e-Learning Overview

NCSL meetings feature the nation's best experts on public policy issues and provides outstanding professional development opportunities for its members, state legislators and state legislative staff.

Check out the Multimedia Library for a collection of video and audio files from previous NCSL meetings.

 You also can visit our Webinars area to learn about upcoming sessions we think you'll will find useful, informative and educational, as well as our Webinar archives. 

There are a wide range of e-learning tools that have the potential to dramatically expand NCSL's ability to deliver professional development programs to state legislatures. This page provides information about these tools and resource links to help legislative staff, staff sections and NCSL identify ways to use these technologies.

What is E-Learning?

E-learning is an approach to learning that employs information/communication technology. While it can encompass many different media, its basic purpose is to enable you to receive information and training through your computer or other device, such as an iPod, iPad or other tablet device.

For a quick introduction to e-learning, view a 10-minute narrated slide show, Introduction to E-Learning, and download a user's guide, Introduction to E-Learning for Legislative Staff, which highlight these tools.

E-Learning Tools

While you are already using some e-learning tools such as listservs and online discussion forums, there are others that might not be as familiar. These tools include:

Blog: A website on which information is posted by one or more people, in a journal style, to which others can type in comments at any time; blog is short for web log.
Collaborative Website: A website that serves as a central location for a variety of materials (e.g., participant comments, document files) relating to a project.
Narrated Presentation: A slide presentation that includes audio narration.
Podcasts/Webcast: Recorded audio or video presentations that are saved on a website and can be listened to at any time.
RSS Feed: Subscriptions that allow you to receive automatic updates from websites of your choice.
Webinar: A live presentation initially shown (and heard) over the computer, which may also be recorded and made available for later viewing on the web.
Website Chat: A website on which several people connect simultaneously, and on which any participant can type in comments that appear on all participants’ screens.
Wiki:  A website that allows users to remotely post and update content.

NCSL Resources

Individual NCSL resources -- podcasts, narrated powerpoints, interactive Flash training videos, webinars-- for online learning are compiled in the Multimedia Library. They can be viewed by topic area and also include skills training, such as online video guides to the NCSL website and online training for the NCSL 50 state + Bill Information Service.