Key figures

Online learning takes off

Half of SCK CEN Academy's training courses have been delivered online

Across the world, the coronavirus has glued airplanes to the tarmac, kept office workers chained to a home office, and sent event and training calendars into disarray. It was no longer possible to continue with conventional training. What the virus failed to do, however, was quell the hunger for learning. In 2020, online learning took off like never before. Distance learning initiatives shot up like mushrooms in no time at all. The SCK CEN Academy also shifted up a gear (online) to keep participants' nuclear knowledge up-to-date or to expand on it. "We were in the process of rolling out an online learning service, but the coronavirus crisis has accelerated the process," notes Michèle Coeck, director of the SCK CEN Academy. In a short space of time, the SCK CEN Academy has delivered twenty training sessions in an online format that were previously scheduled as face-to-face, which were immediately met with great approval.

There was much to consider. "Teaching online not only requires the use of different tools, but also different didactics. In online training, participants lose concentration more quickly and creating interaction is a formidable challenge. Presenters need to anticipate all of that. What this means in practice is abandoning usual routines and learning new methods. The past year was an excellent practical learning experience, but the subject has meanwhile found an important place on the agenda in the education field. We, together with colleagues and stakeholders, are paying extensive attention to it, including during the ETRAP conference (International Conference on Education and Training in Radiation Protection) in March 2021," explains Michèle.

Close online supervision

The SCK CEN Academy moved heaven and earth to enable students to follow the necessary training courses. "Under no circumstances did we want to leave our students out in the cold. The same is true for all Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students who write their thesis or do an internship here. They were able to count on the same close supervision, but online," concludes Michèle.