FLL-ing

Possibilities...

...are endless. Out of the induction workshop I was able to form links with many talented people that will enrich this FLL year (8 months?)
One question I asked dozens of people was "What's your project about?" so I'd better answer the same question here.
It's about:
- working out how the broad range of flexible learning strategies/ methods/ tools can be used to enhance learning outcomes for learners in the workplace,
- experimenting how our FlexiTrain Centres can provide support to these learners, and
- exploring how best to provide continuing professional development for those staff engaged in flexible learning.

FlexiTrain centres are about increasing learner access to facilities and services that help their learning. This might be providing a space for classes, tutorials or supported study sessions to take place, or it might be the resources they need to work well on their own schedule and pathway, knowing that support is available when they need it.
Here's some shots from one of our centres to give you an idea.

Mobile Learning: hand-held innovations in flexible learning

Off to Perth today for the project workshop about the New Practices Project managed by Marcus Ragus. The project will explore how handheld technology can enhance work based learning. The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens is one of the industry partners, thanks to a long-term relationship with TAFE Tasmania's Horticulture Team.

The project will investigate the varied hardware and software options, then put them through their paces in a number of pilots with learners and teachers. We're looking at models such as virtual learning environments, standalone learning objects with interactivity, communication and collaboration, evidence gathering checklists for both learners and trainers - this is just the initial list which is sure to be refined as the project progresses.

Being on the road means finding the space and time to work anywhere -Melbourne Airport in this case. Amazing how much of the office you can fit in a briefcase and this was just a start.

To Do

At the induction workshop last week Frances Howes asked each of us to make a 'to-do' list about our FLL project. This was influenced by some of the tips from past FLL's about how to manage our projects. I've decided to put mine here to act as a reminder.

1. Plan a workshop for Networking 2004 (by submission deadline)
2. Regularly feed out information to the broad TAFE Tasmania community - share the learning (at least one thing each month)
3. Make a commitment to regular reviews of my plan and assess progress (each month with mentor/s)
4. Reusable Reporting Objects - make the snippets, reflections, briefing papers, presentations work more than once (ongoing)
5. Keep a grip on reality - I'm sure my family and colleagues will help with this one (ongoing)
6. Read Strategy Papers etc as they emerge and ensure project is aligned / re-aligned as necessary - this came out of the latest Leadership Development Workshop (ongoing)

As you can see it's mainly about building myself a process for managing my project.

I wrote this in Word ToGo on my Palm to see if the formatting would carry over, but it doesn't. It is still relatively easy to do the formatting in mo:blog using the built in html tags. It's rare I buy software for my Palm (there's so much good free stuff) but mo:blog I just had to. It means I can write a post on my Palm m505, attach a photo that I've taken using a digital camera and then resized on my Palm, then use my mobile phone to upload it. Pretty easy considering what it can do.
The picture that is attached was from the flight from Melbourne to Perth.

Recording

To make sure that I get to the end of the year and don't suddenly have to scrabble around for documentation, I've pledged (?) to myself that I will update this blog on a regular basis. While I was away in WA (see here) I used my palm to compose posts and also attach photos.

After two days of intense workshop and project planning, we escaped to Kings Park for a breath of fresh air.

Whilst talking through the direction and outcomes for the project, something in the path caught my eye - it seemed to confirm that everything would work, it wasn't crazy, but it would require the following strengths:

How does this translate to my FLL project?
Well, doing the research and developling my skills will be great, but the real benefits will only come from being able to share my learnings, and translate them into real outcomes for the people I work with. And this must be my litmus test - I must be able to answer "what will it mean for learners, trainers and teachers, for team leaders, for support staff, for employers, for TAFE Tas, for Tasmania?" Then and only then, will the project reach its full potential.

Coffee

Not a bad place for coffee and fruit toast on Oxford St, Leederville

Nola Campbell & Knowledge Work

Never got back here to report on the 2nd day of the National Induction Workshop properly so here goes...

Nola Campbell spoke on Friday morning about her experiences of teaching online and gave us a few tips:
- Ask the question "where is the teaching happening?"
- Structure learning activities in such a way that there are no right answers, to do this you need to use clever questions

She advised us that student engagement requires:
- Clarity of purpose, be clear in what you are asking students to do
- Information must be accessible
- Activities should be realistic, relevant, acheivable and motivating

Provide the unexpected and the memorable.
Librarians are integral to the planning and delivery of online courses and are a part of Nola's online classroom.

Another idea shown to us was the use of hand-drawn diagrams by students to explain concepts - these were submitted via fax, but could also be scanned and emailed or submitted online as an alternative.

Robby Weatherley briefed us on Knowledge Workers. The Final Report of the Professional Development for the Future Project is available online but here's a definition I jotted down from Robby's presentation:

Knowledge work involves making connections and building relationships through which knowledge flows leading to spontenaity and new activities in the workplace

What does this mean to me? Well, it highlights an important aspect of the FLL project - being able to share and communicate information to others has potential to create innovation, creating the relationships through which this information can flow and create new possibilities will be essential. How do I go about this? Make use of existing networks within the organisation to share information and looking for ways that knowledge can be shared between areas that may not otherwise link up.

FLL Outcomes

How will I know when I've achieved my project?

I'll have answered my research questions which are here in an old(er) post.

Add to share those answers I will/may have produced:
- the answers to 'life, the universe and everything' [not 42, I've decided, either that or I've got the wrong question]
- some case studies that describe the impact of solutions that I propose
- stories from people who are out there doing it well NOW
- report on the process by which I came to my conclusions
- some resources to help training professionals implement these solutions

How may this be presented? a website, cd-rom resource, paper based...

National Skills Shortages Strategy

link to media release

From Brendan Nelson's website a media release about the new getatrade.gov.au website

The media release says "The new Strategy will take an industry approach to skill needs and tackle many of the significant disincentives which can turn young people away from choosing trades as a career."

Links to (pdf) fact sheets about:
1. innovative skills shortages projects
2. regional skills shortages
3. transitions and student to work arrangements ‘adopt a school’ –
4. industry engagement in
5. new apprentices roundtable
6. labour market projections to support industry
7. building on the success of the national industry
8. science and emerging technology careers
9. report of the senate inquiry into current and future skills needs

are located at http://www.getatrade.gov.au/fact_sheets/fact.htm

Virtual Conference - Pan Commonwealth Forum

A series of four e-mail-based virtual conferences is being held in May and June 2004 as a lead-up to the Third Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning.

The current theme is 'Latest Developments' and here are ideas and thoughts that I've picked up so far.

The Hole In the Wall Project in India which showed that:
Groups of 6 to 13 year old children do not need to be "taught" how to use computers. In experiments conducted in India since 1999, [above], it has been shown that children can self-instruct themselves to operate computers. Their ability to do so seems to be independent of their:

Educational background
Literacy levels in the English language or any other language
Social or economic level
Ethnicity and place of origin, i.e, city, town or village
Gender
Genetic background
Geographic location
Intelligence
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Virtual Classroom set ups can provide a viable alternative to video conferencing.
Pro's of Virtual Classroom:
*archiving of presentations for retrieval later
*potentially better for low bandwidth areas
*combination of powerpoint, audio, video etc
Pro's of Video Conferencing
*people like face to face element
*no client-side software issues
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Some interesting thoughts on learning from Ian Moll at SAIDE, the South African Institute for Distance Education. Could not find the report on the website so have sent an email request. Fingers crossed!
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That's the end of the first of four virtual conferences. I'll be starting from the begining of the next one, the topic of which is 'Research and Evaluation'

Blogging Session

link to the first page of a resource I developed for other Flexible Learning Leaders about blogging.
The session will be facilitated via a chat session, and afterwards I am planning to zip up the materials and offer to others to use. Need to look at Creative Commons licensing etc.

Fitting it all together

While preparing the final (for now?) version of my pd plan it was useful to reflect on how the activities I have planned will feed into other areas of my work role. All of a sudden it doesn't feel as daunting.

What have I learnt this week that progresses me towards the final outcome?
Firstly, I need to carefully plan the outcomes, be quite specific in what I set out to achieve and that instantly increases my chances of success.
Secondly, look for synergy between different tasks - they can often feed into each other in surprising ways.

I've learnt more than just that though.
In planning my outcomes I asked a few people about what form those outcomes should take, and again this afternoon I'll be asking our Tasmanian Flexible Learning Network for their input. At this point I'm thinking: toolkits, quick guides to..., implementation checklists, stories to demonstrate concepts and case studies.

I was part of a discussion yesterday where a staff development approach was being brainstormed and it came down to Training + Performance Support and this is really the message I'm getting from the reading I've done so far about workplace learning.

There are benefits to both on- and off-the-job training solutions, but the phrase above really sums up how this project could develop. We (as training practitioners) shouldn't discard everything in favour of the latest, greatest thing, whatever it is, but look at how we can add value. In most cases radical transformative change is not needed, in others it may be absolutely necessary.