In this article, Ann Neild from Erindale College in ACT summarises the outcomes from the Pathways from School to TAFE event held as part of LearnScope Online.

Starting out

When Claude Pogliani, the ACT Learnscope Manager, invited our team to participate in LearnScope Online we were somewhat apprehensive. We felt, however, that it would be a great opportunity to do something completely different and be forced a bit higher up the online learning curve. Our team consists of Anne Cameron and Trish Roseby from the Canberra Institute of Technology and Ann Nield and Alison Lees from Erindale College, a Year 11/12 government college in the ACT. Although we now know how to discuss online, we met physically – it’s still more satisfying to get together face to face – and planned our approach. Allocating an issue to each particular day seemed a manageable way to go and we each chose an issue to facilitate on the basis of our interests and our work schedules.

Fortunately we encountered no technical difficulties to participation in the conference. The website managers were very helpful about posting our articles and our photos. Even just taking the photos on a digital camera forced me to refresh my memory of how to use this piece of technology, so early learning took place at this point.

On the first day we were quite excited and curious to see what would happen. Our articles were in place - would anyone respond? Anne wrote a welcoming introduction to the week and we hoped that it would prompt some discussion. It soon become apparent that although we and others were mentally conscious of being part of the conference all week, physically there were too many things – minor inconveniences such as lessons, for example - which took us away from our computers. Some of our team had to satisfy themselves with the intermittent glimpse at the site during the day and primarily focusing on the discussions at night. Quite different to being at your traditional conference, where the mind often switches out of gear when the sun goes down. We all tried to interest our work colleagues in participating, or least in lurking, with varied degrees of success.

Identifying our focus

The discussion topics we chose all related to our project:

These topics canvassed the broad issues surrounding our project, such as training qualifications, as well as more specific online issues, such as Toolboxes. The discussions brought to light interesting opinions on a wide range of topics such as literacy and numeracy, experiences of flexible learning and particular websites.

Ideas which the discussions provoked

The conference provoked responses on a range of issues, rather than a sustained and coherent discussion of any one topic. It is therefore difficult to point to any high-level pedogical outcomes.  On the other hand, the contributions all enhanced our understanding of shared issues relating to online learning, particularly at the implementation level.

1. Assessment

• Some competencies in training packages can be assessed in groups through an activity such as the Practice Firm, whilst tests may be more suitable for other competencies
• Assessing “soft skills” such as customer service can be more problematic away from the workplace. Possible strategies are essays, reports, papers, learning journals, online discussion forums, role playing.
• Assessment in a flexible learning situation does not all need to be online – a blended approach can be better.  Provide choice to cater for different learning styles.
• As part of the Learnscope project CIT and Erindale are examining four Business Administration competencies to identify online learning strategies and assessment tools.
• Recommended online tools for creating assessment items are Hot Potatoes and Respondus.
• Assessment tools may be developed via the Framework's Assessment Generator.
• Plagiarism is a growing problem, especially with web-based learning.  Compulsory in-class tests seem contradictory to the spirit of flexible learning. Students need clear information on their organisation’s plagiarism policy. Change your assessment tasks frequently to avoid plagiarism and don’t rely on just one large piece. Carefully design questions to minimize the risk of straight lifting of info. Software to spot plagiarism is available but expensive.

2. Modes of Delivery

• For today’s generation of students, interactive activities and information are far more fascinating that traditional forms.  Some students have strong IT skills but lack the literacy skills to produce supporting documentation.
• Literacy is an important issue for toolbox users.  Some may not have strong literacy skills.  CDs with voice can help them to navigate their way through the toolbox.
• Indigenous students for whom English is a second language should be considered when designing training.
• Funding from government is needed to address the literacy issue.
• CIT is considering building literacy support into programs at all levels.
• Is rephrasing instructions and test questions “dumbing down” education and training?

3. Skills Recognition

• Increasing numbers of students are applying for this because of increased demand for flexible learning and part-time classes.
• School and TAFE teachers in some states are undergoing RCC for Cert IV in Assessment and Workplace Training despite having teacher qualifications.  Is this necessary?  More commonality across jurisdictions is needed.
• Kit available from one correspondent for RCC in some streams of Retail and Bus Admin.  Interviews or challenge tests can add rigour to the RCC process.
• Mutual recognition – questions about whether it is automatic
• Skills Recognition may be searched on the Australian Flexible Learning Framework and Edna websites
• Students can have very different concepts about their skill levels, partly due to the ambiguous language in some training packages and lack of clear definition of performance standards.

4. Resources

• Interactive CDs available for the first time at CIT instead of textbooks.  Cost of resources for students is still a problem.
• Toolboxes may be customized for your own purposes

5. Teacher Skills and Qualifications

• Teachers gain enormous benefits from industry experience, eg familiarity with industry standards and practices, networks.  A request for a co-ordinated program for teachers.

Would we do it again?

As with all good conferences, we would all “come again” next year.  The experience allowed us to apply our learning on the spot - which traditional conferences don’t tend to do – and to pick up ideas from other people all around Australia.  It was disappointing not to have a greater variety of respondents to our site, but a consolation is that a significant number of people were apparently lurking.. 

The conference confirmed our determination to persevere with our online learning.  As our team member Alison wrote, “Spreading the word to a few, and then a few more, and getting results from your own adventures may well be the way.”  The Erindale team proved the truth of this last week when we brought together a small group of teachers to whom Rose Grozdanic introduced the Flexible Learning Community website.  We now have more converts who are keen to bring one new teacher each to the launch of a new ACT Teachers in Vocational Education chat group.

We all agree with our team member, Trish, who wrote during the conference:

 “One of the positive outcomes of the Learnscope exercise between CIT and Erindale College is a greater awareness and understanding of the issues we both face”. 

Ann Nield
Erindale College
September 2003

URLS referred to in this article:

Edna:  www.edna.edu.au/

Australian Flexible Learning Framework:  http://flexiblelearning.net.au

Hot Potatoes  http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/

Respondus:  http://www.respondus.com/

Assessment Generator:  http://flexiblelearning.net.au/productsandservices/assessmentgenerator.htm