Presentation Panel
The Challenge of Learning in the Humanitarian Sector
Date Friday, Nov 25 Time – RoomCharlottenburg I
When does the humanitarian sector make time for training? How can the staff in responsible roles be supported and become engaged in their development?
In this session we focus on strategies which cater to the training needs of the staff in the humanitarian sector. What has worked in practice, what has failed? How can we use ICT better? And – perhaps most importantly – how can we design well for learning technologies, widening access, participation and engagement, often on a limited budget?
Shaun Lake
Senior Adviser E-Learning, International Trade Centre, Switzerland
Shaun Lake started in the training business as a training officer in 1989. Early in his career he began experimenting with different media such as video to enhance the learning experience. It soon became clear that the Internet could provide a new avenue of delivery. It made sense to move from video and workbooks to something that resembled this on a learning management system.
He formed a company in 2000 that offered online diplomas and courses for the logistics industry. This opened up opportunities for young people to access high quality accredited education from their homes.
He then took up the challenge to launch the SME Trade Academy at the International Trade Centre in Geneva. The ITC is a multilateral agency which has a joint mandate with the World Trade Organization and the United Nations and it focuses on helping small businesses in developing countries to participate in global trade. The Academy currently has more than 120 courses and supports around 150 000 enrolments per year.
Links
Lan Tan
Communications and Membership Lead, Fabo Learning Community / hosted by DanChurchAid
Passionate about the intersection between technology for impact and learning, Lan is currently the Communications and Membership Lead at Fabo Learning Lab. She works with capacity strengthening of member organisations of the Fabo Learning Community, a global network of NGOs. Her areas of responsibility include communications, outreach, and member engagement and mobilisation. Using learning technology as a platform for change, Fabo Learning Lab creates opportunities for NGOs to leverage digital learning tools to support their programmatic work.
Lan has an academic background in Social Anthropology, Political Studies and Communications for Development, and has worked as an advisor and communicator for almost two decades. Her professional experience spans from the corporate world to the UN, and more recently the NGO sector.
Cibelle Avelino
MOOC Production Coordinator, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
Cibelle has a background in audiovisual, with several years developing instructional video content for the online university course providers Edx and Coursera. She combines learning strategies with multimedia options and works at the intersection of organizations, teachers, learners and video producers.
She's currently coordinating a Mooc (Massive Online Open Course) which is the result of a partnership between both Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH Zurich and EPFL) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to develop innovative solutions for a greater impact of humanitarian action called Engineering Humanitarian Action (EHA).
This Mooc is being developed with the aim of helping humanitarian organizations to equip their workforce with a holistic understanding of ICT. Acquiring these skills will allow humanitarians to adapt to new needs, better assess risks and opportunities and to make informed decisions.
Moderator
Melissa Kane
Senior Associate Director of Online Program Development, Brown University, United States of America
Melissa Kane is the senior associate director of online program development in the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning at Brown University. She provides strategic vision to the creation of online graduate degree programs and leads a cross-functional team in the development of priority online initiatives.
Under Melissa’s guidance, her team is the driver for course development of Brown’s first online Master of Public Health program for The School of Public Health. In her five years at Brown University, Melissa has held positions of increasing responsibility including lead instructional designer and associate director of learning design. She has designed and taught undergraduate and graduate courses at Johnson & Wales University and Brandeis University and has been the recipient of a university teaching award at Brandeis.
Most recently, she teaches Principles of Learning Experience Design (online) at Brandeis Graduate Professional Studies (GPS). Melissa provides learning experience design consultations and speaking engagements in both the public and private sectors of education and learning & development across the United States. She received her Ed.D. from Northeastern University, her M.S.Ed. from State University at New York in Oswego, and her B.A. from Colby-Sawyer College.