Introduction
In late 1999 The Network University (TNU) in Amsterdam approached the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre and IHE to explore the possibilities of developing an online course on water privatization issues on the Internet. Since 1997 TNU has developed experience with Internet courses on a range of topics (see www.netuni.nl). TNU's engagement in the water sector was the result of a research project carried out by students from the Political Science Faculty of International Relations from the University of Amsterdam in 1999 and 2000.
In the context of its training innovation work IRC, together with TNU, conducted a pilot test in 2000 of an innovative, interactive, three-week course on a key theme for water professionals, politicians and NGOs: ' Institutional changes in the urban water and sanitation sector - risks and opportunities'. Topics included: public-private partnerships, stakeholders' interests, sector characteristics/specifics, private sector participation, and sector trends. World Bank staff dealing with training were involved in the pilot testing Improvements were made on course content, structure of the web and interactivity.
To get a quick idea about the online course readers are invited to have a look at the demo site of the course at: http://www.netuni.nl/demos/water/index.htm.
Background on Electronic Distance Learning
Electronic Distance Learning (EDL) had its origins in a service to isolated communities and learners (Australian outback children, Canadian Eskimos, US community university/community college networks) and for specialized business/pedagogical learning and scientific activities. In recent years we have witnessed a revolution in the medium whereby most correspondence takes place via e-mail and where complex, high-quality visuals, data and texts are easily down-loadable. There is considerable interest now in EDL as an important instrument to address the changing global trends in how people learn. EDL takes place via programmed learning modules with text, visuals and sometimes sound, where the learner has speedy or immediate individual feedback from the training site. However, experience with providing EDL is recent and therefore limited. Little data is available on cost / benefit of EDL. Investment, initial losses and risk taking are typical ingredients (comparable to dot.com industries). Peter Bury, 2000.
