The meeting on Monday was interesting. Some of the major points where:
At the start the program is quite structured, and the projects are teacher defined. This first stage is a cert 2 which is about six months long. Some of these students then go on to the cert IV and this is where the students have the most problems getting thru. After a year (sometimes more for some students) students then move into the diploma. By this stage there is normally only about 5 students in the course. At this stage where each student needs more customized support.
The teaching pattern most of the time is one teacher working with the students on a project, eg 4 days a week then that teacher will have a break from teaching for a period of time.
What direct instruction needs to be done is defined by the students at the beginning of the project when the students are planning out their time. These direct teaching sessions are called skills sessions. This is where the student is really at the centre of the project, and the teacher is supporting/facilitating the learning.
The "Program Design" is around a series of carefully designed projects. Assessment tasks are often different projects and work for real clients are called "Client Projects" all this is made clear to the students in a booklet that they are given at the beginning of the year, complete with the mapping of the relationship between the training package and the projects.
The business area is supported via bring in resources and people from elsewhere eg Mentors Tasmania (but sessional staff is not used)
In summary - the program is built around a series of projects that gets more complex over time, Students follow an overall program that is define/developed beforehand.
Notes: on the clients related stuff
- clients need to be trained eg they are not sure how to work with a
designer
- don't promise to much
- clients missing meetings and not being organised can create huge
problems for students