Notes from VET Teaching Conference

NOTES FROM VET TEACHING CONFERENCE (Brisbane, May, 2010)

Kay Giles – No Two Days are the Same

Diversity leads to a degree ofgeneralisation – harder to be specific about what you do; goals of organizationbecome diffuse

“The illiterate of the 21^st century will be those who can't learn,unlearn, and relearn” (Toffler)

quality is a cultural concept. In the UK =reputation; for French, Italian = luxury; Japanese = setting a standard andachieving it; US = size (joke)

Australia: fit for purpose;relationships/trust

(at this point a reference came through on Twitter on the neutral nature of quality by Christopher Alexander, architect, but I can't find it :)

Notion of agility a better word/concept toreplace ‘flexibility’?

VET has a lot of offerings that are nolonger suiting customer/client need (eg 3 wk blocks)

[usevis as intermission! - should have related point though]

Keynote 2 Day 2: Assessment forLearning - Revitalising the Link Beween Assessment and Learning (Rob Stowell)

build a picture of competency

ask open questions – link to self-assessment

scaffold feedback piecemeal over time

Stages of Presentation

Quality Assessment

Relationship between T and L and assessment

Practical ideas for improving assessment inVET

– he has been looking at qualityassessment

Quality Assessment:

1) benchmarks (standards)

2) validity, reliability,fairness, flexibility

3) assessment decision based onevidence

4) quality assured

5) assessment an integral part ofthe t and l process; not separate

6) quality judgements (not sure what this means)

7) should be informed by practicebased research (ie not uni research!)

LEARNING: Deep v Surface

we need people with grasp of principles thatcan link them together

What kind of assessment leads to deeplearning?

1) builds on what learners know?

2) Approach that helps people'make meaning'

3) active and social

future assessment: will assist learnersdevelop capacity to make judgements/problem solve

Assessmentfor Learning requires that students:

understand the competency to be achieved

where they are in relation to the competency

how they can achieve the desired level

KEYNOTE DAY 2 : BeckySaunders (Murdoch Uni)

Contemporary VET Learning – Strategies for now and thefuture

[check Joyce and Showers Skill Training Model]

“people are where they are for good reasons” (the questions ofvalues!)

Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM)

Talked about what seems to be a wonderful PD model that runsfor over a year (can be up to 4 yrs!); focused on Instructional Intelligence (IT) [check Barrie Bennett –

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto]

IT is about ‘how people learn’’ it has 2 aspects:

1) emotional

2) behavioural

it’s a career long journey!

It takes 3-5 yrs to embed systemic change, and this kind ofchange is messy and organic

Links with Appreciative Inquiry and Open Space Methodology

“who among you is willing to bell the cat?” ie challengeexisting structures and authority

TERRY O’HANLON (CEO of Australian Trade College – an independentnon-profit): International VET – Meeting Global Needs

TNE = Transnational engagement

- large increase in offshore VET students since2006

Philippines

Only 20% of HE students get jobs; 3000 people leave thePhilippines every day to work abroad

International VET programs mean people in developingcountries can do ‘Australian quality’ training for a fraction of the price; ieit’s affordable

All content for all their courses is online

AFTERNOON KEYNOTE DAY2 – TIGA BAYLES

“we’re hands –on people” (ie indigenous)