ALA

The automotive trades industry is turning to e-learning to tackle the high drop out rates of its apprentices.

With the industry also facing a skills shortage, interactive e-learning technologies are a way to engage and retain apprentices who prefer hands-on, practical work to reams of paper-based theory.

Several innovative e-learning projects are underway to assist apprentices and employers in the automotive trades industry.

One project aims to slash the four years required training for apprentices in half. Canberra Institute of Technology’s Fyshwick Trade Skills Centre is using e-learning to support fast-tracked automotive apprenticeships through its E-strategy for Certificate III in Automotive Vehicle Body (Spray Painting) project in the ACT.

The project aims to reduce delivery of the Certificate III in Automotive Vehicle Body (Spray Painting) from four years to two for selected students through an increase in on-the-job training and assessment.

Canberra Institute of Technology is developing and piloting online resources for use in fast-tracked apprenticeship programs.

Apprentices will be able to demonstrate the on-the-job learning component of their apprenticeship by recording short videos and/or still images as evidence of their learning in their workplace, and then submitting this evidence electronically. 

Fyshwick Trade Skills Centre Director, Dr Nicole Stenlake, said apprentices have a wide range of technologies available to achieve this, including high tech video eye glasses which can be used to record tasks.

“Most students, however, will use their mobile phones or the video/still cameras that all smash repair companies have already,” Dr Stenlake said.

“When the material is put online, teachers can provide timely feedback to students relating to the on-the-job component of their apprenticeship. 

“This provides the teacher with ongoing evidence of a learner’s progress and allows teachers to use their face-to-face time for more intensive training, support and mentoring.

“Apprentices will benefit from technology that engages them in their everyday lives, making training more enjoyable.

“The fast-tracking through the use of technology will encourage more and higher quality apprentices into the industry, increase retention rates and motivation and offer more flexibility for employers in busy workshops.”

Meanwhile, Bridgestone Australia Ltd (BSAL Group) in South Australia is using e-learning to entice a group of youth in the juvenile justice system to complete their automotive trades’ training.

With help from the Youth Education Centre at Magill in South Australia, the E-turn project is using electronic gaming to support Bridgestone’s tyre fitting program.

Bridgestone Learning and Development Manager, June Fiorina, said that, currently, the hands-on skills component of the course is successful but lacks industry exposure and the underpinning knowledge and skills that employers are looking for.

“And learners learn in many different ways,” Ms Fiorina said. “It is our experience that many students and employees prefer hands-on, practical ways of learning.”

Bridgestone has come up with a ‘hands-on’ solution to engage students – involving them in the development of multimedia resources and making the majority of the assessments game-based to encourage take up.

The project is using learning objects from existing Flexible Learning Toolboxes (Toolboxes) and customising them to meet the needs of the tyre fitting industry – particularly those related to safety and workshop practice. 

E-learning content tools, such as Metamorphosis and Raptivity, are being used to create resources that are relevant to current industry practices.

Ms Fiorina said language and literacy barriers will also be addressed, with existing students providing voice-overs to make the learning more relevant to future students.

“This process, and the creation of resources, will help build the self-esteem of the students as they see their work published and actually being used.”

The online components are being backed-up by practical workshop demonstrations and work experience. The program is being mapped to the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE).

Bridgestone plans to make this project a precursor for the development of a larger suite of online learning materials.

Other innovative e-learning projects with an automotive trades focus include the following:

• The Australian Technical College – Sunshine in Victoria is using information and communication technology to allow real-time communication between school-based apprentices (who are studying Certificate II and II in Building and Construction; Commercial Cookery; Electrotechnology; Engineering and Automotive), their employers and their teachers and trainers.

  The technical college’s MEET Project (Mobile Electronic Employability Tool) is assessing the use of mobile phones (including the new HTC touch phones with Windows Mobile platform), personal digital assistants (PDAs) and web 2.0 tools to enable apprentices in the workplace to access course curriculum and submit work for assessment.

• East Gippsland Institute of TAFE in Victoria is using the simplicity of a jukebox as the interface for its Cyber Jukebox Project. The project is focusing on students in correctional institutes who can’t access the internet, automotive and building students, and remote students who may only have access to dial-up internet. The Institute is building a stand-alone platform that can be uploaded onto a network or stand-alone computer via a CD-ROM.  

  With similarities to an iPod interface, the Cyber Jukebox will contain a wide range of resources – including audio, video, learning objects from Toolboxes and other sources. As a result, students in a workshop who don’t understand how to do something can go to the computer and learn how to do it themselves using interactive and visual learning aids.

These projects are being undertaken with funding 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

For regular updates on these projects, visit the E-learning Innovations Blog at: http://flexiblelearning.net.au/innovationsblog

For more information about the Framework, its products, resources and support networks, contact: (07) 3307 4700, email: enquiries@flexiblelearning.net.au or visit: http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au