Smart Economy Collaboration Addresses Workplace Diversity Issues

    DUBLIN, IRELAND, November 27, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- As the world becomes more and more culturally diverse, there is a clear and growing need for inter-cultural training to improve awareness and to enable people from different (cultural, religious, racial and linguistic) backgrounds to live and work together.

To address these challenges, Dublin City University has partnered with Channel Content, a leading Dublin-based learning and communications company, to create a novel and flexible multimedia-based training course.

Entitled "Managing Workplace Diversity" this unique video-based training programme has been organised into a series of self-contained modules. Using this approach the material is tailored for different end users. The courses can be delivered as a traditional DVD or as a web-based application for delivery to your computer at home or work, or your mobile device when on the go.

The original breakthrough research in intercultural training was created through DCU's leadership of a collaborative pan-European project entitled the European Intercultural Workplace (EIW). The programme addresses core diversity topics including food, religion, gender, body language, racism etc. Each topic identifies specific issues to focus on, using enacted workplace scenarios that suggest best practice.

Video presentation offers realistic portrayal and maximises viewer engagement. By enabling the videos to be watched online, on DVD or downloaded to mobile phones and iPods, access to the material extends to all age groups and learning preferences.

"Our collaboration with SALIS/DCU is a perfect digital publishing relationship. We capture the expertise of its team and repackage it for application in a practical, accessible way for the workplace", says Dermot Rogers, Channel Content Chief Executive. "Using flexible video-based delivery is ideal for this type of material."

The video topics are supported by tutor and learner guides, and online assessments. The programme uses a blended learning model so that it can be used in classroom settings or as distance learning and/or e-learning material.

"This is the Knowledge Economy in action," states Richard Stokes CEO of Invent, the Technology Transfer Office at DCU. "Matching the valuable research within DCU to a progressive local company like Channel Content is core to our mission. This is a global market and it is great to think that an Irish company is well positioned for success."

According to Dr. Aileen Pearson-Evans, Head of SALIS the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies at DCU, "We have already received a huge amount of interest in this research. This new partnership between SALIS and Channel Content is exciting and timely - by making the product more user-friendly, it enables a much wider audience to use the material in different settings. It has been a great experience working with such a dynamic Irish company, which I hope will lead to further collaborations."

About Channel Content

Channel Content specializes in developing and applying rich media content and social media models to meet learning and communications needs. For more information contact [email protected] or (+353-1-4498719). Learning Motion is a Channel Content product. www.channelcontent.com and www.learningmotion.com
SALIS (School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies) at DCU offers a multilingual and multicultural environment in which to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Intercultural Studies, Comparative Literature, Language Studies and Translation Studies. It specialises in up-to-the minute language and translation teaching methods and technologies, and international and interdisciplinary research projects and collaborations. http://www.dcu.ie/salis
Contact: [email protected] 01-7005231

Invent is a state of the art Innovation and Enterprise Centre based at Dublin City University. Established in 2001, Invent's mission is to transform knowledge into commercial success and to provide the critical link between the university and the marketplace. Invent supports and encourages the transformation of cutting edge research into innovative and commercially exploitable products and services.

http://www.dcu.ie/invent/ Contact [email protected] 01-7007597

# # #