Making our voices heard!

We have increasingly good opportunities to input into consultations and resource development through online platforms, check out the links below to make your voice heard!

1. With the demise of the WELL program and its replacement by the Industry Skills Fund there are ongoing opportunities for input through the consultation process that will continue until this is fully rolled out. It is really important for experienced WELL people to have say in this to try and ensure that the ISF is a worthy replacement. You can access the discussion paper and provide feedback through the Industry Skills Fund page

2. There is currently a great opportunity for input into new content for the “Building Strength with Numeracy” resources that Beth Marr will be developing for VALBEC. The Service Skills Australia website has more information in their “Taking the Lead Newsletter

 

ThingLink – a different way to share!

In one of our regular webinars a couple of weeks ago someone mentioned “ThingLink”. Over the follwing weekend I spent a bit of time exploring this tool.

ThingLink is described as a tool that helps you share content using images. The idea is to use an image and to add “tags” which link to content. The tool has been developed so that you can add many different types of content link including audio, video, webpages and polls.

Here are a three different ones that I have created – these are fairly simple and just link directly to content relevant to the spot in the image where the tag is positioned. The images can be easily embedded in websites and blogs. If you don’t see the links on the images immediately then move your mouse onto the image, you should then be able to checkout the content links.

The scene from Gooseberry Hill

 

  A “Toon” for introducing e-pedagogy


Free E-tools for teaching and learning

For me this has immense possibilities for use in literacy/numeracy contexts. Here is just a very quick “off the top of my head” list of some of the possible uses:

Students making their own “ThingLinks” to evidence their own understanding and research eg in “Current Issues”

  • Students developing their own audio, visual or written explanations of maths concepts and linking to them via tags
  • Students making ToonDoos eg related to Internet safety and linking to the source of their information
  • Students collecting a series of images recording project progress with tags linking to videos of different project activities and/or other project documentation
  • Language of shapes with links to audio files and or text glossary items.
  • Maths concepts with links to practical applications of the concepts in the real world
  • Managing student web access in exploring a topic to ensure that the sites they visit are of suitable quality
  • Writing prompt images with related information links as tags in the image

One of the reasons that I liked this tool straight away is that basic use is very quick and easy to learn. So it makes a great addition to the repertoire of quick and easy to learn tools that can be used by students while also having potential for developing engaging learning resources.

If you explore and try this one out please let us know by commenting on this post – we would love to know how you use it and what you and your students think of it!

Jo Hart (April 2014)

Excellence in Language, Literacy and Numeracy Practice Award

Don’t forget that nominations close at the end of May for the second Excellence in Language, Literacy and Numeracy Practice Award conferred as part of the Australian Training Awards. Jo Hart was a finalist in the inaugaral award last year. It would be great to have a finalist or a winner from Western Australia this year too.

The Australian Training Awards are the peak, national awards for the vocational education and training (VET) sector, recognising individuals, businesses and registered training organisations for their contribution to skilling Australia.

Applicants may have the opportunity to reach the national stage in November this year and gain Australia-wide recognition for their work.

There are 18 awards, including seven ‘direct-entry’ awards. More details at www.australiantrainingawards.gov.au

Supporting effective delivery of foundation skills to Indigenous, remote and disadvantaged learners

We are looking for input from foundation skills (LLN and Employability Skills) practitioners into the “Technology Innovations Applied Research Project” that CY O’Connor Institute is currently undertaking (funded through the National Vocational E-Learning Strategy (NVELS)).

The project focus is on building the e-capability of the VET workforce to identify and address the foundation skills needs of disadvantaged learners.

Natures window distance

One of the main outputs from the project will be a “toolkit” for foundation skills teachers working with the identified learner groups that will provide them with:

  • A framework of e-pedagogy outlining the key principles for teaching foundation skills to disadvantaged learners in VET
  • Advice on the use of selected media and technological applications for foundation skills training for disadvantaged learners
  • Good practice examples of the use of e-learning technologies for the development of foundation skills for the identified equity groups
  • Case studies of ‘e-mbedding’ foundation skills in vocational training for the identified equity groups
  • E-teaching strategies that will enable foundation skills teachers to ‘deliberately’ introduce and teach the literacies, numeracies and foundation skills that are taken for granted within the vocational course.

We are seeking examples and ideas from foundation skills (LLN/Employability Skills) practitioners to help us create a useful resource for others. So please, please share if you use/have used any e-tools and strategies with your students.

We are looking particularly for:

  • case studies of how you/your students have used technology to support LLN/Employability Skills development, in a vocational or general education context;
  • information about any media/technology/apps you have trialled/used and how successful these were (especially if you had any bandwidth – speed – issues)
  • any strategies you have used to introduce vocationally specific foundation skills to students

Please add a comment here on the post or visit the Google group and comment on the post there so that we can contact you for more information. It is so important that we have input from as many people as possible so that we can create a terrific toolkit!

Sharon Ross, Lina Zampichelli, Jo Hart (CY O’Connor Institute)

What’s in a name – PLN, PLE, CoP?

I posted in the last newsletter about what is a “Personal Learning Network” (PLN). There have been some discussions in my PLN recently about Communities of Practice (CoP) and whether they are the same as PLNs – this seemed a good time to talk a little about our own ALaN network and where it “fits” in to the scheme of things.

If you work for an RTO you probably have the perpetual problem of proving your industry currency and professional development actvities. This is particularly difficult for LLN practitioners like ourselves who have no “industry”. Belonging to and participating in a CoP is one way that you can provide some evidence that may be helpful in convincing employers and auditors of your currency and ongoing PD activities.

I agree with Steve Wheeler’s  http://www.blogger.com/profile/08782623154703147473 interpretation as given in his recent post PLN or CoP? http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/pln-or-cop.html For me the significant factors are:

  • that a CoP often has some form of facilitation/moderation which may be formal or informal, whereas my PLN operates largely though serendipitous interactions;
  • interactions in a CoP are almost entirely related to professional matters in a fairly narrow field whereas in my PLN they include personal and social interaction as well as a broad range of professional interactions not limited to a narrow focus.

I see the PLN/CoP as a continuum with the PLN at one end of the spectrum, and at the other, the very formal facilitated/moderated CoP with one or more managers having allocated time to spend fostering interactions between the members.

PLN or CoP

My personal perspective in seeing the PLN/CoP as a continuum is, of course, based on my own experience. I have a well established PLN that I began developing in 2008 and I have also been involved for about the same length of time in our very specific CoP made up of Adult Literacy and Numeracy teachers in Western Australia. As those of you in the network are probably aware I am a facilitator for this network/CoP which operates primarily through a GoogleGroup. My perception is that many of the aggregations formed on and through social networks are CoPs to varying degrees. For example on Twitter some of the #tag chats such as #kinderchat and #gtchat:

  • focus on professional practice;
  • are facilitated/moderated;
  • are at least semi-formal;
  • aim to share knowledge; and also
  • provide opportunities for both synchronous and asynchronous interaction.

Groups in Facebook eg “FacingIT” and LinkedIn eg “Australian VET Leaders”, and Communities in G+ eg “The Global Classroom Project” provide similar opportunities.

If you are not already a member of our network then consider joining (visit the “How to join” page in the newsletter to find out how to do this). If you are already a member of the ALaN network (especially if you mostly “lurk” – this means read the posts/emails but not participate much) then think about taking a more active part in the future so that you can add your participation in the ALaN network to your auditable records for industry currency and PD .

Where do you get these sites from?

This post will be cross-posted to my personal blog so apologies if you have seen it twice.

Introduction

This question was posed in response to a recent post by Phil on the ALaN GoogleGroup – Phil shared a site called Visuwords, a visual dictionary that gives a visual representaion of associations between words. Phil’s answer was that he gets many of these kinds of links via his Personal (Professional) Learning Network (PLN).

Like Phil I have an extensive, global PLN – mine is in excess of 4,000 educators globally with fewer than 20% of these in Australia and less than 10% in WA. I find this network invaluable in helping me to stay up to date and innovative in my teaching and learning. The inevitable next questions are of course “What is a PLN, how do I get one, and what are the benefits?”

A PLN is …

A PLN is a network of people often, but not always, with similar interests to your own. We all have a PLN of some sort even if it is just the network of colleagues we meet through our daily work. However the most useful and effective PLN is one which extends outside our own day to day physical environment, outside our own specialist teaching area and outside our particular educational sector.

My own PLN is global, cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral. It makes considerable use of social media and online tools in general. So my Personal Learning Environment (PLE) through which I access my PLN is largely electronic. The main point here is that no two PLN’s are the same! We all have our own preferred balance of people and communication environments/strategies. Mine (like most others) has evolved over time and now looks something like the diagram below.

PLN PLE 500I expect that my PLN will continue to change and evolve – I currently use a variety of platforms so that I don’t miss out on posts from people for whom I have enormous professional respect but who don’t use my preferred platform for the majority of their interactions.

Getting a PLN

There are many different strategies for developing your own PLN. Mine started inadvertently, when a fellow e-learning enthusiast who was also a TAFE lecturer but in a different college introduced me to Twitter. This is still my “favourite” PLN environment although I now use many other social networks as well. Many members of my own PLN have been introduced to the concept and started developing their own PLN through PD activities. If you are thinking about building your own PLN there are a few strategies that can be particularly useful:

  • Start with one social media platform – find a mentor on that platform who is very experienced and has a medium to large network of their own.
  • Sign up to the platform – make sure you complete your profile and have an avatar, many potential followers/friends won’t connect with you unless they have a little information about you
  • Don’t rush it – allow your contacts to grow fairly slowly at least initially
  • Give as well as taking – join conversations, make comments, share resources and links
  • Be social, be human – the social interactions are important despite the derision you see levelled at some platforms regarding the triviality of some posts, social interaction – the personal relationship “oils the wheels” of the professional relationship.

If you are interested in PD to help you get started with developing your PLN then leave a comment here in the newsletter or in the ALaN GoogleGroup because if enough people are interested we could do one or two webinars on this. If you are going to take the plunge anyway and your chosen first platform is any of: Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn then please feel free to follow/friend, or whatever the connection label is, me. You can find me as follows:

I do check out profiles before I connect back (because like all online contexts there are plenty of “black hats” out there) although if I already know you from another context I may not. I will usually connect back within a few days.

What are the benefits?

The benefits are many! The list below is just a few of the positive gains shared by members of my PLN:

  • Keeping up with innovation in education
  • Links to great tools and resources
  • Instant help with tech problems and other questions
  • Learning, learning always learning!
  • Support in coping with issues
  • Sharing, sharing and sharing again!
  • Opportunities for global collaboration on projects
  • Opportunities for PD through online discussions
  • Overseas “e-visitors” to classes (via Skype or similar)
  • Broadening perspective from local to global
  • Learning about other cultures
  • Never feeling isolated at a conference (someone from your PLN is almost certainly there!)
  • People (that you feel you already know) to meet up with when overseas/away from home
  • Someone to “talk” to in the small hours – there is always someone awake

Some members of my own PLN have become good friends without us ever meeting! When chance gives us opportunities to meet there is none of the awkwardness of strangers meeting for the first time. This is a huge benefit for me as, despite my advanced age and years of teaching, I am quite shy when meeting strangers.

Conclusion

For more ideas about PLN’s checkout this post “What the heck is a PLN?” by a local West Australian teacher, with a global presence, who is part of my PLN and is now a good “real face-to-face” friend that I first “met” online via Twitter.

For me personally the global nature of my own PLN and the opportunity to be involved in learning from such a diverse group are the “icing on the cake”! I have been immeasurably enriched by many people in my own PLN and can only hope that I am able to “pay this forward” in some way.

 

Foundation Skills Workforce Development Project

This article has also been submitted to ACAL so apologies if you are reading it for the second time!

Here in WA we have had some consultation workshops relating to “Scoping a foundation skills professional standards framework” which is one of the facets of the Foundation Skills Workforce Development Project. As well as the more formal workshops (both online and face-to-face) the topic has been raised and discussed (over recent weeks) more informally with a variety of stakeholders. This article relates to the Perth (face-to-face) and online workshops and to informal conversations.

FSWD wshp image

There have been some strongly recurring points and concerns raised by practitioners as well as some disconcerting opinions expressed by program managers.

Recurring themes and concerns from practitioners

  • There is concern that as with TAE, there will be an ongoing requirement to revisit qualifications (especially if they are vocational ones) and this wastes time that could be better spent on meaningful professional development.
  • A progressive career pathway to higher level skills and knowledge could have a positive impact on practitioner credibility, however there is a risk that the required skills and knowledge for a literacy and numeracy specialist teacher will be “watered down”.
  • Foundation skills is NOT one entity however the basis for delivering foundation skills lies on the existing specialisations (language, literacy and numeracy teaching – with the possible addition of digital literacy/citizenship).
  • Existing membership organisations could potentially play a significant role in implementing and maintaining a professional standards framework but would need to be funded for this.

Misapprehensions expressed by non-practitioners

  • A qualification is not needed to deliver literacy – particularly at the lower levels.
  • The TAELLN401 or TAELLN411 is a suitable “qualification” for those delivering foundation skills.
  • Continuing PD should be organisation based and managed.

The concern looming largest for most practitioners was that of ending up in a situation similar to that with the Cert IV in Training and Assessment with a requirement that they continually re-do the qualification. It is also perhaps significant that the worries relating to the risk of lowering standards expressed by practitioners seem already to be mirrored by the opinions of some managers.

Jo Hart

 

WA curriculum update

52426WA Certificate I in Entry to General Education will expire 30 September 2014. The Department of Training and Workplace Development will commence review in October 2013. Contact josephine.hart2@dtwd.wa.gov.au

The accreditation application Cert III Two-Way Aboriginal Liaison was approved by TAC in September 2013.

Course in Applied Vocational Study Skills (CAVSS) accreditation application approved by TAC in September 2013.  Current course was extended to April 2014. Business rules will be reviewed soon.

52379 Course In Underpinning Skills for Industry Qualifications (USIQ) will expire 30 April 2014. The Department is seeking feedback for changes for the course. Contact Sylvia.mitchell@dtwd.wa.gov.au

Digital Technology is the way to connect with students

As we are encouraged to make learning purposeful I have tried to engage my students (Cert 1 – 2 boys with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Yr 12) in writing that suits their career pathway or interest.  Fortunately both have career pathways in food and hospitality and are quite computer savvy.

Some task for Engage & create were:

Learning Purposes

  • Complete 3 pre-selected online food safety quizzes (interactive, images), discuss the Elements and then design their own multiple choice quiz from a food safety booklet then give the quiz to the other student.
  • From one of the completed online quizzes, create an instruction text for the other student on how to access the website, complete and printout the certificate.

Community Purposes:

  • Read a number of school newsletters from own school and source others on the internet, discuss the Elements and create your own about the topic/tasks completed in your class.  Watch a How to ‘You Tube” on Publisher Newsletter templates and create your newsletter for others to read.

Personal Purposes:

  • Read, listen to and watch online a number of radio adverts, discuss Elements, create your own advert and record on mp3 and download onto a computer file. One student chose a fundraising BBQ with some local celebrities attending.

As my students are visual, aural and kinaesthetic learners and not straight writing or paper based, using digital literacy has always been the way to motivate them.  I am excited that the new CGEA is coming into the 21st century though many lecturers have used this technology now they will have to embrace it more and update their own digital skills.  Moodle, iPad Apps, Scootle (Ed Dept) and online bookmarking such as SymbalooEdu and blogs I will also need to upskill in.  Thanks to Jo Hart’s recent Webinar on “Digital texts, digital safety – what’s the connection” it has really started me thinking how I can connect more with my students.

Janet McArtney

Invitation to participate in consultation on a Foundation Skills professional standards framework

Foundation Skills Workforce Development Project (FSWDP).

Part of this project involves a:

Foundation Skills Professional Standards Framework consultation.

This scoping process is being conducted to explore options for developing professional standards for foundation skills practitioners to strengthen and diversify the identity of the foundation skills field. The timeframe for the consultation is short with responses required by October 11th.

Attached are the

Please read these BEFORE attending a workshop

As part of the FSWDP the Foundation Skills Champions in WA are hosting group workshop sessions to stimulate discussion, provide some collective responses and encourage individual responses and feedback. We invite you to participate in these.

These sessions are as follows:

Date Time Location Facilitator Contact to register
Thursday 26th September 2013 2:30pm – 4:00pm * Online via Blackboard Collaborate Jo HartCath Ralston Jo Hart Josephine.Hart2@dtwd.wa.gov.au
Thursday 3rd October 11:00am – 12:30pm Perth – DTWD Prospect Place(limited places only) Jo Hart “Event360” PD booking systemContact Jo Hart for more info Josephine.Hart2@dtwd.wa.gov.au
Thursday 17th October Please contact Cath Ralston for full details Kimberley Training Institute Cath Ralston Cath Ralston Cath.Ralston@kti.wa.edu.au

NB the 17th October consultation date is beyond the official deadline but has been sanctioned by the Project Consultant

* For the online consultation you will receive information on how to configure your computer for BlackboardCollaborate and a link for joining the session.

It may be possible to host additional consultations for the online and Perth venues if there is a high demand.