The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2005

a “virtual campus” for their diplo- mats and other, home-based staff, as well as local personnel working in the embassies and consulates. Many programs are of the self- instruction type, available on the learning management system — an Internet-based system for dis- tance learning that includes spe- cialized software, the applications in the form of courses and meth- ods for student-faculty interaction — and also often on a CD-Rom. These are courses that officials are required to pass at different stages, covering basic issues such as document security, accounts, and record-keeping for properties and vehicles in embassies. One elegant program introduces Canada in all its diversity to newly-hired local staff. More sophisticated programs cover intercultural sensitivity and a range of diplomatic skills. The Canadians also employ a neat gimmick, using free night-time hours in their 24-hour communication net- work linking the Department of International Affairs to diplomatic missions abroad to download all the updated teaching materials from Ottawa onto embassy servers. That way, users at post need only access the embassy net- work, avoiding the usual Internet delay. The Canadian Institute has developed many of these courses in multi- media formats. They are very time- and resource-inten- sive to produce, but have a long shelf-life and can be re- used. The U.S. Foreign Service Institute is the world’s largest diplomatic academy, with nearly 450 different courses (including 60-plus languages) and an annual enrollment of 40,000 trainees. In 2003, its Distance LearningDivision—encompassing training delivered online via Internet through the FSI Learn- Center or via intranet through FSI Web, correspondence materials mailed in CD or textbook form and even tele-training — accounted for 5.4 percent of FSI’s entire training delivery; by 2004, that number had climbed to 9 percent. And these figures do not include the annual “CyberSecurity Awareness” course, which was completed by 53,000 users worldwide in 2004. (See p. 64.) In surveying the field, one quickly learns that there is no one single model of e-learning, but rather a spectrum of different models. At one end there are the large-scale versions utilized by open universities, using real-time video-conferencing via satellite centers and broadband connections. Sometimes they reach sizable audiences more simply through radio broadcasts. More elaborate versions provide flexibility to suit the time-convenience of the students. In some models courses are cast in self-paced, self- learning modes (with questions built into the text, pop- up screens that furnish replies to frequently asked questions and automatic assessment, in addition to user-friendly pictures and video-clips). More sophisti- cated versions combine text with multimedia, on CD- Roms or online, the latter with or without instructor intervention. Broadly, the progression and cost of e-learning modes are related to the intensity of the instructor’s interaction with students. As this interaction increases, the class size comes down and, in parallel, the expenditure in man- power and resources per student rises. These are all new pedagogical ventures, with great scope for experimenta- tion and learning for the organizations that have taken the plunge. Their evolution will depend, in part, on con- tinuing advances in basic communications technology. Faculty-Led Teaching: The DiploFoundation’s Experience Distance learning with intensive teacher intervention is the hallmark of Internet-based programs developed at F O C U S J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 63 These are all new pedagogical ventures, with considerable scope for experimentation and learning for the organizations that have taken the plunge. Kishan S. Rana joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1960, and served in Hong Kong, Beijing (twice) and Geneva. He specialized in Chinese affairs and, later, eco- nomic diplomacy. He was ambassador to Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Kenya, Mauritius and Germany, retir- ing in 1995. He is professor emeritus at the Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi, a senior fellow at the DiploFoundation where he has taught for six years, and is the author of Inside Diplomacy (Manas Publications, 2000), Bilateral Diplomacy (DiploProjects, 2002) and The 21st Century Ambassador: Plenipotentiary to Chief Executive (Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, 2004).