Ryde's Big Day Out

TLPD was asked to present to the Ryde Professional Development day, organised by the College Director, Helen Kam about incorporating technology in teaching.

We took an innovative approach using a Digital Story to introduce the presentation, followed by a presentation which was predominantly images, interactive and encouraged audience participation.

This was followed by a "hands-on" activity for teachers to try their hand at Digital Storytelling and setting up Blogs. The class was split and some teachers organised a Blog, set up in anticipation of next year (inspired by NSIT's Wine Studies Blog) and others mastered PhotoStory 3.

It was a great session, created a lot of interest and broadened the horizons of many teachers in new and innovative teaching practices.

NSI Teaching and Learning Showcase

The NSI Teaching & Learning Showcase was a great success on Thursday 7th December with a large number of teams across the Institute presenting their projects.

The event was held in Room AG20 at North Sydney College, where groups such as Office Administration & Technology from Hornsby showed how they are dealing with non-compliance at their stand "Meet the Feds", Media & Communications from Meadowbank showed how they were using laptops and PDAs with their students, Irene Ireland from TLPD kept an "Eye on Assessment" discussing her involvement with a Reframing the Future project whereby 4 teaching sections came to grips with Teaching and Learning strategies, and Meredith Collins from TLPD showcasing the Discover-e online course and TOL2 trials. There was also a number of very successful Knowledge Cafes held in the foyer outside the room.

The projects ranged from Learnscope, Reframing the Future, Quality Improvement projects, TOL2 - Access to New Technologies, and in-house institute projects. Overall, the day was a great opportunity to highlight what has been achieved and share expertise on issues.

Industry e-learning showcase and exhibition

On Thursday 30 November I attended an Industry elearning showcase and exhibition at the Shangri-la Hotel, organised by the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (AFLF). This was an opportunity for organisations to showcase their industry application of e-learning for workforce development.

There were 15 organisations showcasing and presenting from a wide variety of industries - electronics, communications, construction, welfare, transport, media, health, agriculture. All of the organisations created innovative solutions to training problems. They developed elearning tools using a variety of systems, such as Moodle.

The organisations were;
* Energy Australia (developed online system to train workers in reverse polarity, a potential OHS hazard)
* John Holland Pty Ltd (produced an online induction system with 2 stages – one is generic, the other site specific)
* BHP Billiton (developed a CD-ROM based product training workers about confined spaces, hazardous areas, working at heights and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA)
* Motor Traders Association of NSW (used podcasting to engage trainee vehicle sales consultants)
* NSW Farmers Association (developed online module to train farmers in uses of chemicals used in agriculture)
* Fire Protection Association Australia (developed CD-ROM resource responding to changes to fire protection standards)
* North Coast Area Health Service (used Moodle to produce a zero tolerance to violence online “edutainment” resource)
* Lifeline Australia (used Moodle to create elearning for supervisors on call training)
* Australian Broadcasting Corporation (developed a tool for capturing knowledge of workers)
* Transport and Distribution Training Victoria (used elearning for risk management compliance)
* City of Mandurah (developed a training course for safe handling for food operators)
* Codan Limited (created tool for soldering skills for communications equipment)
* Connex Melbourne Pty Ltd (developed online self-assessment and recognition tool for train workers)
* Seafood Services Australia (produced resource using tools such as digital stories for Australian Fish Name Standards, Country of origin labelling, and primary processing and production standards)

For more in depth descriptions of these projects go to the E-Learning for Industry website at - http://industry.flexiblelearning.net.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=47

In order to gain funding for their projects they had to partner with an RTO. Of these organisations only 3 were partnered with TAFE. To find out more about how you can get involved check out the Industry Engagement Project page on the E-Learning for Industry website. They announced that funding will be available soon, so now is the time to start thinking about projects and partnerships with industry.

Knowledge Cafe at North Sydney College

Today in the Library at North Sydney there is another Knowledge Cafe session. Today's focus is on some of the Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us, and photo sharing sites such as flickr. This is an exciting opportunity for all staff (teaching and non-teaching) to meet in an informal and supportive environment to exchange ideas, information, thoughts and views on the publishing innovations delivered by Web 2.0 social software and discuss how to successfully use these tools to support educational delivery.

eLearning 06

The Flexible Learning Network's eLearning 06 event was started today and proved a valuable opportunity to have a look at what other Institutes are doing in the area of eLearning, as well as network with Colleagues from across the State.

NSI was well represented by a number of projects that have been undertaken this year. The Hair & Beauty team from Meadowbank's project was closely looked at by Hunter H&B, as well as Sydney Institute's H&B area.

Today's event reinforced that Northern Sydney is really across and adopting new technologies wholeheartely. THe projects that we are undertaking and the way in which we are using technology based learning is most definitely on a par with initiatives taking place across the State.