Category Archives: Information

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CAVSS in the digital age

Technology has become an important component of adult education and training.

When I first started delivering the Course in Applied Vocational Study Skills (CAVSS) there was no computer in sight. Over the past decade I have seen an increase in use and need for technology. I teach with a number of lecturers in a variety of industries (Trades, Aged Care, Disability). Much of my work is with Cert III in Engineering (Fabrication). Many apprentices have unrealistic expectations of Engineering. They expect it to be a practical subject and are unprepared for the amount of theory and mathematics involved. And increasingly, we use technology as part of training and in the workplace. Technology has become an important component of their training.

Students access course information and assignments from Blackboard which also has web links, presentations and videos. They use the internet to research and access information and watch videos from web sites such as Miller’s welding video library and YouTube. Some of their assessments are online. They create workplace journals on the computer and upload photos from their mobile phones.

There are learning guides, charts, tables, manuals and drawings to read and interpret. A huge demand for literacy and numeracy skills.

 

FabricationToolbox 300px A good resource is theTotal Fabrication flexible learning toolbox

Each day, the apprentices use maths skills in their jobs in order to complete projects and other job duties. Maths is used to determine material requirements and costs, interpret drawings and specifications, draw using measurements, and read codes.

There are countless resources on the internet for maths. I will illustrate just one here.

Apprentices learn to draw using only a compass, straightedge and pencil (Construction in geometry). These construction techniques give tools to draw things when direct measurement is not appropriate.

These skills are transferred to marking out on sheet metal using, dividers, steel rule and scribe.

Many of the apprentices cannot understand the written instructions and find a demonstration of the steps easier to follow.

A useful site is:http://www.mathopenref.com/constructions.htmlgiving step by step instructions and animations.Example: constructing a 90° angle 90deg angle 300px

The apprentices are required to interpret technical drawings and sketch isometric projections. Many students find instructions in a book are difficult to follow. Students have found the following video useful and inspiring.

 

Apprentices use a number of Computer Assisted Drawing (CAD) programs. Autosketch is used to create precision drawings. See the simple example to the right. Autosketch eg 250px

Apprentices learn to construct templates using geometric development. They develop the templates on paper or on sheet metal. Lots of maths skills and knowledge required. Reading and following instructions on geometric development is quite daunting for many of the apprentices. The Total Fabrication Toolbox has a section on template making.

Constructing shapes using triangulation is particularly difficult for apprentices to learn. They find a demonstration useful.  I assist with each step, drawing, measuring and calculating. Another strategy is to watch an Animation. Follow link for demonstration on constructing transitional shapes.

 square to round 250px The apprentices use a program, Plate ‘n’ Sheet Development, to generate templates and check their layout and measurements.I needed to learn how to operate this program so that I would be of use to the students.There are a number of mathematical concepts, including geometry and measurement, which students need to know to be able to complete this task.

 Conclusion

In addition to providing traditional literacy and numeracy support I am increasingly providing more digital literacy support.

Technology may provide the motivation to learn the theory and mathematics adults need for their training and in the workplace and it may facilitate more meaningful learning for them.

Lina Zampichelli

CAVSS Lecturer

C Y O’Connor Institute

 

 

 

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Drowning in information?

Introduction

How do you manage all those links to websites that you come across every day? Even if you don’t currently use very much digital or web-based content in your teaching you probably visit websites for printable teaching resources. There are many printable resources available from websites as well as the truly digital content. I know I was accessing (and printing) masses of such material some years ago, well before my face-to-face students had any computer access in class.

Information curation

Keeping the links that you need and want while discarding those items that are not useful for you is a big problem that is continuing to increase. Information curation has become a major issue for many people. This is compounded by the fact that most of us now access work related links and content on more than one digital device. In my own case I need to be able to regularly access links from at least three different desktop computers, my laptop and my iPad. This excludes classrooms and any one-off situations such as workshops or conferences. Browser “Favourites” are no longer sufficient to keep all those links especially when they are still often lost during updates.

As a general bookmarking tool I mostly use Diigo an online application that enables me to save and tag links and also to share with others. However this is not ideal for sharing links with students as it isn’t very structured (at least mine isn’t) and in my opinion links are easier for students to work with if they are organised in some way.

Using SymbalooEdu with students

My preferred tool for managing links that I use with students is SymbalooEdu. This is easy to sign up to and easy to use. The pages (“Webmixes”) can also easily be made public and shared.

 

Symbaloo

Symbaloo is very visual using coloured “tiles” to which you can add icons and titles. In Symbaloo I create what are known as “Webmixes” groups of links that relate to particular topics. I can then share the “Webmixes” with students to use in activities.

Advantages of using Symbaloo:

  • enables me to give students a degree of ownership and choice in the links they access for activities;
  • allows me some control so that I can ensure that students visit websites which provide appropriate examples related to the activity concerned and are likely to be comparativley “safe”;
  • limits the websites students access for an activity (reduces the number I need to visit when evaluating work);
  • provides scaffolding opportunities from which students can progress to become more independent
  • I can use tile colour, page position and icon to provide clear navigation for students so that they can easily find the links they need;
  • colour and page position can also be used for level differentiation so that I can use the same Webmix for an activity that spans several levels – this makes it easy if a student needs to access higher or lower level links to meet individual needs;
  • I can give students access to the links they need for an activity without “cluttering” up their written instructions with a series of links in the text;
  • if a link becomes inactive it is easy to remove or replace without having to modify and re-upload the activity itself;
  • the visual nature of the tiles works well with literacy students.

This embedded Symbaloo page with groups related to career exploration and resume development is one I use online – the activity I use this with is similar at Certs I, II and III and, depending on standard of completion,  it may provide evidence for aspects of units on Learning Plan and Portfolio, Creating and Engaging with texts (Personal and/or Learning).

Conclusion

SymbalooEdu works well as a tool for managing links that are shared with students, it is easy to update links and manages student access reducing risk to students and potential for lecturer overload.

Jo Hart

 

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Joining the conversation!

Introduction

Our newsletter, like the ALaN Network GoogleGroup, is a way of starting conversations. The conversation may continue through other media but often the most useful way to join that conversation is to comment on the initiating post. Please! Please! Join our ALaN conversations – add comments to posts in the newsletter and in the GoogleGroup.

About commenting

Many very well known and experienced writers of online articles/bloggers say that the discussion that happens through the comments is the most important part for them, so being able to join in through commenting is a great way of sharing your own ideas as well as giving feedback to the writer. If someone has already made a similar comment to what you have in mind don’t be put off! You can still add your comment in support of an opinion already expressed – maybe expand on it a little, add further thoughts  or put your own slant. Also don’t be put off if you disagree – you can still comment – expressing disagreement is fine as long as it is done with respect and in an appropriate tone. Personally, I always think of the “feedback sandwich” and (especially if I disagree) try always to begin and end my comments on a positive note.

Commenting online in a public (eg the newsletter which is a blog) or semi-public (eg the GoogleGroup) discussion forum is a little bit different from providing feedback privately or within a very small closed group. Comments are an important part of both discussion forums and blogs. However remember that commenting is public feedback and so it is important to bear in mind your own security/safety as well as the tone and potential impact of your comments.

ThinkBeforeYouPostResize

“Good” commenting

Good commenting is very much about:

  • Adding value to the conversation. You don’t have to say something totally new to do that, reinforcing someone else’s idea/opinion is fine.
  • Being respectful of others’ ideas and opinions even if you disagree. There is nothing wrong in disagreeing with someone through a comment it is how you do this that matters.

This Lifehacker post although several years old makes great points about good commenting that you may find useful for your students and for yourself.

Ideally when I am introducing students to commenting I give them these links:

or similar ones and then ask them to make their own list. I do also have “Guidelines for commenting” that I can share with colleagues for use with their students who may be commenting on blogs or taking part in discussion forums. Some of the points overlap with those made in made in the Lifehacker post mentioned above but I also raise issues of safety for the commenter and others.

Conclusion

Just as with face-to-face interaction respect is important! Making respect explicit is especially significant in asynchronous online interaction because we lack the body language and audio cues that can soften a possibly hurtful comment. This is one reason why using “emoticons” is so much part of online conversation.

Commenting in forums and on posts is the “life blood” of online interaction. So PLEASE join our conversations here in the Newsletter and also (if you are an ALaN GoogleGroup member) in the group. You could start with a comment on this post!

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CGEA is now reaccredited until 2018!

The Certificates in General Education for Adults (CGEA) 2013-2018 is here at last.

As we expected, there isn’t a lot of change mostly adding digital literacy into the reading and writing stream. There are also some changes to elective rules and a welcome attempt to reduce the problem of tedious and repetitive assessment.

But, of course, there are all new numbers:

  • 22234VIC Course in Initial General Education for Adults
  • 22235VIC Certificate I in General Education for Adults (Introductory)
  • 22236VIC Certificate I in General Education for Adults
  • 22237VIC Certificate II in General Education for Adults
  • 22238VIC Certificate III in General Education for Adults

The courses are accredited for the period 1 July, 2013 to 30 June 2018.

The curricula can be downloaded from the Victorian Training Support Network

NOTE you will need to scroll to the bottom of the list to find the NEW CGEA.

Also NOTE that as previously ALL the curricula are bundled into each of the five differently named documents. This means that you  only need to download ONE of the docs. There are separate executive summaries for each qualification.

New national unit numbers can also be found on the TGA website – enter the National course number in the search box. At the time of writing this the courses were designated “Non-current” as the course become the current course on July 1 2013.  From this date all new students will enrol in the new qualification. Current students can continue to complete their qualification requirements according to the CGEA 2007-2013.

WA numbers have been assigned and are now available from VETinfoNet.

We will be sharing the work of identifying changes in the ALaN Network Google Group. For a start there is a PowerPoint (available in the Group) from the curriculum maintenance officer at Victoria University. If you find anything that you think other CGEA teachers should know about regarding the new curricula then please post in the GoogleGroup.

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CGEA Network Files

If you are new to the Google Group, you may not yet be familiar with the CGEA Network Files (or Google Drive – formerly Google Docs) page.  This is the place to come if you want to look at resources shared by other teachers, find out about upcoming PD, find out about useful websites etc.

You can access the Google Drive page by clicking on the link on the CGEA Network Home Page (CGEA Network Files)

If you click on the ‘2011-the present’ folder you will get the most recent resources etc.

The folders should (hopefully) be fairly self explanatory.

“How to” gives instructions on how to upload documents and how to join the google group

“Moderation” has a few examples of moderated tasks (we would really like more examples here…)

“Professional Development” has information of upcoming PD

“Resource Ideas” has a range of documents from lists of useful websites, to assessment tasks to teaching ideas.

Please feel free to contribute to any of the folders.

If you need any help with accessing folders or documents, please contact me (Dani Murray) through the Google Group or by commenting on this post.

 

 

 

 

 

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New online numeracy resources

‘Building Strength with Numeracy’ revises and improves on the iconic numeracy resources ‘Strength in Numbers’ and ‘Breaking the Maths Barrier’, and other ‘tried and true’ numeracy teaching resources developed by Beth Marr and other experienced numeracy teachers.

The new resource is a collection of activities that builds on and updates elements of the previous resources, as well as including many new, previously unpublished ideas, activities and student practice exercises.

The resource is accessible online for teachers to use in a range of settings. The activities and practice sheets span a range of levels and subject areas with some suggestions regarding links and sequencing. However, as with the previous resources, it is not intended to cover the whole of any particular curriculum or course.

It is intended that teachers select content relevant to the needs of their learners and integrate it into their own teaching plans in conjunction with other materials. For this reason it has been presented to enable users to download separate activities, single practice sheets or whole sections, as required. The resource is a work in progress in that not all sections of previous resources have yet been included. Hopefully these will be added in the future.

Thanks to VALBEC  for providing us this free resource based on all of the great work that Australians have produced about adult numeracy.

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Does texting help or hinder children’s spelling skills?

Last week I came across this article (admittedly from 2011) about the link between children texting and their spelling skills.  I found it really interesting as I automatically assumed it would demonstrate that texting has a negative impact.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8272502/Text-messaging-improves-childrens-spelling-skills.html

I have to confess that I have been called a grammar fascist in the past.  My school (in Cape Town) made grammar a priority (in all subjects, not just English) and that influenced me very strongly.  It made it easier for me to learn other languages later on, but it also means that I have to rein in my ‘red pen’ when I’m teaching as, while grammar obviously has its place (and a significant one at that), it’s not the only thing that matters.

It got me thinking though about how grammar is so important to some people, and not to others.  Is it just a generation thing?  is it a cultural thing?  Is it just personal choice?  I found this blog entry while I was thinking about it..

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/20548/just-how-important-are-grammar-and-spelling

What do you think?

 

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Foundation Skills Training Package (FSTP) released

The FSTP is now available on TGA – Foundation Skills Training Package

This TP has not yet been implemented here in Western Australia because nominal hours have not yet been assigned. However it is time to assess possible uses for 2014.

The FSTP units are based on very small chunks of the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF) so they may be suitable for recognising discrete mathematics or numeracy, literacy and digital literacy skills and knowledge needed in industry contexts.  However, the units might not provide the broad set of generic skills to ascertain level appropriate for entry purposes into other courses, even when packaged together to make a qualification. They are most suitable to support students already in a vocational course.

As identified in the Western Australian consultation that preceded the development of this Training Package:

  • the bank of units are likely to be more more useful in WA than the full  qualifications
  • WA already has support for vocational students in the forms of CAVSS and USIQ so we may use the FSTP less than states that don’t have suitable products for integrated support
  • Teacher expertise is still the most critical need whatever the curriculum product used eg the high level skills to address literacy and numeracy learning needs. These skills include the need to address issues such as identity as a learner and the impact of previous learning failure as well as how to teach the many different sorts of LLN skills. Teachers also need to be able to create an environment that allows students to build on their strengths as they broaden and deepen their skills.

Please share your questions and observations as you dip into the TP, either here for the whole world to see or back in GoogleGroup if you want to discuss it just with members of the ALaN Network.

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Images “fit for purpose”

Introduction

Ability to carry out simple image editing quickly is very significant in making our images “fit for purpose”. If you do any of the following with images: use them in online publishing; email them especially if recipients have Inbox restrictions; put them on websites and find they take a long time to open/download; use them where image size on the page is important; save them where storage capacity is limited. Then you need to know some basic image editing techniques and have access to simple tools for doing this. So that you can resize images easily to suit their purpose.

The table above gives a  rough guide to sizes, but experience will tell you what sizes work best for you in your own context.

A suitable editing application

My own personal preference is a free downloadable tool called PhotoFiltre.

From my perspective the main advantages of this particular tool are these:

  • Small (4MB) so I can keep a copy on a USB drive to put on any computer at need – useful if you don’t have the access to download and install executable files on school/college computers due to organisational restrictions;
  • Free to download and use for private and education purposes so it can be installed anywhere without licensing issues;
  • I can recommend it to colleagues and students who can then use it without incurring cost; and also without large download time – significant in our infrastructure poor region;
  • My often not very tech savvy students, and sometimes colleagues, find it easy to use;
  • Simple short user guide – mostly written in plain comprehensible English
  • Quick to open and to access the tools I (and many others) use most frequently
  • Handles a good range of image formats

The main PhotoFiltre tool that I use is “Image size” to adjust the size of my images. However I do also regularly use: “Paste as new image” – extremely useful for screenshots used in “How to” resources; and “Crop” – to produce an image without extraneous clutter.

Adjusting image size

For me the way that I can easily and quickly resize an image is probably the most important feature of PhotoFiltre. Accessing the Image size” tool is most easily done via the “Image” menu at the top of the screen.

Resizing by reducing the number of pixels is probably the quickest and easiest way for most of us to reduce the size of the image file.

Making sure that your image is the right size for purpose is critical. When you import an image into a document and reduce the size within the document this has no effect on the size of the image in terms of file space. For example if you have a 60KB text document and you insert a 500KB image your document file size will be 560KB. Even if you reduce the visible dimensions of the image within the document your file will still be 560KB. This has impacts on download time and inbox capacity. Both “png” and “jpg” are widely supported.

Image saving format

The default file saving format on installation of PhotoFiltre is “bmp” (bitmap). This format is less widely used than in the past and therefore no longer supported by a number of commonly used tools and applications. This makes it a good idea to change the default file save format to “png” or “jpg” as shown below.

Conclusion

I hope you find this introduction to getting your images fit for purpose to be helpful. You could find it especially useful of you are planning an article for this newsletter. If you can submit your images already resized it saves us time in editing and contributes considerably to the smooth and timely publishing of the newsletter.

If you have any questions or comments about image sizes please put them in a comment on the post and I will do my best to help.

 

Jo Hart (Aug 2012)

 

 

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Certificate IV qualification for the delivery and assessment of foundation skills – update

Throughout June Innovation & Business Skills Australia (IBSA) conducted a consultation process to scope a proposed certificate IV qualification that would equip VET practitioners with the skills and knowledge to address the foundation skills needs of learners.

 Scoping process and findings

Targeted consultations were held in a number of locations and more than 50 written responses to the scoping discussion paper were received from individuals and organisations representing a wide range of stakeholders.

Key findings from the scoping process were:

  •  widespread acknowledgement of a gap in VET workforce capability, but little support for a new certificate IV qualification as an appropriate workforce development solution
  • many suggestions for a more narrowly focussed product, such as a skill set or qualification stream, to extend the skills and knowledge of vocational practitioners
  • questions about the fitness for purpose of the current TAE certificate IV and diploma qualifications in relation to equipping VET practitioners with the ability to address the foundation skills needs of their learners.

Recommendations for development

Findings from the scoping process were considered by IBSA’s National Project Reference Group (NPRG) at a meeting on 16 July 2012. After considering a number of options, the NPRG recommended that IBSA should:

  • develop a new skill set within the TAE10 Training Package comprising the existing units TAELLN401 and TAELLN501 and new units focused on sourcing specialist expertise and resources, working collaboratively with LLN specialists and effective instructional strategies for building foundation skills within a vocational training context. Units developed for the new skill set will be made available as electives in both the TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and the TAE50111 Diploma of VET providing a developmental pathway between the two qualifications.
  • continue to monitor the fitness for purpose of the TAE40110 and the TAE50111 to ensure that they meet the needs of the VET workforce. The NPRG noted that the structure of both of these qualifications will be changed in 2014 to move current LLN elective units into the core – TAELLN401 into the core of the TAE40110, and TAELLLN501 into the core of the TAE50111.

Development work on the new skill set will be conducted between August and November 2012.

Further information about the project will be added to the IBSA website as the project progresses.

Thanks to all the members of the WA Adult Literacy and Numeracy (ALaN) Network that contributed to this result. This was the most popular topic on the CGEA Network Google Group this year.