Abstract:

The main objective of continuing education for trainers is to promote the updating, improvement and acquisition of new didactic and pedagogical skills that cover different fields of action namely the design, development and implementation of training programs in the field of research and experimentation of new approaches and methodologies applied to diversified audiences and contexts, especially in e-Learning and b-Learning environments.

To fulfil these competencies the IEFP National Center for Trainer Qualification (CNQF) besides managing and coordinating the training and certification system for trainers in Portugal has been developing a modular structure for the Initial Pedagogical Training of Trainers and for the Continuous Pedagogical Training of the Distance Trainer (e-Trainer) with the aim of contributing to the acquisition and development of pedagogical and technical competences of trainers that will contribute to raising the standards of quality of the training provided.

Technological innovation and evolution launch new challenges to Trainers requiring a great effort to adapt and master both from the point of view of pedagogical models and from the point of view of communication processes in learning environments and digital content.

This new Continuous Pedagogical Training Referential in Digital Content for Self-Learning (e-Content) was designed in this context and it explores the pedagogical and technological dimensions of producing digital content for distance learning environments.

This article presents the fundamentals of this framework, its application and validation in a case study supported by two e-Content training courses.

With this case study and in a perspective of continuous improvement, we have the purpose to understand how the modular structure of the adopted framework influences the results obtained by the trainees of the e-Content training courses and what their degree of satisfaction is.

Keywords:

e-learning, e-Trainer, Professional Training, e-Content, Training Referential.