Wednesday, May 01, 2002

Employees at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington will be able to access professional training either as online courses or as mix of online and face-to face training thanks to a new initiative between WebU@UNCW and the university's Department of Human Resources.

The new program, announced as part of UNCW's Employee Appreciation Week, brings customized training opportunities to the desktop through easy-to-use Web access provided by WebU@UNCW, an online portal for professional and personal development housed in the Division for Public Service and Continuing Studies and traditional face-to face training through Human Resources.

“This new initiative provides another way to offer specialized instruction to the university's employees," said Liz Grimes, director of staff training and development. "For employees who may not be able to devote time to classroom courses, this provides a greater degree of flexibility and opens new avenues for participation in professional development activities directly on their desktop," she explained.

Human Resources Director Sam Connally added, “Finding the time to attend training classes is a major challenge for many of our employees. Desktop learning offers a high degree of flexibility and enables staff and faculty to participate in professional development activities without ever leaving their offices.”

"WebU@UNCW breaks form with traditional CBT models in that employees interact with instructors via e-mail — anytime, anyplace, " said Woody Sutton, its director. "A unique feature of this collaboration is that employees can customize their training experience by combining face-to-face instruction with online instruction. Online instruction will give them immediate access to training programs, on their terms, while providing managers with a readily accessible just-in-time training model," he explained. "I am pleased that the University has embraced instructor-led, online learning as a new direction for staff development," said Sutton.

Training opportunities have been greatly enhanced by this collaboration believes Dr. Michelle R. Howard-Vital, the division's vice chancellor. “ This type of partnership benefits employees because it increases learning opportunities by the click of a mouse. From desktop applications to certificate programs, employees can customize their training experience, targeting specific skills, ” she said.

Information about the collaborative program will be forwarded to all UNCW employees this summer.

Information about WebU@UNCW, is at the Web site, www.uncwil.edu/dpscs/webu, or call Woody Sutton at 910-962-7074.

Note to media: For more information on this partnership or other online training opportunities, contact Woody Sutton, ‘suttonc@uncw.edu’ or 910-962-7074.