Communications of the ACM
Department of Energy Creates Online-Learning Platform for Technical Training
NTER is a Web-based system that can be used to build virtual three-dimensional models for architecture, engineering, and medical students.
Credit: NTER Learning
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has unveiled the National Training and Education Resource (NTER), an open source online learning platform to facilitate technical training.
NTER is a Web-based system that can be used to build virtual three-dimensional models for architecture, engineering, and medical students. The platform already has about 1,000 users. The Illinois Green Economy Network, which includes community colleges, has received a $19 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to develop 193 courses using NTER by 2014, as part of 33 new degree and certificate online-hybrid programs.
DOE's Michelle Fox says the open source and interactive nature of NTER will aid the effort to train a qualified workforce for future energy jobs. "There is a need for us to advance quickly on the way we're training and educating," she says. "We need to incorporate advanced learning techniques and take advantage of online learning without it just being groan-worthy PowerPoints."
SRI International developed the platform, and now plans to add an e-commerce option and support for use on smartphones.
From Chronicle of Higher Education
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