Distance Learning in Support of Water Resources Management: An Online Course on Decision Support Systems in River Basin Management

This paper presents the conceptualisation, design and implementation of an online course on the topic of Decision Support Systems in River Basin Management. The need for development of such a course has been recognised, as activities in the field of water resources planning and management increasingly depend on decision support methods such as simulation, optimisation and Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA). The online learning approach is particularly needed for continuous professional development and life-long learning of professionals active in this field, and especially for those coming from developing countries. The course was developed and implemented following the competence-based learning approach, supported by the EU FP 7 educational research project named TenCompetence, which also provided the learning platform for deploying and delivering the course. The paper presents the course design, implementation and evaluation by the course participants, with special focus on the course content and the developed learning resources. Participants’ evaluations show high appreciation for the course, but they also highlight areas for future improvements. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012