I think it would be very nice if we could start organizing special eLearning courses in Armenia. That’s very easy to do with Open Source, with simplest explanations - it’s free. :) So here is description of intensive seminar:

Using Moodle Open Source eLearning
System for local eCourses

Based on example of Armenian Distance Learning Network (www.e-courses.am)

And based on “Moodle E-learning Course Development” book

Dates: 15th
October, 2007

Time: 14.00 – 18.00

Location: CRRC-Armenia, 52
Abovyan Street, 3rd Floor, Room 333, Yerevan

Language: Armenian

Overview:
This intensive seminar aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to the administrative functions of a Moodle eLearnign system. Participants will learn how to adapt the layout of a Moodle site, how to manage users (including authentication, enrolments, course groups and the roles system), back up an entire site and individual courses. In addition, participants will
explore many of the features which impact on the experience of tutors and learners.

Training outline:

The seminar covers the principal areas required to successfully administer the layout, modules, blocks and users on a Moodle system.

• Site layout
• Customising the interface terminology
• Installed theme options
• Module, block and filter options
• Calendar options
• HTML editor options
• Adding and editing user accounts
• Manual and Email authentication
• Manual enrolments
• The roles system
• Site / Course back up

Approach

Under the guidance of the trainer, participants review the principal administrative options of a Moodle site. Wherever possible participants engage in activities to assess the impact of the various settings and options. Activities are designed to be “neutral” so that participants may derive equal benefit from the workshop regardless of their sector e.g. academic, business, charity, government

Who Should Attend?

Individuals responsible for the day to day administration of a Moodle site.
Those who need to understand Moodle from a more strategic perspective.

Moderator
Bio: Mr. A. Poghosyan holds a Master Degree in Electronic Governance from Salford University (UK). Currently he is doing research on Identity Management and Authorization technologies and teaching IT Project Management. For more information check out his blog at this address: http://egov.re4blog.org/?page_id=2.

Registration: If interested, please send your C.V. and a brief letter of interest to crrcnews@crrc.am by October 12, 2007, 5:00 PM. Please note that the seats are limited and only those with advanced statistical analysis skills will be selected to participate in the training. At the end of the training successful participants will receive Certificates.

Albert Poghosyan

Well,
I was bearing this idea already one year. As always I am running for some new ideas all the time so now I am about Project Management which in my version is Panacea for all problems in business.
One of the main targets of this training project is to help development and dissemination of Project Management knowledge within quickly developing sector: IT. This field is very important for any kind of organization and lack of skills in this field affect companies very much. Actually based on my experience and experience of my friends, percentage of projects that failed in Armenia is very high. This fact affect to whole industries which is actually based on project management, such as Information Technologies.
Mainly lack of required skills is cause of this problem. Practical and theoretical knowledge on main areas of project management should be provided to middle and high level managers which hasn’t been done by any University or Institute in Armenia. Additionally there are special issues affecting successful project management in Armenia. First of all it is customer and supplier relationship management which in fact affect project life circle and successful completing of project. Secondly there isn’t strong controlling environment in organizations.
Armenia is targeting himself as developed IT industries production market but without this skill we mainly break all possible and impossible boundaries of projects so far done in Armenia. So even we are getting any outsourcing projects, the companies do not stick with Armenian counterparts. It is because of low level service providing and failed projects. This is very important issue for whole economics. It is affecting every part of export products production and services produced by local companies.

The course will be based on practical examples of problem solving with full theoretical background for better understanding of strategic project management component based on PRINC2 and PMI standards. Additionally it includes full review of Project management tools such as MS Project. Course includes special week long assignment especially targeted for practical usage of MS Project. The teaching strategies of this course are based on following points:

• eLearning: All courses will be copied to eLearning system where all students will have full access for any kind of materials, plus all recommended literature will be provided to students in digital version on web-site. All assignments will be detailed discussed on forums for each topic.
• PM tools: During the course the trainer will introduce students to MS Project software with detailed overview of functionalities of that tool. This will help students to practice scheduling with MS Project and finish assignment. Additionally will be offered to research other pm tools to be much advanced in practical scheduling of IT projects.
• Experience sharing: The most important responsibility of the students will be the presentation of real cases and sharing own experience of problem solving and PM decision making in their organizations.
• Documents: Additionally all students will get templates and forms for practical management of IT projects developed by Project Management Institutes. The Trainer will customize each form and template for some general business cases presented by students.
• Handouts in advance: Everyone will get handouts by registration just to be able to read it in advance.

Please get the announcement here:

http://egov.re4blog.org/publish/IT%20Project%20Management%20Training.pdf

Albert Poghosyan