Popular Basic IT Skills Training Courseware from Microsoft now accessible via ALISON with free group learning features

IT Trainers, Teachers, Tutors and HR professionals across the Arabic world welcomed today the launch on ALISON, a leading free online interactive workplace skills learning service, of Microsoft's Digital Literacy Curriculum (Arabic). This follows the launch of the English version of the courseware for free access in late November 2009. The courseware is being launched as a result of popular demand from ALISON learners across the Arabic-speaking regions.

The Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum, which can be downloaded free of charge from the Microsoft corporate site in SCORM format, is now available in Arabic for the first time within a free online learning management system. Now any IT Trainer, Teacher or Tutor can set up and maintain a virtual classroom for their students as well as any individual learning new IT skills for free.

The MS DLC Courseware assesses basic computer concepts and skills so that people can use computer technology in everyday life to develop new social and economic opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities. To date, the Microsoft Digital Literacy programme has reached 5.8 Million people worldwide across 30 languages. This latest Version 2 of the Digital Literacy Curriculum now being published by ALISON covers Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Windows Vista providing in all 10-15 hours of quality interactive online learning.

The course being launched today introduces computing as an important part of everyday life in the twenty-first century. From music and photos to banking and communicating, computers have changed the way we work and live. This course introduces the fundamentals of computing, explains the components of a computer, explores operating system basics, and shows how to use a mouse and a keyboard. Additional modules on The Internet and the World Wide Web, Productivity Programs, Computer Security and Privacy and Digital Lifestyles will launch on ALISON through March 2010.

The Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum is available for download via Microsoft's website in SCORM object format for those organizations who have their own Learning Management Systems installed. For those that do not have this infrastructure, ALISON is the perfect solution. With the agreement of the Microsoft Corporation, ALISON have rendered the content so that it can be freely accessed by any organization, whether a school, community centre, business or individual from the ALISON website. To set up a MS-DLC learning group on ALISON, log-on to www.alison.com