Project featured by Adult Learning Australia

Adult Learning Australia has featured our project, Wirelessly Connecting Youth for Future Success, on their webiste.

Click here to access.

Update on Project – Wirelessly Connecting Youth for Future Success

As Project Officer of the iPad E-Learning Project, I have had the privilege to work with many enthusiastic students whilst trialing various apps on the iPad 2. Students have also had the benefit to undertake the literacy and numeracy assessment using the iPad 2. I will endeavor to inform you of some of the outcomes through this blog.

Student 1, let’s call him Peter, has a vision impairment. Previously Peter has used a desk top and laptop to complete the online literacy and numeracy assessment. Peter finds it difficult to see the keyboard and takes a long time to read information on the screen. When I gave Peter an iPad to use, he informed me that the keypad was much easier to see. Also, Peter could pick up the iPad and bring it close to his eyes in order to read the information. This would be quite difficult to do when using a desk top or laptop. Peter also, found it easy to navigate and search for things on the iPad.

Another group of students I worked with had the opportunity to research educational apps that could be used as learning tools to improve, spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, numeracy, multiplication, subtraction, addition, division, fractions, shapes, area, perimeters, mapping, measurement, problem solving and time management. The group of students spent several hours trialing various apps and commenting on their usefulness. All students thoroughly enjoyed the activity and are eager to embark on this activity again. In a later activity the same group of students will be trialing specific apps (that I have researched) which they will rate by completing an ‘app evaluation form.’ This data will be collated and displayed on graphs etc and will be shared via this blog.

I hope to update blog readers on a regular basis about this wonderful project. If you require further information Malcolm Jolly (Team Leader – Innovation, GippsTAFE) malcolmj@gippstafe.edu.au would be more than willing to assist.

Until next time…..

Tanya Joiner Project Officer

The GETT Centre

The GETT Centre was established more than 30 years ago to help people with a disability further their education and employment. Although that philosophy still runs deep through the GETT Centre today, we have developed ourselves into so much more.  The GETT Centre is situated in state of the art facilities in Traralgon where we have access to some of the latest technologies from smartboards to Playstation 3’s.

The GETT Centre has evolved and undergone significant growth over the past four years, moving from primarily having a focus on training young people with a disability and running a Disability Employment Service to catering for all young people within the community who are disengaged from education and require additional assistance with their literacy, numeracy and life skills. This involves setting up and delivering programs on behalf of schools and community groups as well as breaking down the boundaries on what education looks like to most. Much of the learning now done at the GETT Centre takes place either connected to the world through our expanding range of engaging gizmo’s and gadgets or through being out and about in the community performing tasks as work groups, volunteering and doing an assortment of fundraising and community minded activities.

Sometime ago as a unit we started to contemplate how we might be able to use Web 2.0 technologies and gaming devices for engaging our students in an educational context. Through some trial and error we have slowly implemented the following changes:

• The use of online social networking
• Students have access to a Playstation 3 with both educational and recreational games
• The development of a student breakout area with fun and stimulating card and board games as well as an outdoor basketball ring to let off some steam
• The computer lab has been replaced with a mobile laptop cart that turns any and all classrooms into computer labs.

These subtle strategies have helped us to develop a culture of using technology to engage our students. Our process and practices along with technology are always evolving however we pride ourselves on staying on the cutting edge and firmly believe that if a device out there can make a student’s life easier then we are happy to give it a go and give them the opportunity to engage and to be educated.

This Partnership for Participation project is a wonderful opportunity to explore the use of mobile devices for the testing of and building of literacy and numeracy skills for this complex cohort.

Michael Duncan

Team Leader – GETT Centre

Wirelessly Connecting Youth for Future Success

The Wirelessly Connecting Youth for Future Success is a sponsored project under the National VET e‑learning Strategy.  This Partnership for Participation undertaking is exploring the use of mobile devices, in particular iPads^tm for the testing of literacy and numeracy capabilities for disadvantaged youth in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.

 Outcomes of the testing will directly feed into the development of innovative teaching strategies/pedagogies that will incorporate the use of mobile technologies for building the literacy and numeracy skills of this youth cohort.  Students and teachers will then have the opportunity to research, test and evaluate various literacy and numeracy apps in different contexts.  The VET qualification area is based units of competence from the Certificate I in Transition Education 22129VIC and the Certificate II in Education and Skills Development 40625SA. 

 This project is being managed by GippsTAFE’s Innovation Department in close collaboration with GippsTAFE’s Employment Transitional and Training Centre (GETT Centre), Traralgon Secondary College, Latrobe City, Latrobe Community Health and other key players.  

 The emphasis of this program is on exploring the use of mobile technologies for the testing and subsequent delivery of innovative learner focused mobile learning literacy and numeracy training for disadvantaged Gippsland youth.  In addition this pilot project will provide input into the development of a change management strategy that focuses on better supporting GippsTAFE’s teachers to incorporate mobile technologies with disadvantaged learners. 

 Key project members:

• Michael Duncan Team Leader – GETT
• Natasha Hunt Training Co-ordinator
• Tanya Joiner Project Officer
• Malcolm Jolly Team Leader – Innovation Department
• Darryl Wood GETT Centre teacher

 For further information contact the project manager Malcolm Jolly malcolmj@gippstafe.edu.au

Moodle Webinar 5 – Groups & Restrict Access

This webinar explored the use of groups in a Moodle course and different ways to restrict access to content and activities.

Tuesday session

Thursday session

Presentation

Moodle Webinar 4 – Forums

This webinar looked at how Forums work in Moodle. We discussed the different types of forums and how to manage subscriptions.

Tuesday Session

Thursday Session

Presentation

Moodle Webinar 3 – Grades & Reporting

This webinar explored how reports work in Moodle and how grades are recorded.

Tuesday Session

Thursday Session

Presentation

 

Moodle Webinar 2 – Assignments

This webinar looked at the different types of assignments available in Moodle and how they work. Click on the links below to access the recordings and presentation.

Tuesday session

Thursday session

Presentation

Moodle Webinar 1 – Supporting your students

This webinar covered introducing students to Moodle and how to support them during their course. Click on the links below to access the recordings and the presentation.

Tuesday session

Thursday session

Presentation

Term 1 Moodle Webinars

Term 1 Moodle training at GippsTAFE is in the form of fortnightly webinars. The webinars are hour-long online sessions conducted in the virtual classroom, Blackboard Collaborate.

The advantage of this mode of delivery is that teachers can participate in the sessions from their work station. All they need is a computer connected to the internet and a microphone with a headset. They do not need to allow extra time to travel to and from a venue as they would if the sessions were conducted face to face. They can participate in the training with minimal impact on their already busy schedules.

Members of the plumbing department have shown particular ingenuity and co-operation in this regard. One staff member logs each person into the virtual classroom while the others are all occupied with students in the workshop. This means that once the teacher is free they just have to put on their headphones and join in the session rather than losing time waiting for Blackboard Collaborate to load.

Each session focuses on a particular aspect of Moodle and is offered twice, once at lunch time and once in the afternoon to cater for different teaching schedules. Sessions are also recorded so that anyone who cannot participate can catch up on what they have missed. Participants can also use the recordings to review the sessions if they wish.

The program is summarised in the MoodleWebinarsFlyer.

The participation in the program has been pleasing. 49 staff members from across the institute have registered for the training. They come from a variety of teaching areas and all GippsTAFE campuses are represented.

In order to introduce the participants to the virtual classroom preparation webinars were conducted in the week prior to the actual training. During these sessions the tools in the virtual classroom were explained and those who attended had the opportunity to participate in some simple activities so that they could become familiar with the technology.

Support documents about webinars were created and made available in the form of how to guides. These were loaded onto the GippsTAFE Online Learning Help Guides.

The program is well underway with good numbers participating in each session.