FLL-ing

Toowoomba

There is a japanese garden just next to the University of Southern Queensland Toowoomba Campus.

Beyond the Break Day Two, part one

Day Two started with a presentation from Danny Calder of Optus who demonstrated using satellite links for broadcasting. Customers include Ford Motor Co, Centrelink, NT Ed Dept, NSW Ed Dept, and WA School of the Air. Trainers can do traditional presentations using video links, include powerpoint slides and audio. Interactivity is possible also through quiz and drawing tools (and I imagine many others that we would not have had time to see). An example of how the system is used for practical training was the use of mobile cameras in the automotive workshop to get under cars etc. There are no cost savings in this approach – but the added value of opening up opportunities that would not otherwise exist due to bandwidth and access issues.

Dr Deborah Harrison of Distance Learning US and Tandberg (a videoconferencing provider) talked about the ways that video conferencing can be deployed to improve services, collaboration and outreach to isolated communities. Lots of examples were given including:

· Museums and Zoos using videoconferencing to enhance the one day visits from school groups through pre- and post- visit activities, meaning that they can fulfil their educational role.
· Connecting new teachers with university faculty as a support mechanism in the early years of service.
· Linking minority groups in different schools together eg francophone students in non-french language schools in Canada
· Providing specialist and advanced education classes into American Indian reservations (not sure if this is the right term, please correct me…)
· Youth detention centres using video conferencing for detainees to continue their high school studies.
· Linking small localities to community colleges, and community colleges to universities.
These stories could be achieved through any number of videoconferencing systems, the implementation examples showed what can be achieved through the deployment of enough of the video conferencing units. I wonder what the inoperability of these systems is like? Can we be hooking into more of the existing VC locations in Tasmania? I like both the idea of a community having a centre, as well as individuals using desktop/PC based systems.

Lyn Ambrose (FLL 2000) of Southbank Institute spoke about 'Getting everyone online using sound planning processes' at her institute, starting with a quote: “The present is the father of the future”

Starting with some statistics to place her story in context:
· 450 educators
· 30,000 students
· largest TAFE in QLD
An issue faced by any TAFE is the reality that measuring against ASCH (student contact hours) is no good for online – as teachers going to need time to learn new ways of doing things.

Southbank’s journey into online learning began in 1996 ...

when the multimedia teaching team developed two units of the Certificate 4 in Multimedia, which was primarily a number of uploaded pdfs. The teachers had the technical skills to go ahead, and continued over the next 2 years to develop more units until they had a full Diploma of Multimedia.
In 2000 Lyn was a Flexible Learning Leader and used her time to visit many other educational institutes, and saw that the way forward was a strategic plan for the institute. To garner support for the plan, Lyn allocated tasks from the plan to ‘likely champions’. Upper management was involved through membership of a steering group. An extensive communication plan was developed and a specific communications officer role was created.
Some challenges for the plan were establishing a baseline, communication, changing roles for staff and learners, online community (CoP), elearn centres, IP & Copyright, incorporation into institute business plan, quality procedures for product development, marketing, service delivery, online learning helpdesk for learners.
Phew! A lot of work for a small team to accomplish.
Professional development for staff has taken many forms, at the start Lyn says they were on the lookout for free PD opportunities for staff, and ensured that all staff were involved, teachers, admin, finance, audit etc.
A lot of professional development is through communication and sharing rather than training courses as such. A monthly newsletter has a prominent presence and includes articles about online pedagogy, urls, celebrating success, progress reports. This is an institute wide newsletter, and ¼ of the space is dedicated to flexible learning. Liaison Librarians are dedicated to group of faculties and are the first point of contact with getting started online.

Breakfast forums are held monthly in Southbank’s training restaurants, limited to 50 people, 7.30-8.45am. At these sessions, finished products are demonstrated, people report back from conferences attended, guest speakers are invited, and it is also an opportunity to network. The group of people coming along changes over time.
Lunchtime specials are also now scheduled to capture a different cross section of the staff who bring along their own lunch, there are no more than 15 people per venue, and these sessions are scheduled on each of their three campuses. Focus is on technical skills demos, short sharp topics.
In addition to these ongoing events, there is an annual teaching and learning conference held inhouse which all teaching staff must attend. Blackboard (the LMS that Southbank uses) is trained over 2 days as a formal course.

Product development is taken seriously with a framework within which projects can be funded, but only if a return on investment can be shown.
Steps in the process are:
1. Submit business case (template provided)
2. Initiate project plan
3. Induct Subject Matter Expert
4. Appoint Instructional Designer
5. Set up ref group
6. SME develops content
7. ID develops resources in tandem with SME
8. Field test with sample group
9. Evaluate field test
10. Make necessary changes
11. Deliver product on CD to director of faculty
12. Input student details into LMS
13. Continuous improvement

Launch of products to industry happens when product development completed as Southbank sees it as very important to make it visible. The forms for the procedure so they could move forward. These forms include a Business case template, SME induction kit, Course planning document, feedback on course planning document for reference group, quality assurance, project plan, project handover document, market analysis, staff capability, product analysis etc.

The market analysis includes:
· Proposed market
· Benefits of an online approach
· Potential revenue
· Market readiness
· Experience in the market
· Marketing strategy and costs

Product analysis includes
· Availability of current content
· Training package details (eg soon to be reviewed?)
· Barriers to online
· Collaboration/ partners
· Upgrade of product
· Product - Holden or rolls Royce

Through the planning and analysis which the teaching team completes, a return on investment over 3 years must be demonstrated for the project to proceed.
That was the end of Lyn’s keynote address, but there is more to come from the site visit to Southbank at the end of the week.

Beyond the Break, Day Two, Part Two

The ANTA keynote, presented by Brent McArdle was one of the surprises of the conference for me. It was mainly about the training.com.au website and outlined some of the changes or enhancements due to be launched in August – September that will focus on the RTO as the user. The NTIS website is being overhauled, one improvement outlined is an online tool to tell you if a selection of competencies ‘equals’ a qualification. Brent also provided one of the more humorous quotes from the conference: “online discussion forums need a critical mass of nerds to make them work”.

One of the concurrent sessions I chose on Tuesday afternoon was a demonstration of Centra, a ‘virtual classroom’ product, presented by Tarsha Atkinson – Centra and Dayah Pethiyagoda – Learning Network Queensland. Videoconferencing featured heavily in the conference program overall, and by talking to various colleagues I discovered it is used extensively for teaching and learning in QLD. At TAFE Tasmania, our facilities seem to get used more for meetings and we have had some discussion within our section with the aim of finding out how we could make the most of what we have available to us. On a tangent, I have also been trialling the Flash Communication Server Videoconferencing whilst away from home, and it works surprisingly well on a dial up modem line, so that is a tool that could be used if TAFE Tasmania buys a proper licence when the trial expires.

Centra can be used one-to-many, many-to-many and one-to-one. Case studies are available on their website where you will also find links to a free fifteen day trial.

The charter of Learning Network Queensland (LNQ) is to provide infrastructure that enables delivery of education across QLD for distance learning. If a community has access to education providers, then LNQ is ‘not interested’; LNQ establishes centres that become a ‘campus on demand’ as the need from a provider arises. Also LNQ promotes to communities the options that are available to them and provide linkages to providers. One of their biggest jobs is to search for effective and appropriate delivery methods.

Centra functionality that was demonstrated:
· basic feedback - yes/no
· hand raising “I want to talk”
· surveys
Each user needs to be licensed so there is value in focusing on learning centres rather than individuals having at their residence etc. Centra requires a Windows Operating System presently, a camera and a headset. At LNQ Centres, students can use all the facilities free of charge if part of a learning activity.

Presentation pages can be pre-prepared, and then both presenters and learners can draw on the slides with basic drawing tools. The main part of the screen is a whiteboard, also this includes application sharing eg from websites which can be done by anyone taking part. LNQ suggests the use video clips in preference to live webcam for demonstration purposes.
I’m looking forward to trialling this software and evaluating how we could use it.

Beyond the Break, Day Two, Part Three

Michelle Spuler talked about “Collaborative Delivery within TAFE QLD”. This project was started in response to some drivers including:
· Increase variety of offerings
· Client equity and needs addressed cost effectively

8 institutes are working together on a number of pilots, and a toolkit for those wanting to deliver collaboratively has been developed. The pilots are basically all between regional institutes and also Opening Learning Institute (OLI). One of the cultural change issues was people working together across institutes, and a guiding coalition of senior managers from each institute demonstrates shared leadership for project outcomes. Each pilot group was established as a community consciously to facilitate collaborative work and this has been supported through professional development.

There is a toolkit available that addresses some of the issues that rose through the pilots, but is behind a username/password. It looks interesting, and includes a bundle of checklists, series of questions, and issues to be considered.

Distance Learning

This is the building which houses the Education Faculty at the University of Southern Queensland where I have been studying for the past 3 years. One of the bonuses of this trip was a visit to the library to browse - searching through an online catalogue works well for me when I know what I'm looking for, but I sometimes just want to see what's there. Nearly there with the study - one more subject and I will have completed my Graduate Diploma of Further Education and Training.

Centra Trial looking good so far

Started to experiment with the free trial of Centra eMeeting that I registered for at the Beyond the Break Conference. So far it looks good - it is easy to set up a meeting, invite participants, the audio quality is pleasing, powerpoint slides can be brought in, application sharing seems straightforward to do. My only quibble so far is that the text chat window is separate to the main interface and it is up to each person to have the window open, rather than the presenter opening it. Need to play a bit more, also need to try the video conferencing. There has been a lot of interest from colleagues in trying it out too, so now I know a little, I'll be setting up some groups. Mind you, I haven't had much of an experiment with other virtual classroom tools, so there may be better (and worse) alternatives :-)

Application to workplace learning or professional development -
the version that I am trialling did not need administrator access to install, it could be a great type of tool for induction sessions, application sharing could be useful for computer training, showing people around WebCT (the learning management system we use at TAFE Tasmania), web and audio conferencing, cameras could be used in a workplace for observation potentially for assessment evidence. Depending on how the system is set up when you buy it, we might be able to offer video conferencing at people's desktops - I would also like to try this on a dial-up modem connection.