Introduction

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Using these materials online and offline

This website has been produced by the South African Institute for Distance Education. It is an Open Educational Resource aimed at tutors and trainers in developing countries.

The site has been designed to be used in the following ways:

1. If you have easy access to the Internet, you can work your way through the site online. (See 'How to use this website' below.)

2. If you don't have easy access to the Internet but you do have the use of a computer, you can copy the site onto a CD ROM.

3. You can print the whole site by clicking on the PDF here.

Please see the copyright notice on the About page if you would like to copy or modify the materials.

How to use this website

The above image shows the front page for Unit 1. Each unit has a page like this, that you can access from the left hand navigation panel. This panel is available from every page on the website. From the unit front page, you can click on the underlined links to go to the pages you are interested in.

You can also go to the 'Site Menu' in the left hand panel for a complete list of contents.

What do you need to know before starting?

* We assume that you already know a fair amount about how to teach adults.
* We also assume that you are knowledgeable about your subject area.
* You need to have basic computer literacy skills, such as using the keyboard and the mouse, and finding your way (or 'navigating') through a simple website such as this one.

What can you expect to learn?

Please see the section on Learning outcomes for an overview of what you can expect to learn.

Assessing your own learning

At the end of every unit there are two or more application tasks - they appear under a heading 'Apply this!' These tasks have been designed to help you apply the key principles from that unit in your own particular context. We recommend that you discuss these tasks with your colleagues and work on them collaboratively if possible. This way, you will get the most out of the learning guide.

How the units are designed

Each unit in this guide contains the following stages:

1) A list of outcomes for you to choose from, to help direct your reading and thinking
2) An overview of the key issues related to the topic of the unit, often including an illustrative case study or scenario
3) Reflection activities for you to think more deeply about these issues
4) A section called 'Apply this! in which you are given some tools to help you apply the principles from the unit in your own professional context
5) Some comments from the authors to help you evaluate your own performance in the 'Apply this!' task.

Support for 'newbies' to the Web

If you are new to using the Web for learning and teaching, you will find some helpful videos and suggestions in the Support for tutors section.

s them.

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