30/05/2008
Anne Sims - ECDL Test Centre Manager, Westminster Primary Care Trust - United Kingdom"Here at Westminster PCT, we are continuing the ECDL programme which was previously provided centrally for the whole of the NHS through Connecting for Health. That project has ended, however, our organisation has decided to fund the programme internally both for the benefit of staff and the trust alike.
Many different brands of learning materials were evaluated before determining a way forward, with ALISON having the edge over its rivals. Cost was obviously a factor when deciding who to go with when selecting our learning material provider and the fact that ALISON is free at the level we're using it helped when set against other expensive products. The quality of the materials is excellent with subsequent feedback from learners being favourably compared to that of its predecessor. Added to this is the ease of use with no messy programmes and files needing to be downloaded in order to run the learning environment. The materials are easy to use and fun - which is a must to keep learners interested!
Our learners are representative of many different staff roles across the NHS, including clinical and administrative staff. Predominantly, we use the ECDL learning materials and were pleased that a few days before our launch with ALISON the new ECDL syllabus version 4.5 materials were made available to use.
I find the ALISON team very friendly and helpful. Although learners can register themselves on ALISON , the ALISON team helped me by setting up batches of users in advance which saves time prior to running my learning workshop. Having identified a problem during a workshop I contacted the support desk by phone and the problem was quickly resolved.
During an early workshop, a group of staff decided that the male Irish accented voiceover (which can be switched off if preferred), should be called Declan. He will always be Declan to us!"
