Singapore, 20 February 2003

Successful facilitators tell us their secrets at the Awards Ceremony

On February 14th, PurpleTrain.com awarded the Best Online Facilitator for IT and Best Online Facilitator for Business award to two deserving recipients. The awards were given out by Dr Wong Tai, Chairman of Informatics Group. We will feature two of them and their comments below.

Ms Sally Lo was the proud recipient of the Best Online Facilitator award for Business courses. Ms Thamilarasi Periasamy received the award for the Best Online Facilitator award for IT as well. When interviewed about her tips for achieving success, they provided some insightful comments that are featured below.

Their common view towards facilitating e-Learning and succeeding at e-Learning

1. What makes a good e-learning student?
When the student prepares their work as according to the facilitator's recommendation. In other words, read all the relevant chapters and be active in chat. They should be active in clearing his/her doubts with the facilitator. In addition, discipline in time management is a must to meet all deadlines.

2. What do you have to say to those who are still hesitant about taking a course totally online?
The more you procrastinate, the more you will be left behind. You must be willing to change according to time. If this method of learning suits your lifestyle presently, it is the best mode of learning.

3. What is the most exciting experience (on e-Learning or education/technology
related matters) that you would like to share with the rest of the world?
A lot of interaction in class (chat). Many students are willing to share their workplace experiences in the chat room to link to study concepts. Some students may not be extroverted in person but tend to be very active in chat rooms.

4. Online facilitation - Your thoughts on online facilitation?
This is indeed something new especially where we came from a "brick & mortar" to 'click & mortar'. We need to assume some areas that are different, we don't really teach but share and facilitate in this mode. A lot of planning & preparation need to go before the 'live' chat in order to make the 'day' objective and the learning outcomes possible.

Hence those facilitators who merely want to earn money will be doing an injustice to the students. Students can see or feel the enthusiasm of the facilitators through the online correspondence. I believe we should not short-change the students by uploading as much info and notes for them to prepare for their exam. My surveys show that when facilitators are enthusiastic, the Pass rate of students go up as well. Frankly, it takes 2 parties to achieve that as well. Students on-line need to participate actively as well.

5. What prompts you to be an online facilitator?
I wanted to try something new as a learning process for myself. I do this in order to contribute to the Company as a whole, improve the system and understand this learning mode. Since I am also a programme leader, I hope to make it as successful as the taught mode.

As seen from the above comments, some pointers are extremely useful for aspiring online facilitators and students who want to do well in e-Learning. So those who want to do well in their e-Learning should pick up on the salient points and move forward!

About PurpleTrain.com

PurpleTrain.com is the e-learning service provider which offers a one-stop service for business and IT education programs, corporate training courses and education-related services.

By combining innovative technology with world-class training content, PurpleTrain.com offers companies and individuals a high value, quality and effective on-line training solution. Over 1000 online courses are available, offering masters, degrees, diplomas and certificates in business and IT programs. Our online learning community now stands at over 67,000 users.

PurpleTrain.com is a 100%-owned venture of Informatics Holdings Limited, a leading training and education provider listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. Informatics Holdings Limited is the only IT-based education provider in Singapore that made the ranking among Forbes Global's 200 Best Small Companies in the world.

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PurpleTrain.com
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