Continuing education initiatives for the Italian Civil Servants Continuing education initiatives for the Italian Civil Servants the role of eLearning Continuing education to foster the culture of eGovernment and Cooperation

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 2 What is CNIPA?  CNIPA = Centro nazionale per l’informatica nella pubblica amministrazione (National Centre for the Information Systems in the Public Administration)  CNIPA is one of the structures coordinated by the Minister for Reforms and Innovations in the Public Administration together with SSPA, Formez and Innovazione Italia

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 3 CNIPA main fields of activity  Draft the legislation on technological or technology related fields on the behalf of the Reforms and Innovations in the Public Administration  Elaborate technical regulations and guide-lines for the PA  Convey to the PA the annual directive of the Government on ICT and to monitor the implementation  Evaluate the large ICT projects of the PA  Experiment new technologies and analyse their impact on the organization

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 4 The numbers of the eLearning The numbers of the eLearning In the Central Government  The bottom treshold of investments in continuing education in the Public sector is fixed by a National Contract and is 1% of the total personnel costs  The investment in education and training has been stable over the last 2 years and is approximatively the 1% of the cost of personnel  The number of hours per person is increasing but the number of trained public servants is decreasing  The use of eLearning has a very skewed distribution  The Ministry of Economy and the connected Agencies account for the 80% of the investments in eLearning activities

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 5 The numbers of the eLearning The numbers of the eLearning The Local Governments  The Regions investments in continuing education amount to the 0,9% of the total cost of personnel and are concentrated on a small number of people for a long period of time  80% of investment goes to traditional training and only the 3,4% is invested in eLearning activities although some Regions are very active in the field  The Provinces invest the 0,76% of the total cost of personnel  The percentage of eLearning activities is stable around the 4%  The Cities invest the 0,5% of the total cost of personnel  They do not organize ad hoc courses and they buy the participation to standard courses offered by local training institutes  The investment in eLearning is negligible with few notable exceptions for some of the big cities

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 6 The main obstacles to the adoption of the eLearning in the Public Administration Data from the annual report of Assinform - Confindustria I apologize for the captions in Italian but it is an image

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 7 The eLearning in the program of the former Minister of Innovation and Technology  One of the 10 points in the program of the former Minister of Innovation and Technology was the widespread adoption of the Technology Enhanced Learning in the Public Sector  The goal of 30% of the training activities using eLearning in 5 years was much too ambitious  The data we have seen tell a different story. The scarce financial resources associated with that particular point of the program and the international trend did not incourage the development of large eLearning projects

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 8 The eLearning activities of CNIPA  CNIPA has never underestimated the Human Factor in the automation process  Training has always been a priority for CNIPA  eLearning is the new priority  The activities are carried in the typical CNIPA style:  Pilot projects in collaboration with central and local public bodies  Regulation, Guidelines and Vademecum  Dissemination of information  Training of managers and personnel of the training offices on the management of the eLearning projects  The project “Scuola Virtuale della PA” Virtual School of the Public Administration

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 9 The working group for eLearning projects quality  Official working group convened by CNIPA  Experts from  Public Administrations  Universities  Standard bodies  Industry  Associations of professional trainers  The products  Directive  Guidelines  Vademecum

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 10 The directive, the guidelines, the vademecum  The Directive on e-learning Projects in the Public Administration was signed by two Ministers (Public Function and Innovation) in 2004  The CNIPA has produced a set of Guidelines to accompany the Directive  At the same time the CNIPA has published the first edition of the Vademecum. A bulky book with a practical approach, check-lists and examples  The Vademecum is the classical “how to” manual  The second revised edition of the Vademecum has been pubblished last Spring

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 11 The three documents and their targets DIRECTIVE GUIDELINES VADEMECUM Top managers Strategies Training managers Tactics Professional Operativity trainers

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 12 The Ministers’ Directive  The main objective of the Directive was to foster throughout the Public Administration a correct use of the new technologies and methodologies to train and skill up civil servants The main points:  eLearning activities make a relevant contribution towards creating a shared knowledge on specific topics  eLearning can be an accelerating factor in achieving the innovation objectives  The complex nature of eLearning projects may require the outsourcing. This fact should not exonerate P.A. managers and staff from actively participating in the planning, provisioning, monitoring and control stages

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 13 The Ministers’ Directive  The high production costs for materials to be used in high quality eLearning activities make it convenient to increase cooperation among different structures, so that the teaching resources can be reused in a cleaver way  The teaching materials shall be devised in compliance with international standards to guarantee portability in different operational environments

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 14 The Vademecum  How to implement the guidelines on:  Assessment  Pedagogy and methodology  Best practices  Cost structure  Check-lists  Standards  Technological infrastructure  Professional profiles  Accessibility

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 15 Multimedial interactive guide

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 16 The Vademecum 2.0 The Vademecum has been very successful but was getting “old”. The vision was coherent with eLearning 1.0 and not with eLearning 2.0 The new version contains:  Updates on  new technologies and metodologies  professional profiles  the structure of costs associated with a large scale project  New enphasis on  open source software solutions  collaborative activities  accessibility  Greater attention to the organizational aspects The new edition has been presented and distributed on April 17 and is on line on CNIPA web site

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 17 “The Virtual School of the P.A.” The project was financed in 2004 but the money was available for CNIPA at the end of 2005 The main points are:  Training activities for managers senior Civil Servant and trainers  A portal for the P.A. connecting the public eLearning sites  A repository of reusable, platform independent Learning Objects  Co-financing of eLearning projects of central and local P.A. (10 projects have already been selected for co-financing)  Co-financing of master classes for eLearning professionals and managers

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 18 The Repository of Learning Objects  Learning Objects reusable and platform indipendent  SCORM compliant  Application profile SCORM like and appropriate for the Public Administrations  Learning objects:  produced by Cnipa  produced by the Regions and co-financed by Cnipa  produced by Central and Local Administrations and offered to other Administration on a Creative Commons licence

The eLearning in the Italian Public Sector – M. Schaerf 19 For more informations  On CNIPA (in Italian)  On eLearning at CNIPA  To require a copy of the Documentation