The didactic rigour of an eLearning platform of excellence

What are the technical and methodological features of our eLearning platform that guarantee the didactic rigour of our eLearning courses?

1. PLATFORM TECHNOLOGY
   An e-learning system relies on a computer platform specifically designed to deliver online courses and manage the user community.
   
   
2. REGULATORY REFERENCES
   Worker training on occupational health and safety through the "e-learning" methodology is regulated by the State-Regions Agreement of 21 December 2011. The Agreement defines the criteria and conditions that allow the use of this methodology and indicates for which courses its use is permitted.
   
   
3. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF E-LEARNING
   The Agreement specifies that e-learning uses the computer platform as a tool for the realisation of a dynamic learning pathway that allows the learner to participate in teaching and training activities in a virtual community.
   
   
4. CONTENT DESIGN
   The quality and effectiveness of an e-learning system depends on how the platform, the course and its contents are designed. It is necessary to design a course that is able to communicate clearly and effectively to the user. When necessary, a prior language comprehension check (especially for foreign users) must be provided before they can access the course. In the course, the lecturer must use clear and comprehensible language; the written content presented must be easy to read; in-depth films must make the examples they refer to clearly understandable; in-depth documents must enable the user to augment the basic information provided in the course; the learning assessment tests must present questions designed in such a way as to be easily comprehensible, adequate and inherent to the contents of the lessons and set out in a random manner to ensure that it is impossible to propose the same tests to different users and if the user fails; the duration of the course must meet the legal requirements; the time of use must be measurable in an effective manner, recording this the user takes to view the various components of the course, without applying any "invented" coefficient (e.g. assuming that one hour of e-learning is equivalent to 2 hours of classroom time).
   
   
5. THE E-TUTOR
   The e-learning teaching activity must always be assisted by an e-tutor at the user's disposal in order to guarantee the constant collection of the user's observations, needs and specific requirements by assisting him/her in his/her learning path. The reporting of user activity in electronic format allows the great advantage of statistics and analysis of course progress by the e-tutor and the trainer.
   
   
6. DIDACTIC RIGOUR
   It is of paramount importance that the e-learning system is designed to offer the maximum didactic rigour technically possible. Every didactic component of the course must be seen in full by the user to be taken for granted by the system. There must be self-assessment tests distributed throughout the course. Passing of the in-progress and final tests must only occur with the sufficiency percentage considered necessary for the type of course (at least 80% correct answers) by the user. This system check may in no way be bypassed by the user. Where necessary for certain types of courses, written user exercises must be provided which must be checked by the e-tutor before allowing the user to continue or close the course.
   
   
7. THE TECHNOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE
   It is important that the platform is software stable and relies on IT infrastructures that are adequately structured to withstand user traffic and secure to guarantee the protection of personal data processed. An e-learning system must be stable over time and function even in the event of peaks in the number of users connecting to it.  It is therefore important that the technological infrastructure on which it relies is well-structured and well-supported in server farms that guarantee 24-hour service continuity, suitable back-up and recovery systems, supplementary and alternative connectivity in the event of line failures or traffic peaks, and data management systems that guarantee confidentiality.
   
   
8. LE CONDIZIONI PER L'UTILIZZO DELL'E-LEARNING
   L'azienda che utilizza la modalità e-learning per la formazione dei suoi lavoratori deve assumersi la responsabilità rispetto al fatto che si impegna a:
   - rendere disponibili all'utente le attrezzature idonee e necessarie alla fruizione del corso;
   - vigilare perché questa avvenga in orario di lavoro;
   - vigilare perché solo l'utente iscritto segua il corso.
   
   
9. MONITORING OF TEACHING ACTIVITY
   A properly designed e-learning system allows the possibility for a supervisory body to perform on-line verification activities on each user. The course administrator must have the possibility of checking the user's training status at any time, by accessing the user's 'LOG' data, i.e. the number of times he/she has entered the learning system with date, time and duration of the connection; the courses, learning units and individual parts of the course performed with the data for evaluating the effectiveness of the course performed. The duration of the training must be validated by the course tutor.