Self-Paced E-Training in E-Learning for University Teaching Staff

Abstract

The shift towards adopting e-training methods and practices in the workplace to equip staff with soft and hard skills have become an essential component of training in many Higher Education institutions. The aim of this paper is to advocate such a shift in Saudi universities through presenting the preliminary outcomes of a short-scale pilot study conducted by the Deanship of E-learning and Distance Education (DELDE) during August 2014. Basically, the paper introduces the results of a first run of a self-paced e-training program focusing on introducing topics related to e-learning development and instruction. The paper 1) explores the pedagogical motivation for adopting the self-paced learning model, 2) outlines the elements of the developed course, and 3) discusses the results of the first run of the e-training program.