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I am currently exploring opportunities for staff training and development. The candidates already have a good deal of knowledge and experience in commercial print and print buying. My searches for e-learning or distance learning have so far been fruitless. I was wondering if PrintWeek has encountered any organisations that provide this service. I would be grateful for any input you may be able to offer.  
‘Alex’, via email

Leeds City College Print Academy has a raft of online courses, including print production modules for City & Guilds qualifications covering pre-press, printing and finishing. It also offers an online course ‘ABC Award Understanding Print Technology Processes’, which is a foundation course covering all the main processes. This is described as being broadly suitable for anyone involved in production, admin, or print buying. See www.printcollege.co.uk for further details and links.

The National Academy for Materials, Production & Supply has an e-learning portal offering general business courses under four headings: leadership and management; people and business development; customer service; and health, safety and environment. Here’s a link to the relevant web page.

I spoke to some print buying experts too, to see if they knew of anything in that field. Matthew Parker at Print & Procurement is actually in the midst of developing a series of e-guides, which will also be followed up with e-learning courses. The guides will be released this year, with the training to follow in 2012. In the meantime, Parker says he is happy to discuss training with people and proffers the following advice: "I’m not actually aware of any distance learning courses for print buyers at the moment. If your contact finds any solutions, they should make sure that the course is practical, and not just based on print theory; and the teaching is interactive. There should be action points, exercises and tutor feedback."

I hope this is helpful, if you want to contact Matthew, visit www.printandprocurement.com. From a guides point-of-view, I just wanted to flag up the existence of Unity Print & Publishing’s Print Manager’s Handbook and Print Production Handbook in case this info isn’t on your radar already. And if anyone out there knows of any other print-specific e-learning sources, please do get in touch with the details.

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