ALA Blog - A catalyst for lifelong learning

NCVER Paper

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:22:00 +0000

Job requirements and lifelong learning for older workers

Chris Ryan, Mathias G. Sinning National Centre for Vocational Education Research13 November, 2009

The relationship between job requirements, individual skills and the participation of workers in further education and training, with an emphasis on older workers, is the focus of this report.

Darwin Australian Technical College

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:17:00 +0000

The Australian and Northern Territory Governments announced that the Australian Technical College (ATC) - Darwin will be integrated into the Northern Territory education and training system. The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard and Northern Territory Chief Minister and Minister for Education and Training, The Hon Paul Henderson, welcomed the agreement. The Australian Government has decided to move funding from the ATC to the trade training model in the Northern Territory.

CONFINTEA VI

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:32:00 +0000

ON THE PROGRAMME

CONFINTEA VI’s main aim will be to draw attention to the ways in which adult learning and education relate and contribute to sustainable development in all its facets – social, economic, ecological and cultural. It will explore the issues affecting adult learning and education today, including policies, structures and financing; inclusion and participation; quality; and literacy.
The programme will consist of a series of plenary sessions (keynote addresses, presentations and roundtable discussions), commissions and workshops.

The timetable for CONFINTEA VI can be downloaded from the official website www.unesco.org/en/confinteavi/confintea‐vi/programme.

Keynote Addresses:

•• "Living and Learning for a Viable Future: The Power of Adult Learning"
Speaker: Senator Maria Osmarina Marina Silva Vaz de Lima, Senado Federal, Brazil (Tuesday, 1 December)
•• "Towards Lifelong Learning"
Speaker: Kasama Varavarn, former Secretary‐General of the Basic Education Commission, Ministry of Education, Thailand (Thursday, 3 December)
••"From Rhetoric to Action"
Speaker: Paul Bélanger, Professor for Lifelong Learning, Université du Québec à Montréal, and President of ICAE (Friday, 4 December)
A series of Roundtables will offer participants the opportunity to attend moderated discussions with a range of highlevel panellists and respondents from Member States, most of
them ministers. These sessions will focus on the following key issues:
••Policies and Governance for Adult Education
••Financing of Adult Education
••Literacy as a Key Competence for Lifelong Learning
••Assuring Quality of Adult Education and Assessing Learning Outcomes
••The Way Forward

A special session will be held on "Inclusion and Participation in and through Adult Education".
The Commission will be open to all delegations.

Its role will be to carry out discussions and reach agreements on pending issues and recommendations based on the draft outcome document. The Commission’s proposals will then be submitted to the Drafting Committee for consideration.

The themes of the workshops reflect the key issues of the Conference.

The main working documents for CONFINTEA VI are available on the website, including the Annotated Agenda and the preliminary draft of the Belém Framework for Action.

11 November launch

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:24:00 +0000

SENATOR THE HON URSULA STEPHENS
PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY FOR SOCIAL INCLUSION AND THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR

LAUNCH OF UNITED WAY AUSTRALIA COMMUNITY IMPACT STRATEGY AND 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF UNITED WAY SYDNEY

11 NOVEMBER 2009

Acknowledgements
- Dr Peter Shergold, Macquarie Group Foundation, Centre for Social Impact
- Catherine Hunter, Director Corporate Citizenship, KPMG
- Teresa Hall Bartels, Senior Vice President, United Way Worldwide
- Mr Doug Taylor, CEO, United Way Australia

Before I begin, I wish to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, the Cadigal people, and pay my respects to their Elders, both past and present.

It’s a pleasure to be here again at the United Way Australia conference. Yesterday I had the chance to speak with United Way staff about the transformational changes taking place across the sector. And so it’s lovely to be back here again to celebrate 25 years of commitment by United Way Sydney to supporting grassroots activity in its community.

But today also marks another important occasion – Remembrance Day. A day to acknowledge the men and women who died during the First World War and all wars.

So today we reflect a little on our past, which serves to remind us that the freedom we enjoy today came at a cost. And to remember how all Australians pulled together to support each other during those times of adversity.

We have seen some of this generosity of spirit just this year in the overwhelming outpouring of public support for fellow Australians caught up in the tragedy of floods and fires.

The image of a flood affected Queenslander mailing off their disaster recovery payment cheque to the Australian Bushfire Fund is a poignant picture of our innate desire to help out others who are doing it tougher than us.

And this deeply human need to help, is at the heart of the government’s social inclusion agenda.

This agenda is about making a real difference in the lives of people who are struggling to get by and who feel little hope for the future.

It’s about creating a community where everyone has the right and the opportunity to seek to fulfil their potential – whether that be through learning, working in paid employment or participation in the life of the community, and most importantly of all, having their voice heard.

These seem like such basic needs that it should be easy enough to ensure are met. And yet, despite so much effort over so many years, we still don’t seem to have broken the back of deep disadvantage. The work of Professor Tony Vinson in revealing that just 1.7 per cent of postcodes and communities across Australia account for more than seven times their share of intergenerational poverty, made that strikingly clear.

So all of us working in this space have to face up to the reality that many of the approaches we’ve tried in the past simply haven’t worked. Despite the good intentions, the dollars spent and the effort invested, people remain excluded from community life.

This is humbling stuff, and so I take my hat off to United Way for its decision to invest in research and reflective thinking to reassess the approaches of the past, and to come up with better ways to achieve a real community impact.

I understand that the late Mark Lyons assisted in preparing The Common Cause report which led to the development of your Community Impact Strategy. So I would like to acknowledge this contribution and the many other contributions he made to the sector. Mark’s gift of knowledge to the sector was so important because it has helped the sector to understand itself. I know that all of us who work in this space will be deeply saddened by this loss.

Mark also contributed significantly to the government’s thinking around how we engage with the sector and work together towards our vision of a more inclusive Australia.

We have also sought the advice and counsel of other Australian experts in social policy and praxis. Soon after coming to government, the Prime Minister appointed the Australian Social Inclusion Board to help guide the government’s new approach to tackling entrenched disadvantage.

The board developed a new approach to social policy-making that focused on the need to build partnerships across and between governments, and with the communities and organisations on the ground. It advocated the need for evidence-based policy – finding out what programs and services work well and understanding why, so you can share good ideas. And there was also a strong focus on using locational approaches and developing tailored services so that each person’s individual needs could be met.

A lot of this will seem oddly familiar if you’ve read United Way’s Community Impact Strategy!

The interesting thing is that individually, we have arrived at a similar destination. Which of course is comforting given the old adage “great minds think alike.”

We have both come to the conclusion that innovative approaches, based on evidence and carried out in partnership, are the best way to make a positive community impact.

So what might this look like?

Last month I had the pleasure of being part of a vibrant, buzzy world forum on social enterprise in Melbourne, where I chaired a session about demonstrating the value of social enterprise. Session panellists explored ways of expanding the traditional reporting framework to take into account the environmental and social impact of an organisation.

What struck me as I listened to their presentations was the multiple benefits of being able to gather triple-bottom-line evidence. Not only does building such an evidence-base improve the organisation’s chances of securing investment but it also enables practitioners themselves to determine whether the social enterprise is succeeding in its mission. And it enables channelling of increased resources into programs that work.

The Social Enterprise World Forum also provided some good case studies of innovative approaches made possible through cross-sector partnerships.

The UK’s “Spark Challenge” is one of my favourite examples of a perhaps slightly audacious approach to using private-public-community partnerships to build social enterprise.

Spark’s ultimate mission is to enable others to develop viable businesses that will create a sustainable route out of homelessness. And it is a formal partner with the UK government’s homelessness strategy, ‘No One Left Out’, which aims to bring an end to rough sleeping by 2012.

Spark works by facilitating support to a wide variety of organisations – such as charities, housing associations and small business – and individuals, who may be homeless or at risk of homelessness, to develop viable businesses that will create a sustainable route out of homelessness.

The support comes in two forms – a financial grant and business mentoring from a corporate team allocated to help them grow the business. Together, the social enterprise and corporate team take a combined commercial and social approach to maximise the impact of the financial grant received.

This is an example of clever collaboration across the public, private and third sectors, building on the strengths of each to make a true community impact.

The social enterprise movement is clearly very much at the forefront of innovation. And so the Australian Government is keenly interested in further exploring its potential for providing opportunities for participation to people who would otherwise find it difficult to engage with the working world.

Already we have supported 75 social enterprises under the first round of the $650 Jobs Fund and $41 million Innovation Fund. The second round of the Jobs Fund opened just last week with an even greater focus on funding social enterprises, and we are currently exploring ways that the government can provide further support to these enterprises.

Yet, whilst we focus on strategic approaches and innovative solutions, it is very important that we never lose sight of the people at the centre of our efforts.

Generating a positive community impact requires a “yes we can” kind of attitude – that is, a refusal to accept that entrenched disadvantage is just a part of life. But, some people at various stages in their lives can struggle to even say “yes, I can” – they can feel as if they have nothing to offer, no contribution to make.

Social inclusion – or community impact, if you prefer – is about challenging this belief: helping people identify their own skills and interests, creating opportunities and building within them the capacity to make the most of them.

So as we collaborate, innovate and work from a sound evidence base, we must never forget the human dimension, the person who is at the centre of it all.

Only then will we be able to make a community impact that ends exclusion and creates the kind of inclusive fairer Australia we all want to live in.

In its Community Impact Strategy, United Way is mapping out the way it intends to contribute to this vision. I congratulate United Way on this important piece of strategic work and it’s with great pleasure that I launch The Common Good: United Way Australia’s Community Impact Statement.

E-learning Innovation

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:39:00 +0000

Funding produces e-learning innovator:

a VET success storyHow much support do workplace learners need to effectively learn online and progress through long-term study?

Wide Bay Institute of TAFE used their 2008 Queensland E-learning Innovations funding and support to discuss this issue with industry, employers and learners, and develop a program which provided exactly the right level of learner workplace support.

They found that workplace learners are strongly influenced by their social and cultural surroundings and that these influences can have a big, and sometimes negative, impact on their learning outcomes.

To minimise this impact, Wide Bay developed an E-coaching in the Workplace program, which online trainers used as part of their initial induction with learners and their workplace coaches to promote the importance of a positive learning culture and to facilitate e-learning. The program outlined clear strategies to help workplace coaches support their learners.

The online trainers also worked closely with first-time learners and their onsite supervisors to help them understand the learning material and ensure that the workplace provided an environment conducive to learning. They used phone, instant messaging and online chat sessions in their one-to-one contact with learners, which helped to increase learner participation and the ‘learning experience’, boosting the overall success of their e-learning programs.

Tracie Regan, project manager at Wide Bay discussed with Flex e-News how the program has developed over the past year.

So, what’s been happening since you finished up your formal E-learning Innovations project in 2008?

The 2008 project was so successful that we decided to extend its reach within vocational education and training. We applied for and received funding again in 2009 to work with the six regional TAFE institutes to explore and improve e-learning activity with rural and remote based learners.

This project trialled a model for embedding e-learning in regional and remote Queensland. During the trial, a network of workplace coaches accessed a range of e-coaching resources which helped them to support teachers to use e-learning with their learners. The support provided to the teachers enabled them to create personalised training solutions for their learners.

How has the original e-learning project impacted your organisation?

The project empowered workplace coaches to better understand the online learning environment of their trainees and created more positive participation and active discussions between the online trainer, workplace coaches and learners regarding learning content.

Through the project we also identified that resources are required for not just the actual learning and assessment, but to support the e-learner and their online environment in a more holistic manner. It changed our attitude to supporting e-learners and brought about a real difference in how our e-learning programs are implemented.

And what’s next?

Basically, we’re hooked on e-learning. We want to keep being innovative in the online learning space, and we’re going to look at how to develop better defined, simulated environments that can be customised to a specific workplace and job role. We’d also like to encourage close industry discussion about how the online trainer role can be integrated with the workplace, providing a greater level of support for learners.

For more information about the Framework, its products, resources and support networks, contact: (07) 3307 4700,

email: enquiries@flexiblelearning.net.au or visit: http://flexiblelearning.net.au

NCVER Reports

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:08:00 +0000

A competent recovery? Economic downturn and Australia’s vocational education and training system reflects on the impact of the recent financial crisis on particular groups in Australian society and comments on whether the VET sector is well placed to meet the challenges of the recovery.

To download a copy of this paper visit http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2193.html.

An overview accompanies this paper which can be downloaded from http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2194.html.

Do you want to have a say?

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:46:00 +0000

PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION DRAFT REPORT OPEN FOR COMMENT

Last month the Productivity Commission released the draft report of its study into the contribution of the not-for-profit sector. MORE >>

National Compact

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:46:00 +0000

The second and final phase of consultations to progress a National Compact are now complete. The second stage focused on engaging the diverse views of the Sector and the Government on the content of the Compact. MORE >>

First Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:45:00 +0000

VOLUNTEERING POLICY ADVISORY GROUP ANNOUNCED AND INAUGURAL VOLUNTEER MINISTERS MEETING

The first meeting of the Volunteering Policy Advisory Group was held on 23 October 2009. The Advisory Group, appointed and chaired by Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector, Senator Ursula Stephens, will be a key source of expertise and advice to guide Australia's vision for volunteering to 2021.

Senator Stephens also chaired a video-conference with State and Territory Ministers on 23 October 2009 to work collaboratively towards a National Volunteering Strategy. The Strategy will formally recognise the importance of volunteering in Australia and outline the Australian Government's commitments to supporting and encouraging Australia's diverse volunteers. MORE >>

POSITIVE AGEING GRANTS - 27 November

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:30:00 +0000

Positive Ageing grants are provided to support creative projects that promote active ageing, opportunities for lifelong learning and positive images of older people. Funding is available for a range of creative projects, from theatre, music and multimedia to literature, dance, the visual arts and story telling. MORE >>

TAA E-learning E-lectives learning objects released

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:08:00 +0000

The learning objects from the Series 12 Flexible Learning Toolbox

(Toolbox) TAA E-learning E-lectives are now available for download from the Toolbox Repository.

Click here to search the Repository for the following learning objects*:

TAA Research and design e-learning resources
TAA Develop and evaluate e-learning resources
TAA Facilitate e-learning

TAA E-learning E-lectives supports delivery of three units from the e-learning stream of the new Diploma in Training and Assessment (TAA50104) qualification, which can also be used as chosen elective/s in either the Certificate IV or the Diploma qualifications. The learning objects also provide an excellent starting point for vocational education and training practitioners and assessors who would like to develop their skills as an e-learning facilitator and/or designer of e-learning resources.

*Note: to find the new TAA learning objects, go to the Toolbox Repository and search for the full learning object title, beginning with TAA.

For more information about the Framework, its products, resources and support networks, contact: (07) 3307 4700, email: enquiries@flexiblelearning.net.au or visit: http://flexiblelearning.net.au

Have you read these tomes?

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:50:00 +0000

All lifelong learners need to be aware of this recently published list of inportant reading:

"100 Essential Reads for the Lifelong Learner "

(http://onlineschool.net/2009/11/03/100-essential-reads-for-the-lifelong-learner/)

Skills Initiative Timely and Well Targeted

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:57:00 +0000

Australia's structural skills shortage is one of the biggest constraints on our future growth and the action by the Federal Government to support 11,000 additional training places is timely and well targeted, the Australian Industry Group said. Small and medium sized companies in particular have found it hard during the downturn to maintain training budgets and especially apprenticeship numbers. Indeed, recent Ai Group research found that overall, the uptake of new apprentices is expected to be down by 10.6% over the current financial year and the number of apprentices in training will be down 5.9%. For SMEs the percentages are higher.

NCVER Report

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:37:00 +0000

New research argues that apprentice commencements, more than completions are in need of attention in a recession.

Released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), Apprenticeships and traineeships in the downturn assesses the likely impact of the economic slump on apprentices and trainees.

To download a copy of this publication visit http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2197.html

Research Supports Government Moves to Kickstart Apprenticeships

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:36:00 +0000

There is considerable evidence the global recession has hurt apprenticeship commencements in Australia with "sizeable declines" in most trades, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research has revealed. Minister for Employment Participation Mark Arbib said the research, commissioned by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, supported the Government's decision to boost the incentive for businesses to employ apprentices. "The National Centre for Vocational Education Research indicates that apprenticeship commencement rates need attention," Senator Arbib said.

More Training Places

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:03:00 +0000

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS WITH INDUSTRY TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL TRAINING PLACES

The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, today announced that the Rudd Government will co-fund up to 11,000 additional training places for small and medium business in a $25 million program designed to address skills shortages as the economy improves. The Enterprise Based Productivity Places Program (EBPPP) will provide up to 90 per cent of the cost of training from Certificate III to Advanced Diploma level. It is designed to increase the skills of existing workers especially in occupations on the priority occupations list.

The Government's contribution will depend on the size of the business, with organisations with less than 100 employees receiving 90 per cent of their training costs, those with between 100 and 199 receiving 75 percent, and those with 200 or more employees receiving 50 per cent of their training costs.

Collection On-line

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:30:00 +0000

Australian National Training Authority (ANTA)

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Over 400 resources produced by ANTA from 1992-1995 are now in the VOCED database. Tick the ANTA resources box on the VOCED homepage/search page to access these.
http://www.voced.edu.au/

NCVER Paper

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Job requirements and lifelong learning for older workers
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_Chris Ryan, Mathias Sinning_

The relationship between job requirements, individual skills and the participation of workers in further education and training, with an emphasis on older workers, is the focus of this report.
http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2186.html

NCVER Reports

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:28:00 +0000

Literacy and numeracy skills and their use by the Australian workforce
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_Chris Ryan_

This summary of two research reports examines the use of literacy and numeracy skills by older workers and how this affects their VET participation.
http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2184.html

Lifelong Learning Inquiry - UK

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:41:00 +0000

Independent review calls for new learning entitlements for all

The financial crisis and rising unemployment open up opportunities for a major rethink on how we shape future patterns of work and learning, at all ages.
The first person in the UK to reach her 120th birthday has already been born and she is approaching 60…but she can expect little public support for learning in the second half of her life.
On average, over £8,000 is spent annually on education and training for each 18-24 year old. The equivalent figures are under £300 for an adult aged 25-50; £86 for those aged 50-75; and just £60 for an adult aged over 75.

..... to read the full report go to http://www.niace.org.uk/lifelonglearninginquiry

Don't leave your e-learners begging for support

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:03:00 +0000

E-learning is enabling business and industry to provide flexible, efficient and cost-effective workplace training which can be delivered anywhere and anytime, customised to suit organisational needs, and completed by learners at their own pace.

However, the success of workplace e-learning hinges on providing learners with appropriate and effective support, and one of the most common mistakes is not providing enough support.
Increasingly businesses are adopting supportive online learning environments that allow learners to interact and engage in an interesting and dynamic way.

The dairy industry
Bega Cheese, through the Industry Integration of E-learning funding and support received by the dairy industry, is one business which is getting the most out of e-learning by providing workplace learners with a combination of computer-based content delivery, and teacher/trainer facilitation.

Elluminate web conferencing technology was used in the delivery of the Diploma of Food Science and Technology (Dairy), enabling learners at Bega Cheese to ask questions, interact and engage with their teachers/trainers and with other learners in real time.

The web conferences were presented by Australian and international dairy industry experts who would otherwise have been unable to deliver the course due to distance and cost restrictions. A mentoring program was established to support industry professionals in using e-learning, and policies and guidelines were developed for dairy processing companies wanting to use e-learning tools and technologies.

The company saw immediate benefits including:

· no downtime or lost productivity due to staff having to attend off-site training
· operators became more confident and comfortable with manufacturing their product
· OH&S issues associated with external training were eliminated.

According to Steve McKinnon, Plant Manager at Bega Cheese, providing access to industry experts also helped to solve a real workplace problem.

“One of the web conferences which learners participated in was directly relevant to a product trial Bega was conducting at the time. As a result, our learners acquired knowledge which enabled them to overcome a production problem that would otherwise have aborted the trial.

“For Bega Cheese, e-learning represents a real bottom-line benefit and is something we hope to pursue further,” Mr McKinnon said.

The stainless steel industry

Employers of apprentices in the stainless steel fabrication industry are also implementing e-learning in the workplace. To do this they are using a mentoring program for workplace supervisors which was constructed by the Australian Stainless Steel Development Association and their registered training organisation partner, Skills Tech Australia, also part of the Industry Integration of E-learning funding and support.

As apprentices complete their curriculum online, and therefore spend less time on campus, it is vital that their online learning schedule, achieving competencies and motivation does not decline. The mentor program has been developed to ensure that workplace mentors, TAFE mentors and apprentices in training understand their own, and each others, roles, responsibilities and expectations.

The workplace mentoring program is:

designed to produce a stable model for training programs undertaken in the workplace by providing a supportive learning environment for the learner
about assisting mentors (supervisors, workplace trainers) to operate effectively in an e-learning environment
familiarising mentors with the training material, expectations on the learner, assessment requirements, assessment criteria, tracking and technologies used in e-learning
adaptable to suit a wide range of workplaces and training requirements
one method of providing training support in the workplace
evaluated throughout the pilot program.

Applying e-learning to your business

Businesses wanting more information about maximising the benefits of e-learning can access the Guidelines for supporting learners using e-learning in workplaces, from the national training system’s e-learning strategy, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Framework).

The guidelines set out three working models to assist businesses with decision making involved with planning support for workplace e-learners:

· Model 1: Link support for workplace e-learning to business impact.
· Model 2: Assess the need to facilitate workplace e-learning.
· Model 3: Select strategies to support workplace e-learners.

The guidelines also include handy checklists to help businesses get ready to implement e-learning effectively, and to determine the best learner support model for the organisation.

To find out more about industry use of e-learning register to attend the Industry E-learning Showcase and Exhibition on Tuesday 24 November in Melbourne.

Registration details are available on the E-learning for Industry website at:
http://industry.flexiblelearning.net.au

For more information on how business and industry are embedding e-learning in workforce development, and to access the guidelines, visit the E-learning for Industry website at:

http://industry.flexiblelearning.net.au

ATC - Northern Tasmania

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:06:00 +0000

NORTHERN TASMANIA ATC TO JOIN TASMANIAN EDUCATION AND TRAINING SYSTEM

The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, welcomed the agreement to integrate the Australian Technical College - Northern Tasmania into the Tasmanian education and training system. The agreement was reached after Catholic Education Tasmania made a decision to not proceed with its proposal to take ownership of the Northern Tasmania ATC.

The Australian and Tasmanian Governments have worked closely with the Board of the Australian Technical College to develop plans for the integration of the ATC into Tasmania's system.

CONFINTEA VI

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:02:00 +0000

KNOW THE PANELS

Prominent scholars, experts and activists from around the globe will be panelists at the ForumThe International Civil Society Forum (FISC, for its Portuguese acronym) is a global event that will be held in Belém, capital of the state of Pará, Brazil, from November 28th to 30th, 2009 to prepare the participation of civil society at the official International Adult Education Conference (CONFINTEA VI) and also to articulate with other movements, networks and civil society organizations that have been working on the right to Youth and Adult Education.Different thematic panels are being organized within the framework of the International Civil Society Forum (FISC): "For the right to youth and adult education” that will take place in Belém

NOVEMBER 29, 12 PANELS WILL TAKE PLACE:

Adult Literacy Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:54:00 +0000

Go to

http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/content/adult-literacy-practitioner-web-resources

for a valuable list of resources.

Online Assessment for Moodle Users

noreply@blogger.com (Adult Learning Australia) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:40:00 +0000

The Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Framework) provides e-learning professional development opportunities (e-pd) to assist local RTOs in embedding e-learning in VET delivery for the ACT community.

On Friday 13 November 2009, the Framework’s ACT E-learning Coordinator Moir Holmes is running a morning e-tools workshop covering online assessment tools in the Moodle learning management system, including:
· types of assessment items available;
· integrating multimedia into assessment items; and
· tracking results.
The workshop will be in two parts, the first hour will demonstrate the range of assessment strategies possible in the standard Moodle implementation and the recording of student achievement. In the second hour participants will have the opportunity to create assessment items.

Time: 8.30am – 10.30am

Location: CIT Bruce Campus, room number to be provided upon registration.

To register email: kate.whittaker@cit.act.edu.au by COB Tuesday 10 November 2009 to secure your free place.

The e-tools workshops are free hands-on morning workshops which enable VET practitioners to use e-learning tools and resources to create engaging learning content.