E-LEARNING IN CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE GLOBE - An Experience in Water Engineering

Based on our wide experience in continuous professional development (CPD) through traditional activities and hands-on experience on several commonly used Learning Management Systems, we have integrated both concepts and developed a simple, yet effective e-learning approach to help professionals in the water field to fill the gap between their sometimes not updated background and the new features that characterize the water field in the present days.We argue that this task can make use of the same approach that is essential to the knowledge discovery process, to which the e-learning process boils down to.In this contribution we present the work performed at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, within the Multidisciplinary Team of Fluid Modelling, on web systems to support technology enhanced learning specifically addressed to professionals in the Water field.Our approach hinges on the joint use of the online as well as the offline characteristics of the e-learning process and puts to work together in a synergic way both traditional and technology-based learning know-how.As a result, a number of distance courses have been produced that are used for Engineering CPD across the globe, since many professionals worldwide, mainly from Spanish speaking countries, have followed our courses.We present the evolution of our system and the results obtained from testing and evaluating the prototype during the last three years.We have identified issues significant to users in order to better manage the system and changes required to adapt our system to organizational processes and context.Feedback received from trainees indicates both the validity of our approach and the feasibility of implementing e-learning materials to contribute to CPD in the water field in particular and in any field in general, since the methodology herein presented can be exported in a straightforward manner.