In a trial made possible through co-investment from the National VET E-learning Strategy, teachers and learners will be supported to create and access their own e-Books.

These trials, which explore emerging technologies and identify areas where future standards work may be needed, are managed by the Strategy’s New Generation Technologies for Learning business activity, which incorporates E-standards for Training.

The Centre for Adult Education’s Easy eBooks for Teachers project will publish a user guide for teachers and learners to create and access eBooks. 

This guide will be based on a preliminary survey of learners who are undertaking professional writing and editing courses, together with the teachers who deliver these courses.

Investigating two pieces of software, Calibre and Sigil, the project will develop and maintain:

•    a streamlined process for the easy creation, management and integration of eBooks

•    knowledge in the application of eBooks authoring software

•    a forum for creators and users of eBooks

•    a consistent approach to eBooks through the development of standard technical requirements.

“We have used the data collected in the initial survey to determine baseline knowledge and experience of eBooks, in particular around the production process, accessing publications and the terminology associated with them,” says project coordinator Ann Hardingham.

“We have also considered the applicability of eBook formats to different devices, with file types researched to determine the most suitable format for each device.”  

“From the work undertaken to date, together with comprehensive research into the process of creating eBooks, we will produce a draft eBooks user guide which can be tested and trialled by teachers,” says Hardingham.

The user guide will be available for download from the New Generation Technologies for Learning website by the end of June 2012.

For information about five other current trials, or about those undertaken in previous years, please visit the New Generation Technologies for Learning website.

You are invited to the national online launch of Series 14 Flexible Learning Toolboxes (Toolboxes).

A collection of innovative new e-learning packages will provide education and training assistance to some of Australia’s most critical industries.

Developed by the national training system’s e-learning strategy, the National VET E-Learning Strategy (the Strategy), the Series 14 Flexible Learning Toolboxes (Toolboxes) support the online delivery of nationally endorsed training packages across a variety of industries.

Toolboxes are high quality, cost effective interactive e-learning and assessment resources featuring scenarios, images and activities that simulate real-life. All Toolboxes support nationally endorsed training packages and are designed for use by registered training organisations, business and industry.

Series 14 supports the implementation of the nationally endorsed training packages in a range of industry areas:
•    Building and Construction (and Language, Literacy and Numeracy)  - Numbers (14.01)
•    Building and Construction - Build Green (14.02)
•    Community Services - Language Links (14.03)
•    Forestry  - Timber ‘Plus’ (14.04)
•    Language, Literacy and Numeracy - English at Work (14.05)
•    Training and Education – TAE10 (14.06)

At the launch there will be the opportunity to:
•    discover what other training packages Toolboxes support
•    see demonstrations of the latest Toolboxes in community services, building, foundation skills and forestry
•    find out about e-learning professional development opportunities across the country.

When: Thursday 10 May
Time: 3pm – 4pm (AEST)

Register here:  events@eworks.edu.au

Bookings are essential as places are limited.

Series 14 Toolboxes are now available and contribute to more than 120 previously developed Toolboxes, helping deliver approximately 180 qualifications and supporting almost 900 units of competency, from a wide range of nationally endorsed training packages.

To preview a Toolbox, or to contact your local Content Service Advisor, visit: http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/support/

To purchase a Toolbox contact eWorks on (03) 9661 8700, enquiries@eworks.edu.au  or visit http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au

The Teacher E-learning Toolkit was developed to support the adoption of desktop/web functionality that should be available to all practitioners in VET.

The New Generation Technologies for Learning business activity (incorporating E-standards for Training), of the National VET E-learning Strategy, is committed to maintaining documentation on commonly used e-learning applications but we need your help. If you are an e-learning or IT practitioner in vocational education and training (VET), you are invited to participate in a survey of e-learning technologies and operating environments.

For more information about the VET Teacher E-learning Toolkit and its development please visit the New Generation Technologies for Learning website.

TRAINING PROVIDERS FORUM 2012

EARLY BIRD CLOSES  -  Friday 27 April

To view the program and to register, click here "Welcome to Training Providers Forum 2012" or on the button above.

A new project is giving remote and disadvantaged learners the opportunity to develop the skills to learn online and work in the digital age.

By giving them the skills for learning in the digital age, participants will be able to access future training more readily through digital media, allowing them to overcome the disadvantages of geographical isolation and its limitations on availability of face-to-face training.

“The four-week course will take place online using a virtual classroom as the main platform for introducing tools and skills,” says project manager Jo Hart from C.Y. O’Connor Institute.

“Small guided tasks and activities, with facilitator support, will enable students to build independent skills,” says Hart.

Completion of the learning units will evidence literacy, enabling participants to progress into vocational courses.

The project is targeted at geographically isolated learners in Western Australia, particularly Indigenous Australians, women, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and those who are socio-economically disadvantaged. 

These target groups often lack the digital literacy and foundation skills for the workplace of the future and to study successfully online to gain the qualifications needed to enter the workforce.

Online learning also has the potential to re-engage learners who may have had negative experiences of face-to-face learning delivery, as is often the case with disadvantaged learners.

“Importantly, the structured, intensive nature of the course is designed to support learners to develop a study habit that will continue into further self-paced online learning,” says Hart.

It has been made possible through funding from the National VET E-learning Strategy, whose Partnerships for Participation program offers opportunities, through targeted funding, to develop e-learning approaches to improve the e-literacy, foundation skills and pre-vocational skills of individuals experiencing disadvantage.

With four campuses across the central Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, C.Y. O’Connor Institute specialises in a range of training delivery methods, including face-to-face, flexible and online delivery. These innovative delivery methods have removed many of the barriers the community has traditionally experienced when accessing education and training.

The National VET E-learning Strategy is the responsibility of the Flexible Learning Advisory Group (FLAG), a key policy advisory group on national directions and priorities for information and communication technologies in the VET sector.

“The new technological environment is providing unprecedented access to more accessible training and learning opportunities,” says FLAG Chair Raymond Garrand, Chief Executive of the South Australian Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology.

Trials of emerging technologies will research their application to teaching and learning in the vocational education and training sector.

Funded through co-investment between the project applicants and the National VET E-learning Strategy, and managed by the New Generation Technologies for Learning business activity (incorporating E-standards for Training), the trials include:

·       Easy eBooks for Teachers—The Centre for Adult Education will develop and publish a user guide for teachers/practitioners for two open source eBook creation and management applications, Sigil and calibre.

• Tagging the Cloud Using the NBN—This project, undertaken by GlobalNet ICT, will develop two mobile apps (one for Android, one for iOS) that use radio frequency (RF) technology or QR tags to access resources on a learning repository.

• Accessible Modern Video for All—Kangan Institute will improve video learning content accessibility by developing recommendations for attaching subtitles to web-based video learning material.  These recommendations will apply to a range of mobile devices (iPad, iPhone and Android) and in HTML5 enabled desktop browsers.
• LOCO embedding—The Learning Object Composer (LOCO) was an Australian regional finalist in the 2011 Learning Impact Awards. In this trial, TAFE NSW eLearning Hub will consider the sustainability of LOCO from user, organisational and developer perspectives. The application will be made available under a General Public Licence to allow ongoing development.

• Augmented Reality for Kitchen Orientation and Safety Procedures—TAFE NSW North Coast Institute will produce an augmented reality view of a training kitchen to investigate “vision” augmentation, ie object-referenced rather than geo-located, in order to minimise the indoor reception issues faced by Global Positioning Systems (GPS).
• BigBlueButton—Undertaken by Trainspace Pty Ltd, this trial will investigate the potential of BigBlueButton, an open source virtual classroom, as a low cost alternative to commercial options.

“The purpose of Emerging Technology Trials is to explore emerging technologies and identify areas where future standards work may be required,” says senior technical officer, Bronwyn Lapham.

“The trials are also an important tool for identifying ways that the emerging technologies may be utilised in teaching and learning in the wider national training system.”

For more information about these trials and those undertaken in previous years please visit the New Generation Technologies for Learning website.

Stimulus funding has been awarded to 10 regional partnerships to support e-learning opportunities for workforce development to assist with skills shortages across Australia.

Sharing $290,000 (ex GST) in funding, these partnerships will support key industries including tourism, nursing, retail, fire services, construction, food, agriculture and conservation, natural resources and land management.

Each regional partnership supports the Committee of Australian Government’s (COAG) VET qualification targets of Certificate III or higher.

Made possible through funding from the National VET E-learning Strategy, the Industry System Change Business Activity supports workforce development in industry through innovative training solutions and the utilisation of high speed internet.

As part of this business activity, Regional Businesses Programs aims to develop and deliver e-learning initiatives that meet local needs, by focusing on partnerships between regional, rural or remotely located businesses and registered training organisations. The outcome is a more skilled and highly developed workforce for regional Australia.

Ten regional partnerships were selected in late 2011, and will receive a share of $475,000 (ex GST) this financial year. This totals $665,000 (ex GST) of stimulus funding direct to regional partnerships this financial year. Each partnership is matching the stimulus funding to multiply the impact of each regional project.

These regional partnerships will pilot quality e-learning with local employers and produce models of e-learning for regional workforce development. Many of the regional sites include current or future National Broadband Network locations.

More information about these regional partnerships is available in the January-June 2012 Regional Businesses Programs Summary Sheet, or by contacting the Industry System Change Business Manager, Kerry Manikis, at industry[at]flexiblelearning.net.au or on (02) 6207 3262.

The National VET E-learning Strategy is the responsibility of the Flexible Learning Advisory Group (FLAG), a key policy advisory group on national directions and priorities for information and communication technologies in the VET sector.

“We are excited at the high quality of the proposals we have received to date, which demonstrate the strong interest in increasing participation in training and improving skill levels in the workforce,” says FLAG Chair Raymond Garrand, Chief Executive of the South Australian Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology.

Contact

This week marks the start of a new project that will bring students one step closer to obtaining their Certificate III in Electrical Supply Industry (ESI), without having to set foot on campus.

Remote workshop bench practicals for Electrical Lineworkers and Technicans will enrich the delivery of e-learning, enabling regional students in New South Wales to complete interactive practical sessions on “real” equipment online, as part of obtaining their qualifications for the federally recognised priority occupation.

Having won funding from the National VET E-learning Strategy, whose Access to Skills Programs use e-learning to improve learner access to training, skills upgrading and improved employment outcomes, Remote workshop bench practicals for Electrical Lineworkers and Technicians is a collaborative effort between the Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT) in Western Australia and Essential Energy in New South Wales.

“This pilot project is an exciting opportunity for all involved. It will provide students in regional New South Wales with remote access to equipment they will be using to complete sessions with the assistance of an instructor who may be based several hundred kilometres away from their location,” says Program Manager Ric Harrison.

“We’re reducing workshop attendance for students who would originally have driven up to 200km to a TAFE campus by increasing e-learning effectiveness.

“This project has much potential – prior to its development, access to this type of training would have been either very limited or not accessible through conventional means.

“The EIT will also be developing additional capacity with advanced e-learning capabilities to offer demonstration classes online for registered training organisations and employers in the electricity supply industry.

“The Essential Energy staff members working on this project are looking forward to the results and based upon our tests thus far, we are confident the project will improve students’ value to employers,” says Harrison.

The National VET E-learning Strategy is the responsibility of the Flexible Learning Advisory Group (FLAG), a key policy advisory group on national directions and priorities for information and communication technologies in the vocational education and training sector.

Raymond Garrand, Chair of FLAG and Chief Executive of the South Australian Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology, says the Strategy supports the development of e-learning programs that maximise opportunities to improve skill levels in the workforce.

“We are excited at the high quality of these projects, which all share the vision of contributing to a globally competitive Australian training system underpinned by world class e-learning infrastructure and capability,” says Garrand.

Contacts

We still have places available for this NEW workshop on Tuesday 20 March 2012

Dr Russell Docking is preparing a new workshop for us for 2012 to replace the Introduction to Competency Based Assessment workshop he has delivered for the last few years.

 The new workshop is called Effective and Efficient Strategies for Competency-Based Assessment and will be available on Tuesday 20 March and Tuesday 4 September.

For more information on this workshop and other events, click on the link in the Events List on the left or call me on 9229 5274

The first annual Open Education Week commences from March 5-10, 2012.  Open Education Week is a global event that seeks to raise awareness about the benefits of free and open sharing in education, especially Open Educational Resources (OER). OER are high-quality, free and open educational materials that offer opportunities for people anywhere in the world to share, use and reuse.

“The vision of the open education movement is to create a world in which the desire to learn is fully met by the opportunity to do so, where everyone, everywhere, is able to access affordable, educationally and culturally appropriate opportunities to gain whatever knowledge or training they desire. The movement encompasses producing, sharing, using and modifying content, as well as innovative models of educational delivery,” said Mary Lou Forward, executive director of the OpenCourseWare Consortium. “Open Education Week will showcase projects, resources, people and ideas so that people around the world can see the breadth of what has been accomplished already, and participate in discussions about the future of the movement.”

Open Education Week is being coordinated by the OpenCourseWare Consortium.  The event will take place online and in different locations around the world, with opportunities to participate in webinars, discussions and live events. Projects and events will be featured from institutions and organizations from around the world, including: University of Cape Town, University of Michigan, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, University of California, Irvine, Delft University of Technology, and Creative Commons. Participation is free and open to all. Visit www.openeducationweek.org for more information.

About The Open CourseWare Consortium: The OpenCourseWare Consortium (OCWC) is a community of more than 250 universities and associated organizations worldwide. The mission of the OCWC and its member institutions is to advance formal and informal learning for educators and self-learners around the world through the sharing and use of free, open, high-quality education materials packaged as courses readily accessible on a digital platform.  The Consortium showcases its members to a global audience and provides information and training through webinars, newsletters, and free and open materials.  For more information, visit http://www.ocwconsortium.org.

Open Education Week will feature:

• Over 35 webinars open to participation from anyone
• Virtual tours, pre-recorded presentations and documents
• Short introduction videos on aspects of open education, like what are open educational resources? and  why is open policy important?
• Discussion area with blog and twitter feeds
• Resource links
• Contributions from over 130 organizations and institutions
• Receptions for policy makers in Europe and the US

Web banners, a poster and slide templates are available from the www.openeducationweek.org website under the “resources” tab.