Distance Learning and Training Can Be Low-Key, Low-Tech and Low-Budget

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Distance Learning and Training Can Be Low-Key, Low-Tech and Low-Budget

By Marilyn L. Gross
Managing Editor
The Internet Insider - For Grantseekers & Fundraisers

Don't have digital cameras or satellite connections? Can't download video clips? To do distance learning, you don't really need all that, so don't let your organization's budget or technological limitations stop you.

Your Organization as a User of Distance Learning
Staff or board members, volunteers, clients or others -- whether they're across the world or just across town -- don't require expensive or hard-to-access technology to get knowledge and information. E-mail and Web sites, plus telephone and conference calls, can be surprisingly powerful and effective.

This is not to dismiss the value of quality video conferencing, or any other high-tech approach that allows students and teachers to interact directly, instantly and visually. While never an exact replacement for in-person, face-to-face training, any type of distance learning can meet certain needs. And e-mail or Web-based training has real advantages, including:

Avoiding travel. For rural, regional, national or international organizations, it's less expensive in time and costs of transportation, hotels, and meals. But even for single-city locations with multiple sites, it gives participants a way to work on it from their own work sites or homes.

Time flexibility. Distance learning allows participants to work at their own convenience and pace, accommodating people with varying or unpredictable work schedules.

Overcoming personal and professional constraints. People with disabilities including hearing or visual impairments, parents who work at least in part from home, and others will get more out of resources they can access independently.

Leveling the playing field. Different chapters, offices, and individuals vary in technological sophistication and the capabilities of their equipment. By using common-denominator technology, the same learning opportunities are available to anyone who has some access to a computer, modem, Internet connection, and e-mail account, even if they're borrowing someone else's.

But will they use these things? In terms of cyber-literacy and technical comfort levels, these days even non-techies are learning how to log on, find a Web address, send and receive e-mail. Or we know a child who can show us how. If the content, motivation, and support are there, they'll use them.

Examples of practical applications of low-tech distance learning for nonprofits include the self-paced, usually free, online tutorials, journal articles, e-mail newsletters, Frequently Asked Questions files (FAQs), tip sheets, sample grant proposals, fundraising letters and more. They also include more structured, usually fee-based, e-mail and Web-based courses -- ranging from self-directed continuing education to certificate and even degree-granting programs.

Your Organization as a Provider of Distance Learning
To provide training for your staff or board members, volunteers, clients or others, options also include intranets (private, internal nets that run on your work site network), private Web sites, agency-only listservs (e-mail lists), or bulletin boards. These may be accessible only to those who know their Web addresses, often password-protected.

Resources Available from Marilyn Gross
The Internet Insider - For Grantseekers & Fundraisers A new, free electronic newsletter, e-mailed directly to subscribers at least monthly, featuring little known or hard-to-find Web sites of interest to organizations seeking funding. To subscribe, e-mail mlgross@aol.com with the following as the body of the message: "SUBSCRIBE INTERNET INSIDER".

"The Library" http://www.icu.com/efs/library.htm A free sampling of articles on such topics as proposal writing, the grantseeking process, how to use the Internet for research, and clues to what foundations are really thinking.

Online Courses from Philanthropy News Network and Educational Funding Strategies http://pj.org/pnnu/overview.cfm Course descriptions for six fee-based, e-mail and Web-based, self-paced, non-graded courses in various aspects of grantseeking, proposal writing, and how to use the Internet to learn about fundraising and nonprofit management.

Marilyn L. Gross creates and teaches in-person and distance learning courses in grantsmanship and fundraising, all using the Internet. Contact her by e-mail at mlgross@aol.com, or telephone 914-368-2950.

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