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Following is a question by the Hon Paul Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Miss Denise Yue, in the Legislative Council today (June 9):
Question:
In reply to my question on the estimates of expenditure of this year, the Government indicated that the expenditure for all e-learning programmes (including Internet-related training) in 2009-2010 was about $3 million. It has been learnt that the sum was mainly spent on the Cyber Learning Centre Plus, a web-based self-learning portal for civil servants. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the resources allocated by the Government for providing e-learning programmes for civil servants in the past five years, as well as a tabulation, of the name, content, number of persons enrolled, number of persons who completed the programme, number of persons who were awarded the certificate of attendance and number of view rates in respect of each of the programmes organised;
(b) which ranks and grades of civil servants are required to enrol in e-learning programmes, and the number of civil servants involved; whether any user target has been set for e-learning programmes, so as to ensure that a certain number of civil servants will receive training; and
(c) apart from the aforesaid programmes, what other programmes on Internet technology application are provided by the Government for civil servants, the resources involved and how it assesses the cost effectiveness of such resources?
Reply:
President,
For part (a) of the Question, the Civil Service Bureau has allocated an average of about $3 million annually in the past five years to the Civil Service Training and Development Institute to purchase and develop e-learning resources, and to manage and update the e-learning platform "Cyber Learning Centre Plus" (CLC Plus) for the purpose of promoting continuous learning among civil servants. The wide variety of learning resources cover web courses, articles, video clips, library collection information, learning tips, e-books and publications, guidelines and best practices as well as course reference materials.
On the CLC Plus platform, the above learning resources are divided into 14 categories, amounting to some 1,900 items and covering various subjects. A brief description of the content of each category is set out below:
Learning
Resource
Category Content
-------- -------
English Articles on English writing
Corner skills, grammar, pronunciation,
and web courses and reference
materials.
Chinese Resources on Chinese writing
Language skills and Putonghua, which
Corner include web courses, reference
tools, templates of official
writing.
National Latest updates on Mainland
Studies development, with articles and
information on the political
system, economic development,
legal system and civil service
system.
Basic Law Information about the Basic Law,
promotional activities and
self-assessment. Major topics
in the Basic Law are captured in
the Basic Law Modular Web
Course.
Legal An overview of various
Corner provisions of laws, ordinances
and conventions relating to
work, e.g.United Nations
Convention and Disability
Discrimination Ordinance.
IT Zone Tips, guidelines and references
on software usage and
application, and web courses on
information technology
security and Internet
application.
Induction Articles and video clips on
Resources guidelines on code of conduct,
introduction to government
structure and practices, as
well as references and links to
the Basic Law, information
technology, green management
and occupational safety.
Management Articles, web courses and video
clips to enable civil servants
to address communication and
management issues in daily
work. Other topics include
project management, resource
management and knowledge
management.
Human Articles on principles,
Resource guidelines and best practices
Management and information on human
resource management.
Quality Learning resources to
Service facilitate the promotion of
quality service and a
people-based service culture in
the civil service. Topics
include customer service, work
improvement, human resource
management and development, the
Civil Service Outstanding
Service Award Scheme,
performance pledges, public
engagement.
Leaders' Articles and video clips on
Corner interviews and seminars on
various topics for directorate
officers, e.g. leadership
skills, public policy, change
management and communication
skills.
Work-life Information on work-life
Balance balance, such as improving the
quality of life, enhancing work
efficiency, relieving stress,
as well as activities to keep
one's body and mind in good
shape.
Books and Information on books and
Media journals available in the
Learning Resource Centre of the
Civil Service Training and
Development Institute, book
summaries, links to magazines
and news channels.
Departmental Learning resources supplied
Resources by other departments
(e.g. Civil Aviation
Department, Customs and
Excise Department, Labour and
Welfare Bureau) for viewing by
officers in the department
concerned and/or general
users of CLC Plus.
The majority of the learning resources on the CLC Plus platform are job-related reference materials (e.g. guidelines, best practices, articles, learning tips) aimed at facilitating civil servants' continuous work improvement. Web courses account for a relatively small proportion among the various types of resources. The web courses are normally divided into different modules. Users would select the most relevant modules that suit their needs. As the objective of e-learning is to provide timely and practical knowledge or skills, we measure the e-learning utilisation by the number of hits rather than course completion. The hits of learning resources in the past five years are tabulated below:
Year Hits of learning resources
---- --------------------------
2005 534,600
2006 949,679
2007 950,000
2008 987,500
2009 1,100,000
For part (b) of the question, all civil servants can access the learning resources on the CLC Plus platform for continuous learning anytime anywhere. A civil servant is not required to enrol in any e-learning programme. As mentioned in paragraph 3 above, the CLC Plus platform mainly offers information and quick tips for the users' timely reference according to their specific needs. As such, no mandatory user targets are set for e-learning.
For part (c) of the question, the Civil Service Training and Development Institute of the Civil Service Bureau provides courses on Internet technology application through contractors of the PC-related Training Services Contract to cater for various training needs. Courses include "Introduction to the Internet", "Workshop of Effective Use on Internet", "Enjoying Free Internet Services for Communication and Storage" and "Introduction to Internet Security", etc. Some 5,800 civil servants attended around 350 courses on Internet technology application organised in 2009, costing about $1 million, which meant that the average cost of each participant was about $170.
To ensure the effective use of resources, we have defined the quality requirements of the courses in the contract. A course will only be considered up to standard when 80% of the trainees rate its overall effectiveness as "Outstanding" or "Very Effective" (i.e. the top two rankings on a five-point scale). All trainees are invited to evaluate the courses on their scope and coverage, suitability and job applicability. In 2009, about 90% of the trainees attending courses on Internet technology application rated their overall effectiveness as "Outstanding" or "Very Effective".
Ends/Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:30
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