	12
Glossary
Acronyms
Acknowledgements
References

8 Key action areas

There are five fundamental elements underpinning the successful delivery of e-learning in any environment, elements which define the action areas in our strategy for social care:

the 'kit' - infrastructure, including hardware and connectivity
the 'know-how' - skills development for both learners and educators, to embed e-learning in learning and teaching
the 'subject materials' - learning content development, including online resources, courses and learning objects
the 'technical systems' - delivery platforms and learning systems such as VLEs, repositories, learning management systems
the 'organisational systems' - the structures, partnerships and resources needed within and between organisations to enable the full exploitation of e-learning's potential.

These elements, however, have not hitherto been addressed in a co-ordinated way from a sector-specific perspective. The challenge we face in devising a sector-wide e-learning strategy is to identify the parts of the sector where there is currently little or no provision in one or all of our e-learning action areas, and to establish the most effective way to encourage such provision.