A VIRTUAL CURRICULUM TO TRAIN NEW TECHNICAL SPECIALISTS – CASE STUDY FOCUSED ON THE BRIC

This article addresses the new trends of the use of technology in education and the fastest growth of distance learning as an important strategy to expand quality education reach to remote locations especially for the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries. The basic concepts and trends of distance learning are presented throughout a case study where a virtual curriculum was created to train new technical specialists from a major Information Technology corporation. The curriculum was presented around the world to build the basic professional and technical skills needed by new hires to properly perform their role as technical specialists. It was created with the primary focus on the BRIC countries, but it was available and used worldwide, combining e-learning education, live virtual classes, games and other components supported by a Learning Management System and a collaboration tool. It counted with the support of subject matter experts to build the content and to deploy it after its availability as well as the support of professional content developers to properly build the material focused on the fact that it was targeted to adults and it was virtual learning. Russia was one of the countries where the curriculum was piloted with a combination of face to face and distance learning offerings and presented in many different countries when available. The objectives of the curriculum, the standards, basic concepts for its creation, the tools used, the amount of learning activities created, the classes delivered and the amount of students that joined the program during the first year are explored in this article as well as the challenges faced and the lessons learned during its deployment.