How to use the materials

The electronic training materials are programmed in HTML and can be viewed through a standard internet browser (eg Internet Explorer® or Firefox®). The materials are designed so that they can be easily re-purposed for use by E-Guides when they cascade their training within their organisation. Each document can be downloaded in a Microsoft® Word version (see copyright information). All electronic training materials provided on the E-Guides USB memory stick are read-only files to protect them from accidental deletion. If you wish to re-purpose any materials save them as new files in your personal folder (My E-Guides files) on the E-Guides USB memory stick, using the File > Save as commands.

How to access the electronic training materials:

1. Insert your E-Guides USB memory stick into the USB port.
   
   
2. Open My Computer and select the Removable disk drive E-Guides. (The drive letter depends on how your computer is set up, but is commonly drive E:).
   
   
3. Double click on Default.htm.

The start screen will open and from there the materials can be navigated using the inbuilt buttons or the back and forward buttons on the browser bar.

The training materials are divided into four sections

• About the E-Guides training programme : this section describes the structure of the programme, the materials and the use of the NIACE learning platform, Moodle, to support the training.

• E-Guides training programme 2007 – 2008: this section presents the sessions delivered during the training course.

• Content creation: this section includes ‘step-by-step’ guides to using some content creation software and files needed in the content creation exercises.

• Links and resources: this section provides links to useful supporting resources.

The E-Guides training programme materials are divided into three parts:

• E-learning fundamentals
• E-learning tools and resources
• Cascading e-learning and further skills development.

Each part is divided into sessions, and each session is introduced with a task sheet that describes the aims and objectives of the session, the resources required, the time allocated, and the associated tasks. It also lists supporting information – additional resources provided in electronic format only, links to other sections of the materials if appropriate, and links to further online resources.

Storage capacity on the E-Guides USB memory stick

The materials are produced in electronic format and distributed to participants on a 512 MB memory stick, referred to as the E-Guides USB memory stick. The E-Guides USB memory stick has storage capacity to allow E-Guides to save their own materials and completed exercises. E-Guides can use the storage capacity to store documentation of their Continuous Professional Development (CPD) throughout the training programme, additional e-learning resources, and e-learning content they will produce as part of the course.

How to save your completed E-Guides activities on your E-Guides USB memory stick:

1. Insert the E-Guides USB memory stick into the USB port.
   
   
2. Open My Computer and select the Removable disk drive E-Guides. (The drive letter depends on how your computer is set up, but is commonly drive E:).
   
   
3. Browse to the folder “My E-Guides files”.
   
   
4. Store your files in the folder.

For ease of reference, for the convenience of working from hard copy, and to enable easy photocopying, printed copies of a selection of the materials are published in a manual. Consideration has been given to saving paper and some documents are only distributed electronically.