European
Commission - LEONARDO DA VINCI
Programme
|
"TES – Telework Education System" A Telework Training, Guidance and Information System |
European
Commission - LEONARDO DA VINCI
Programme
PILOT PROJECTS - Contract n. I – 00 – B – F – PP – 1207
The Project "TES – TELEWORK EDUCATION SYSTEM" witnesses participation by a partnership of five countries: Italy, Greece, Ireland, Romania, and Spain, composed of Public Administrations, Labour Agencies, Higher Scholastic Institutions, Universities, Research Centres, and Organizations dedicated to trainers.
The Project, realized in three years (2001 – 2003), has created an innovative model for a Training, Orientation, and Information System for Telework that can guarantee a proper introduction to telework in organisations through meaningful training programs for employees. But in order for this training to be effective and efficient, TES has based its research on the founding assumption that the idea of "telework training" alone is not sufficient, and it is also necessary to talk about "telework education", which poses the educational event as the beginning of a process of acquiring the basic skills necessary both for workers and people preparing to enter the workplace, but also to people in the roles of decision makers and managers in organisations. In this sense the Project sets goals that can entail powerful consequences both in the workplace and on the training and education system.
Telework (or "e-Work") is defined in its modern sense as "an employment methodology that presupposes distance supply of services, asynchronously if possible, using wholly or in part Information and Communications Technologies". In this sense, the teleworker can represent a powerful tool in the evolution of organisations in the production process and labour management. Any organisation (small or large, public or private), and even individuals working in the framework of self-employment, can obtain significant innovations in products and/or process from telework.
But in order for this to take place effectively, one of the aspects that these same organisations must handle is precisely that of training and updating of employees. Knowing how to telework is not a skill simply tied to technical competence (knowing how to use a computer, the Internet, e-mail, etc.), but rather is an organizational and cultural skill. The project aims to offer an innovative response to this need for training, starting from an experience already conducted in Naples, of which in some ways, it represents a natural continuation. The experience referred to here is that of the city of Naples, a TES project partner, from 1998-2000, with the "TELEWORK AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT" Project, financed as part of the ADAPT BIS European Community Initiative. This project, which received numerous recognitions and awards in Italy and in Europe, made it possible to design and create an innovative model for telework for the public administration, and to launch experimentation with telework within the city context.
Services offered by the Network
In order to reach its objectives, TES created an articulated technological infrastructure, distributed in nature, that provides training and information services. This infrastructure is managed by a services centre—called TTC – TES Teleservices Center (located at the "F.GIORNDANI" Inst.—and uses one specific portal (TES Portal), which can be accessed at www.leonardotes.org, to provide the following services:
training services and support for trainers, such as:
- e-learning training courses on telework
- assistance in conceiving, planning, and creating new training modules and courses on telework
- use of experimental telework environments (based on the simulation of the processes)
training services for end-users, such as:
- introductory e-learning courses on telework and its application in various contexts
- supply of support materials and further information
- use of experimental telework environments (based on the simulation of the processes)
information and orientation services on telework aimed at the various targets, and in particular regarding:
- the legal aspects involved with telework
- good practices for telework created in Europe
- training initiatives created
- a general orientation on the world of telework in Europe
The entire TES Training System uses e-learning, and in the TES Teleservices Centre, TES has integrated its own Distance Training Platform and an entire area of the System called " Education and Training" (managed through a specific sub-Web of the same name) has the task of guiding users in their Training Offerings, allow participants to enrol in Courses, provide the training, etc.
At the end of its course, the TES Project created:
a) A network infrastructure able to manage TES as a provider of both the partner Intranet and the users on the Internet.
b) A Distance Training Platform, called e-Learning TES Platform, in line with the principal international standards, and equipped with subsystems for Managements of the Classes, Provision of Courses, Training Supervision, and Communications with Users, all supporting the Training.
c) A Teleservices Centre, called the TES Teleservices Centre, or TTC, that manages TES’s Processing and Communications Infrastructure, its Computer System, the e-learning supply system, the development systems of the information division and the courses, and the e-Learning TES Platform.
d) A Portal – www.leonardotes.org – to supply the Training and Information Services of TES
e) Ten Distance Training Courses in the area of Telework, Project Management, and e-learning. Each Course is complete with materials for use in distance learning, Control Tests, and In-Depth Materials.
f) A Consulting and Support Service for Trainers on introducing Telework Modules/Courses as part of courses of study
g) A broad interactive, informational WEB - inserted in the Portal—on telework training and, in general, on telework, including forums and other methods for comparison on the theme.
TES is basically a system for Telework and e-Learning Training. TES Course Offerings consists of a series of Courses aimed at various types of target audiences. All Courses deal with themes related to telework and e-learning (which incidentally is viewed as one of the main forms of telework.) Because TES is directed principally at trainers, the widest range of training courses offered are directed at this target category, but there is no lack of courses for managers or teleworkers. All TES Courses are based on the use of the TES e-learning platform, and therefore all courses are conducted exclusively with the distance-learning model.
Each Course is organized in a series of one or more Modules, and each Module includes one or more final exams.
The TES Training Management System includes various professionals as points of reference: from the Training Manager to the Course Managers, to the Tutors, to Secretarial Services for management of course participants. TES Course Participants maybe individual citizens who want to gain skills and understanding of telework, or groups of participants from the same organization.
|
|
TES is directed at four types of target audience: - TRAINERS - DECISION MAKERS - MANAGERS - TELEWORKERS Each category includes various types of users |
· Administration of Naples Municipality (Local Public Administration - experienced in more European Project, Project Manager of the project “Telework and Local Development”)
· Administration of Campania Region – Councillorship to professional formation and guidance (Local Public Administration – experienced in problems of education, training and guidance)
· S3 Acta (Roma) (enterprise – experienced in organizations, training and telework - partner in the Project "Telework and Local Development" of Naples Municipality)
· FENICE (teachers professional organization – experienced in education, training and diffusion)
· Istituto Tecnico Industriale “Francesco Giordani” (Napoli) (Superior Education Institute, experienced in education, training and teaching methodology)
· Consorzio HERMES (Napoli) (a pool of about one hundred schools in Naples and its district connected by a computer network).
· ELFO (Engineering Laboratorio di Formazione ed Organizzazione) (Siena)
· AllWeb Solutions (Chalkis) (enterprise – experienced in web services and telework)
· Administration of Dublin Municipality (Local Public Administration)
· Ballymun Job Centre Co-op (Ballymun)
· CTANM (Center for Advanced Technologies – Unit of teaching and research of the Polytehnica University of Bucharest)
· IES “Prota da Auga” (Ribadeo) (Superior Education Institute, experienced in education, training and teaching methodology)
