Past meets future: Online, self-paced vocational training based on the apprenticeship model

The apprenticeship model, which dates back to the 18th Century B.C., was a popular and successful training method for many years, before losing popularity as it became too time-consuming and expensive to scale up to meet the needs of a large number of learners. In recent years, the expanded concept of cognitive apprenticeship has gained traction within the research community, but is rarely employed in the design of online training products. In this paper, we describe a self-paced e-learning course built for vocational training purposes, designed in a way that makes use of apprenticeship principles even within a self-paced environment.