Developments from the Online Learning Team

From the number of staff in the team, to the courses we have designed and developed and even the way that technology has become much more mobile, things certainly have changed in the online learning team in the last few years.

From a team of two we quickly expanded to a team of four, more recently doubling staffing levels to eight learning designers and multimedia and technical developers to keep up with the demand in developing for our online courses, which are increasingly sought after by individuals and organisations alike.

Our suite of courses

From our first IOSH Managing Safely online course we have increased our offering to include:

• IOSH Working Safely
• NEBOSH National General Certificate
• NEBOSH International General Certificate
• 2 NEBOSH Diploma courses: NEBOSH Diploma online course and NEBOSH Diploma distance learning

Not only have these courses been designed and developed for Astutis learners, they are also endorsed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Accidents (RoSPA), who sell our IOSH Managing Safely and both the national and international versions of the NEBOSH General Certificate courses.

Our learners

At the core of everything we do are our learners. Over 2000 e learners have signed up to one of our courses and more than 700 have already passed and received their certificates. Feedback is very positive …

• An excellent experience that I would recommend to my colleagues.
• Good process that allows you to work when it suits within a reasonably flexible timescale.
• It was very user friendly and the information was delivered very clearly.
• Very slick and professional.
• This is the first online course I  have completed. I enjoyed completing the course and there was so much information available. I have learnt a lot and would recommend the course.
• Good - better than other e learning experiences offered via other providers.
• It has changed my opinion of online learning - very good!

So, what are we working on at the moment?

The NEBOSH National Diploma has been designed, developed and released in stages. It is such a huge course that we felt it appropriate to design it this way, enabling the Diploma learners to pace themselves, with regard to when they take their exams. Unit A and B have been released … and the team are currently working on Unit C and D, all due to be completed by August 2014.

The NEBOSH International Diploma is also currently being designed and developed, with Unit IA of the distance version already released and Units IB, IC and ID to be completed by July 2014. The online version has also been started and the plan is to release the course in stages, with Unit IA online due to launch in May 2014 and the course is to be completed by November 2014.

Going mobile

With the changes in mobile technology that dominate discussion of late, as well as developing new courses, we are also working on bringing our IOSH courses right up-to-date. You will shortly be able to access all our online courses on any device, from a computer or laptop to a mobile ‘tablet’.

When these courses were initially developed three years ago, ‘Flash’ was the preferred medium for e learning, however, times and technologies have changed and the mobile devices (tablets) that we see everywhere nowadays don’t generally support Flash, which has fuelled our need to keep pace. Last year our learning management system (LMS or online learning website) provider Absorb LMS launched their award winning, mobile friendly version. Astutis is following hot on Absorb's heels and the mobile friendly (HTML5) version of IOSH Working and Managing Safely should be launched later this year, with the NEBOSH NGC and IGC courses ‘de-flashed’ by the end of the year.

What's next?

The development doesn’t stop there. Already we are thinking about the next step, so watch this space for a suite of environmental courses to boot...not to mention the bespoke courses for our wide range of corporate clients.

Busy and exciting times ahead for the Astutis online learning team!