OTEN - eBusiness

"eBusiness and Education: an evolutionary journey"
By Louise Turnbull and Arlene Gofers, both from OTEN

The eBusiness appproaches that have been implemented at OTEN have been:

"• provision of extensive online pre-enrolment information and assistance
• online enrolment in an increasing number of courses
• development of the OTEN Learning Support Site (OLS) to provide a gateway
to information and additional learning activities
• inclusion of searchable Frequently Asked Questions on the support site (oneto-
many communication strategy) ... read more

• access to selected information from the student administration system via the
OLS for example results, assignments required, personal details for updating
online
• provision of options to students regarding what media their learning materials
are supplied to them (online, print, CD ROM)
• establishment of email Helpdesk procedures and protocols to manage student
emails
• provision of technical support for all students via email
• electronic assignment submission and auto receipt acknowledgement
• use of web-based group and communication tools to create classes of distance
education students and build a sense of community." (p4)

OTEN

"Supporting distance students online: OTEN initiatives"
By Margot McNeill and Phillip Lantry, both of OTEN.

OTEN has found that 'amongst the highest priorities for students are: faster turnaround and more feedback on assessment, more contact with teachers and other students for motivation, and, more structure in their study programs' (p2-3)

In addition to providing a site for student support, a 'staffroom' has been set up - OTEN has more off-site than on-site staff, this staff room also has specific course areas where teachers can gather to share informat ... read more

Colis- Secondary usage metadata

"Implications for COLIS for course development: The need for secondary usage metadata"
By Robyn Philip and Prof. James Dalziel, both from Macquarie Uni.

ODLAA Forum Paper 2003

The message for me out of this paper was the importance of the context in which a learning object [or digital asset or whatever] is to be used. It suggests that teachers will be hesitant about using an object developed by others, but encouraged if there is information available about how it was used:
"not only information about who used it and where, but information about its effecti ... read more

LMS Panel

LMS convened a panel of teachers and team leaders to speak about their experiences - this included Kevin Donovan, Vicki Cleaver, Rob Prior, Robin Petterd, Andrew Richardson and Eric Ortman.

Questions asked of the panel were:
A) as a program/team how do you go about choosing and sourcing resources?
B) are you aware of STP, Aesharenet, TAFE Frontiers, WestOne, OTEN, OLI?
C) have you been involved in national resource development projects?
D) if you cannot find the resources you need what are the next steps you take?
E) have you used any online, including toolboxes?
F) return on investment from resource development exercises?

Things that stood out for me:
You can earn a lot of money from selling workbooks, but they take a lot of time and effort to develop, and you need to keep them up to date.
Because we tend to adopt new/revised training packages earlier, we often are the first to develop resources.
Resources that are available from other organisations [see above in Q2] can be pulled apart and reused, but no-one on the panel had done this.
Two approaches to resources - a) develop a resource that addresses a unit or cluster of units or b) find and accumulate a library of much smaller resources that can be recombined in different ways. Each approach takes time, and different kinds of effort to achieve.
Online resources - most student response from using the communication aspects of WebCT and making resources available through that platform - not an online course as such but a support site.
Toolboxes - treat a toolbox like a textbook - pull bits out, facilitate your course, use what's needed. more investigation into chunks that can be used across training packages needed - and also examples of a chunk that has been treated in this way.

Rob Prior - Automotive

Rob Prior talked about the Transportable Learning Resources - the idea is that the learning resources are not locked into the classroom, but can be taken into a workplace, home or elsewhere.

We were given an in-depth explanation of the quiz approach that the Auto team has developed.

Here's some key points:
A) Questions within quizzes are selected in a semi-random way so that repeat takers of quizzes do not get the same questions over and over again.
B) A question's 'performance' is assessed - if everyone gets 100%, it's use as a learning activity is small unless it is mandatory information. If few people are getting the question correct, the wording or diagrams used may be changed.
C) Within a matching question, you can have pictures rather than words to match.
D) Students are not able to complete the summative quiz until they achieve the desired % across the other quizzes - this % is determined by a complex formula that weights quizzes differently.
E) Students are encouraged not to view their numerical result as a test score, but rather as an indication of their learning achievements and gaps.

All students for Auto are in the one course, with the aim of simplifying administration. They control access to quizzes etc through group names and releasing resources to groups.

Liz Fleming - Clothing & Textiles

Liz spoke about the transition the Clothing & Textiles team has been through over the past 5 years to implement the National Training Package. Through that implementation process, a major shift in the way teaching and learning is managed in their area has been made.

In planning for this change, there were 3 main questions they asked themselves:
A) how would we assess this unit in the workplace?
B) can we do this in a simulated environment?
C) what units can be combined?

The team developed assessment tools before the delivery strategies.
Staff now focus on the students' planning and organising skills rather than providing information - which was a huge mindshift for some teachers and very challenging.

Team work - at some qualification levels, team work is structured into the activities - eg at Cert 2 students are organised into workteams that have production quotas to meet and must self organise to achieve this. At Diploma level, there is much more independent work. The teachers recognise that malfunctioning teams are part of the reality of organising learning in this way, and will intervene in much the same way as a workplace supervisor. One of the hardest things for the teachers to do has been to 'hold back'. The result of these approaches has been students with much better planning skills at the end of their study.

Resource development is shared on a statewide basis, with teachers taking on areas of responsibility.

Each student now has an individual training plan - which the students and teachers negotiate. It was a response to needing a way to manage the great variety of what students where doing and when they were doing it. It has the added benefit of keeping the students on track with their timelines.

After Liz's presentation we were given a tour of the workshop - students told us that the approach was not what they expected when they enrolled - and that it really suited them. They talked about the pressures and interdependence within the workteams as being something they could manage and see benefit in - this from a Cert 2 student. Cert 4 students were working on their workplan - they were now onto their second collection as a team and explained that their workplan for this collection was a lot more detailed and included more info about documentation they would need - this need was identified by them as an outcome from their first collection.

Students can request skills sessions, which teachers then organise - training on demand. Liz and Gaye also talked about the trust and honesty that students display to each other - hundreds of resources in form of magazines, pattern blocks, toiles, cds with files are freely available, and the team no longer has trouble with theft.

Key competencies and business/workplace skills are embedded within most activities - some workbooks are used, but the emphasis is on the application of these skills to achieve the primary work - design and production of clothing and textile products.

Vocational Higher Education in the UK

This report details an investigation into the role and significance of vocational, sub-degree higher education in meeting the needs of the economy and employers. [link to previous entry]

As the qualification types are different in the UK, some of the data in this report is not directly transferable to the Australian situation, however information about employer and student perceptions is useful.

The study found that:
- in engineering people with a HND {Higher National Diploma - a diploma given ... read more