Engaging Diversity

eCommunities are a powerful medium for sharing information and facilitating collaborative working practices between groups and individuals regardless of their location. For many organisations, eCommunities already play a central role in their day to day operation for example enabling global project teams to work together or helping senior managers keep track of their team’s progress.

Some businesses also view eCommunities as an important marketing tool. Specialist articles or knowledge sharing opportunities offered via eCommunities can be the ‘first hook’ that draws a customer into the business.

Project leaders, BTC Group have provided feature-rich and functional eCommunities for large and small organisations around the globe. The Engaging Diversity Project presented an opportunity to establish eCommunities and investigate the conditions required to make them successful in bringing value to their members and organisations.

For example, an eCommunity was developed for the project’s transnational partnership (with partners in Portugal, Poland and Slovakia) and was vital to the success of the partnership. Within this eCommunity, the discussion board became the main vehicle for communication, taking over from e-mail. The wiki (editable web pages) feature enabled reports and recommendations to be composed jointly. The use of video conferencing (online voice and video calling) provided live communication which replaced the telephone.

Some of the most important factors that determine the success of eCommunities include recruiting skilled moderators, providing fresh content regularly and making it easy for members to contribute and participate. More details of our findings concerning best use of eCommunities can be found within our conclusions and recommendations report in the reports section of this site.

If you would like information about establishing an eCommunity within your organisation, click here.

Seven modules were created covering the main strands of diversity:-

Race, Age, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Disability, Religion & Belief and Welsh Language.

The modules are written in an engaging documentary style. Arresting images and emotive music help bring the narrative to life.

"...the programme is emotive in a way that cuts through stigma".

Welsh facts, examples and history made the modules more meaningful to learners in Wales. This is a feature that can be adapted to suit different audiences.

Each module is delivered in 5 'bite size' lessons of no more than 10 minutes each. The lessons explore the subject in increasing depth, taking into account the contemporary context and giving consideration to the responsibilities of individuals and organisations.

The modules also feature a testing element designed to encourage learners to think about the facts and information. Many users report that the statistics were one of the most memorable aspects of the modules.

For a free demonstration of the modules at a convenient time for you, please click here.