According to Paddy Morgan, Manager at the FAS Cabra Training Centre, 'the face of training services has changed dramatically during the life of the project. Other large multi-national companies are now seeking training service using the model. Cabra Training Centre is swamped with applications for training in Mechatronics.
'The results of this project point to the need for investment in additional resources and instructor training to enable the mainstreaming of the project results. It also calls for closer integration of Services to Business and Training Services in responding to the needs of indigenous industries and companies attracted to set up in Ireland. It is now believed that the MoFIT can be used in a wide variety of situations to deliver flexible and economical training services across a range of learning domains. For example, running parallel to the MoFIT project, another version of the model was used to deliver training in a cross border situation to participants in an enterprise centre in Belfast. This project received favourable comments from the external evaluator employed by Belfast City Council and proved the transferability of the model to training for the Software Localisation Industry.'
The success of the MoFIT project is now attracting the attention of other managers in FAS. The project received some support from the Director of Training Centres Dublin, the Director of Training Support Services, the Director of Apprenticeship Services and the Assistant Director General level in the organisation. The originator of the project has now been encouraged to disseminate the success and the method throughout the Training Services, Services to Business and Community Services Divisions of the organisation. A Community of Practice for Managers has been set up to enable the exploration of what ICTs can do to shape the future of training service provision across the organisation. A similar Community of Practice has been set up for instructors and Curriculum Officers who are interested in using technology-based training in the delivery of their courses. Managers who wish to implement the lessons of MoFIT must be given time, space and resources to change the culture in their respective settings and gradually implement the changes necessary for success.
As Paddy Morgan has pointed out, 'as a matter of urgency, FAS senior management needs to recognise that a new, proven paradigm of learning has arrived. Active and ongoing support must be given to those managers who undertake the implementation of the new rich environment for active learning. It must be integrated into the provision of services not only for industry but in apprenticeship and in community settings to provide "Access for All" to modern, flexible, on demand training resources.'
Michael Mooney who led the MoFIT project at FAS Cabra also suggests they have learned important lessons about innovation. 'Innovation can't be generated centrally. e-Learning practice is still immature and those leading the changes need flexibility to innovate. Content needs to be developed by well resourced dispersed units responding to real local demand. We also need to demonstrate that added value can be gained when resources are shared; real value will be demonstrated by what is shared and re-used nationally and through access to a common database of learning objects. There is a pull to manage and control resource development at a central level. The lesson from MoFIT is that the principle should be to: - set the strategy of e-learning at a central strategic level
- have centralised development of quality standards
- encourage and enable the local development of resources
- enable the facility to share resources, and
- develop communities of practice.
...continue to transferable lessons
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