The National Autistic Society has been a member of the Consortium for more than 10 years, what do they see as the main benefits of membership?
The National Autistic Society (NAS) is a long standing and valued member of the Charity Learning Consortium, and has been part of the group for the last decade. On a recent webinar, Nicola Tyzack, the charity’s Internal Training Coordinator explained the main benefits that she sees to membership.
Community: strength in collaboration
“Being part of the community is a big thing for us: you get to attend the members’ meetings and the conference and network with other like-minded people from other organisations that do similar things to you.
“Having the community boards online also means that if you encounter an issue that you need some help with you can speak to other people who might have already had a similar problem and found a solution to it.
“Networking and sharing knowledge and information is a really valuable part of being a member. I’ve found it of great benefit to what I do.”
Recognition
“We’ve won several Charity Learning Awards…last year we won Most Effective Use of Moodle for Blended. It was great to be recognised outside of the organisation, to see that what we’re doing – as part of a blended approach to learning – is really recognised, and that we’re doing something right! So we were really grateful for that.”
eLearning and so much more!
“Your membership gives you access to a full suite of online courses that come with your site – from IT to soft skills. But for me, the ability to upload your own courseware onto the site is a really great benefit as well.
“We’ve actually uploaded quite a few of our own courses and having that control is a really good thing for me.
“I am very technically minded, I manage our site from this side, so for me, having the ability to do as much as I want with it or as little as I want with it is a real benefit. It also means I’m improving my Moodle skills all of the time and learning new things.”
Support
“Not only do you get an account manager you also get other people that are there to support you throughout your journey with the Charity Learning Consortium.
“There’s a technical help desk who are there to assist you with any queries around the site or problems that you might have on a technical level. They deliver regular sessions online and at the members meeting there’s some time dedicated to looking at updates… it’s really good to have that sort of access.
“I’m very hands-on with my site, so I like being able to go to the technical people and ask them a question, just to double check that I’m in the right area. I like to find out how to do it myself and it’s really good to just have that sounding board to come back and say ‘yes that’s right’ and off you go and do it yourself! So that support and guidance comes in many forms.”
You can listen to a recording of the webinar on our website or get in touch to find out more about our eLearning, and so much more! Email rhaighton@charitylearning.org or call 08451 707 702