ALA

Evidence shows that mentoring builds people’s skills and confidence, but Australia’s vast distances mean that students and learners often find it difficult to find a supportive mentor to guide them in their study and training.

To combat this, a number of innovative e-learning projects are creating social networks that connect students and learners to teachers, trainers and peers outside of the classroom and workplace.

‘E-hub for trades’

Poor economic conditions for farmers in the Wheatbelt in Western Australia have encouraged people to leave towns for work in the mines, making enhanced learning a top priority to retain workers.

The Trading Up Project, run through C Y O’Connor TAFE, is establishing an ‘e-hub for the trades’ for young apprentices in the Wheatbelt which will connect students via the institute’s learning management system ‘WebCT’.

The ‘e-hub’ will allow students and lecturers to network and access resources online, such as how to create an e-portfolio, useful study skills and maths support materials. Each trade will have its own online area with learning objects, frequently asked questions and discussion boards.

A chat room will enable apprentices to start building professional networks and connect with peers.

Project Manager, Jo Hart, said, “Apart from on-the-job training and coming into college, apprentices don’t have much contact with each other, unless they make the effort to stay in touch. We want to help them interact with each other so they don’t feel like they are on their own.”

The project is initially working with the metals trade, and the e-hub will also be a resource for automotive and building and construction apprentices and trainers in the future.

Virtual schooling

In South Australia, an innovative e-learning project is helping students who are at secondary school and are undertaking an apprenticeship at the same time.

The E-trade Learning Project uses the interactive course management software Moodle as a communication tool for vocational education and training (VET) students who are studying at schools which are linked together through the virtual Inner South Metro Trade School for the Future.

The project uses a series of connected and interrelated Moodle sites, with the virtual trade school site facilitating communication between apprentice brokers who act as a link between schools and industry, and teachers, trainers and students.

  

Project Manager, Malcolm Hughes, said the initiatives are about trainers and apprentices learning from each other and keeping the channels of communication open.

 

“Setting up a series of Moodle sites seemed the perfect vehicle to communicate between the schools and to make resources available outside the classroom,” he said.

 

Social networking to sustain friendships

 

It can be difficult for Australian school-based apprentices to make sustained friendships while they are juggling school and work, so the ACT Department of Education and Training is trialling the use of social networking to enhance the connection, communication and support for apprentices.

 

The Text Territory Project has set up a wiki for students and teachers – and it is hoped in the future to also include employers – to use as a sounding board for the students to raise any concerns or issues they may have.

 

The aim is to allow an issue to be identified, discussed and solved, without learners having to wait to see a teacher face-to-face. It is also hoped the site will allow future students to see how issues similar to theirs were solved in the past.

 

Project Manager, Tim McNevin, said the project is using an innovative approach to entice students into using the wiki.

 

“We are using a ‘remote teaching model’ where we are training the trainers to use the technology so they can train their students and encourage them to use it.”

 

The project team is now uploading assessment tools related to three units of competency from the Certificate II in Business onto the site to add value to the wiki experience.

 

These projects are being undertaken with funding and support from the national training system’s e-learning strategy, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Framework).

 

For more information about these and other innovative e-learning projects visit: http://flexiblelearning.net.au/innovations or http://flexiblelearning.net.au/innovationsblog