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Developing online or e-learning courses or components

Table 14 sets out the requirements you must satisfy for a course to meet GPMHSC standards if it is an online or e-learning course, or if it has components that are online or e-learning.

Table 14. Requirements for online or e-learning courses

Element

Requirements

User accessibility
  • Consider the file size of videos/audios, as some participants (particularly those outside metropolitan areas) may have suboptimal broadband.
  • Provide ongoing information technology assistance to participants.

Timing
  • The length of the program must satisfy the requirements of a comparable face-to-face course.
  • Incorporate mechanisms so that participants cannot move through the program unless they engage with the content and provide adequate responses.

Interactivity
  • The content must be interactive and varied so that participants engage with the material (especially for asynchronous training programs).
  • Provide opportunities for participants to view specific mental health skills and techniques (such as watching a prerecorded demonstration of a technique).
  • Simulate the interactivity of face-to-face training programs, by allowing participants to see each other’s responses.
  • If the content relating to the consumers’ and carers’ perspective is a pre-recorded video, submit this as part of your application as per face-to-face programs.

Checking learning
  • Incorporate participant feedback mechanisms throughout the training so participants can check and track their learning.
  • Provide opportunities for participants to practise and reflect on skills they have learnt in the program.

Opportunity to debrief with peers
  • As material covered in mental health training programs is often sensitive, you must provide support. This could include giving consumers and carers the opportunity to debrief with their colleagues or peers and providing referrals to appropriate resources.

Evaluation and quality improvement
  • Establish and follow procedures to regularly review, check and update content.
 

Useful GPMHSC resource

Guidelines for training providers in developing online MHST or FPS ST.

Redeveloping existing face-to-face training as online learning

If you have existing GPMHSC-accredited face-to-face courses, we encourage you to redevelop these courses as online or e-learning courses, if appropriate.

To do so, you need to submit a document to the GPMHSC Secretariat that clearly explains:

  • specific details of the online or e-learning software and technology used
  • how the software and technology will monitor and record participants’ attendance and active participation
  • how the online or e-learning experience aligns to the requirements of comparable face-to-face training
  • the course’s interactivity: specifically, how the course will encourage participants to ask questions and interact with the facilitator and their peers
  • login details, including a username and password so that the GPMHSC can access the online or e-learning training.