Civil Engineering January/February 2021 | Vol 29 No 1

18 January/February 2021 Civil Engineering I nternat i onal While e-learning and online activities were already becoming popular before the worldwide lockdowns, this became an imperative for all institutions of learning. Teaching has now become either an on- line or blended learning experience, with learners engaging in both online as well as physical lessons at rotating intervals during the week. Likewise, professional development experienced a major change. The regular CPD training events, lectures, and semi- nars which all professionals were required to attend for ECSA registration purposes came to a sudden halt. These events had already enjoyed declining popularity prior to the lockdown, owing to economic pres- sures and increasing demands on those professionals in practice to deliver more in shorter time periods. Costs have also contributed to reduced participation in physical events. Online activities have accordingly flourished over the past year in response to the need to interact with other people safely and to continue to build skills, experience, and knowledge. Business is now conducted remotely – employees work from home, and meetings are held via online platforms such as Zoom, MS Teams or Webex. These same platforms have been used to deliver do-it-yourself lectures, courses, and training, with varying results. However, live online events have their downsides. They are often fraught with problems of poor internet bandwidth, poor sound quality, poor video quality and an experience where learners are often not able to properly engage with those presenting. YouTube has become a vast resource where you can find a video explaining absolutely anything you might wish for; however, this is typically pre- sented by someone trying to become the overnight sensation that will bring in mar- keting revenue, not a professional expert. It has become apparent that fully- fledged online learning tools are required to properly manage skills development and learning in a structured manner. Properly prepared courses that are converted to on-demand, online learning, supported by platforms that provide total control over the delivery and manage- ment of the learning experience are fast becoming the gold standard for learning. This type of platform provides excellent support for all manner of devices, from smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers, to smart televisions. The learning experience can be care- fully tailored to focus on the individual who is learning a new skill and to permit the person to go over the material at their own pace, to properly understand the principles, theory and practice being taught. The platform should also be able to verify and check that the learner has absorbed the material and understood the content thereof through online quiz tools. These tools can offer any type of response from automated immediate marking through to submission of complex pro- jects, presentations and essays that are to be marked and reviewed offline by one or more markers and moderators. Carefully curated courses that provide both engaging presentations, videos, and reading material are far more effective at imparting knowledge and skills than a swift search of YouTube. The impact of these types of courses on the transfer of skills and knowledge is as good as or even better than traditional in-person physical courses. ICE-SA’S EXPERIENCE For several years, ICE-SA has been working towards offering quality online courses on various subjects, especially around contractual relationships and disputes in the construction industry. These subjects are not dealt with in-depth at university, and young practitioners are expected to “pick up the concepts by doing” – an approach that may have been relevant 30 years ago when most aspirant engineers were beneficiaries of bursaries from the many established and large companies that operated in the industry. Today’s landscape, however, is far bleaker for young engineers, and they have to find E-learning – the way of the future The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted every aspect of our lives, and education has been one of the hardest hit sectors. During the past year, we have seen immense pressure on our academics who have been forced to instantly change their mode of learning from interactive classrooms to online lectures, presentations, and videos.