ASQA (the regulator for vocational education) have produced a series of videos around various topics: Understanding Assessment Tools, trainer compliance requirements and more.
I have leveraged these by adding a quiz within a simple Google Form to develop a series of professional development (PD) opportunities for educators.
Try this one and give me your feedback in the comments.
Back in 2014, I asked, “If I have the choice of a 65-inch screen or a 9.7-inch iPad screen, why am I still looking at the mobile device when sitting on my lounge?” (read my article here: Use your smart TV for e-learning)
This question is even more relevant in the current coronavirus epidemic with families working and schooling from home. Smart and upsized TVs are becoming the ‘norm’ within households in Australia. The ability to connect to the home WiFi is what makes them ‘smart’ but the user often doesn’t maximise this benefit.
Here are 5 easy ways you can use your smart TV as an e-learning device:
Developing a timed webinar facilitation plan is key to successful online training sessions.
* Use your existing face to face lesson plans as the starting point and adapt this for an online experience. Some webinars allow you to do group activities, web searches, shared whiteboards and group discussions.
* Timings for activities are critical to ensure your participants are engaged throughout the session. You can use non-verbal cues for engagement as well. Most webinar providers have features such as emoticons, chat areas, polls etc. Also use your teaching strategies such as pausing when presenting – don’t be afraid of ‘white noise’ as this helps to stop overloading for many learners and gives their minds time to digest what is being presented to them to learn.
Webinar facilitation plan
* Writing your plan will help you stay focused. Keep this nearby and afterwards reflect on what worked and how you could have improved the session. Adjust your plan accordingly.
Include what resources you will need for your online session; how you can present this to your learners, how they will engage with you, how the session supports learning outcomes and how participants can demonstrate their understanding of the session at the end.
Webinar facilitation plan
As large numbers of people turn to videoconferencing or webinars to stay connected during the COVID-19 crisis, reports of hijacking (also called “Zoom-bombing”) are emerging worldwide. Here are 5 simple tips you can use to help prevent digital bullying or inappropriate content being shared.
5 Tips to protect your webinar, created by Tracie Regan, all rights reserved
Managing student privacy – this is an area often overlooked in the rush of moving to Cloud based file management, setting up webinar sessions, or recommending an app for class activities. In Australia it is law (https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/guidance-and-advice/guide-to-securing-personal-information/) that you protect the personal information given to third-party providers (such as your preferred webinar provider or cloud based file storage and various apps) and check they hold from misuse, interference, loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
In most cases this is handled with a simple statement, which your school/company should be able to provide. In some cases this would have been a short statement on their enrolment form, but if you have changed the way your interact with learners, or manage their data, you need to make them aware of this change.
I always remind learners in a webinar that it will be recorded, and where the recording will be stored. Recordings may include things like their interactions, voice, chat (e.g. identifiers of a person), web cam video, etc. This might be obvious to you, but to some people it can be a surprise.
Useful website for parents (and yourself):
https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/guidance-and-advice/guide-to-securing-personal-information/
https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues
I am currently working on a project to develop a new e-learning resource and have started discussions around the end product meeting a quality standard to ensure it can be fit for purpose. In 2014 I applied the vocational education and training (VET) e-standards as developed by the E-standards for Training business activity under the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (you can still access a copy from https://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A65708 ). These standards are still useful in 2019, but some technologies and standards have obviously changed. Indeed some Learning Management Systems (LMS) have developed their own authoring tools (an authoring tool assists you in creating digital content for e-learning) which is wonderful, as I can remember the hours of code just to hotspot an image or create a multiple choice question. Authoring tools should also comply with Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG 2.0), ensuring a level of quality standard is applied and open accessibility to content.
In researching standards for designing e-learning, most sites I’ve found (such as this one https://trainingindustry.com/articles/e-learning/implementing-e-learning-what-standards-should-you-consider/ ) revolve around 2 main components – (1) the courseware design and (2) technical standards.
I would like to adjust this view and break the courseware design into 2 parts – Content Design; and what goes into this design – the Content. My reasoning is because these outcomes, although aligned, are often performed in different roles – such as an Instructional Designer and a Subject Matter Expert (SME). I have also expanded the technical component to consider responsiveness and SSO (Single Sign On) as these refer to newer technologies but often hinder a successful outcome – it can be very frustrating for your e-learning product to lose integrity when viewed on a mobile device; or the user cannot remember the unique complex password.
My e-learning resource development process to ensure a quality end standard can be described as:
What else? I could also add e-commerce but that isn’t always considered during the development phase.
e-learning resource development chart, by Tracie Regan
You can download a PDF version of this chart – e-learning resource development standards. This is shared under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/au/
I’m currently working on an e-learning development project that will support new compliance requirements. Quite often this type of e-learning carries the least incentive for the user to complete, as there is no perceived WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) (Interested in the WIIFM Princple? Read https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/whats-in-it-for-me/ ) As with all desired learning outcomes, the key is to build a robust participant engagement strategy, recognise and reward their participation and have well defined learning outcomes.
Most modern workers will enjoy many different careers over their lifetime and this requires tracking a huge number of acquired soft and hard skills over their lifetime. E-portfolios, such as your LinkedIn profile (you can visit mine here), are one way to manage various attainments in this digital age and be agile in a changing workforce, another is to use Open Badges as a visual way to share your skills and knowledge and to support the concept of agility, these badges are carried in a Backpack.
What impact does all this have on the development of a new e-learning resource? If you understand and consider lifelong professional development planning as a part of an e-learning resource development strategy, you should be able to map this as a part of your engagement strategy, structure the learning outcomes accordingly and better define your e-learning project scope. Consider the graphic I designed to show my understanding of the lifelong learning cycle and you can see where the different reward structures fit with the design for engagement.
lifelong learning cycle
Using this methodology in my current e-learning project, I will be recommending applying a gamification strategy with open badges defined by various learning experiences – exploration of concepts; demonstration of knowledge; completion of learning activities; reflection on participation etc. These learning experiences can then be built in the future into defined skills and knowledge areas that would support a vocational competency and this in turn can be developed into higher education practices for professional development.
As part of maintaining my professional and vocational currency, I’m currently (Dec 2018) participating in a Deakin University MOOC – Transforming Digital Learning
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/digital-learning
Which is a free two week taster course into further studies.
I’m still in week 1 but find the topics thoughtful and content engaging. I do however get frustrated at limiting my forum discussion posts to 1200 characters including spaces, and am turning this negative into a positive by further developing my responses into reflective posts on this blog. If nothing else I will have it for future reference.
One of the questions posed in this study is “What does the future of (digital) learning look like to you?”
I’ve expanded my answer below:
I actually gave a TEDx talk in Gympie, 2012 on the changes of distance learning with the introduction of technology. You can see my presentation here: http://prezi.com/i2agvvo4laep/distance-learning-is-closer-than-ever-tedx-gympie/
I ended my talk with a small item of augmented reality, where a learner could hold their mobile device over a printed diagram to watch a video or instructional content about that diagram, bringing another dimension to their learning. I’ve been waiting for this to become ‘normal practice’ ever since but the use of augmented reality in vocational learning is yet to become commonplace.
Since then, my vision for future learning is wrapped around four ‘I’s – incidental, intuitive, immersive and invisible and these will be supported by the IoT (Internet of Things).
Incidental – because you don’t know what you don’t know. But someone (or something) does. When you need to learn something, this will be given to you and will build on your previous learning experiences. The technology for this possibly already exists, Google knows where I am, who I interact with and my buying habits, why not track my learning?
Intuitive – your existing level of knowledge will be recognised and the learning will be presented in a form that best suits your personal learning needs. Your learning history may show a preference for video, so a video on how to operate the new kitchen device will be shown to you when you use it, until you have learnt each function. I would expect this video to be displayed as augmented reality, in your own kitchen. Prefer to read? A manual will be displayed for your convenience.
Immersive – the ability to learn will surround us but will not become apparent until we need it. Are you new to the workplace? When you first login your induction course will begin. Buying a new item from the supermarket shelf? A display will show you how to use it in your planned weekly recipe.
Invisible – the Internet will be everywhere, like electricity we will take it for granted and the interconnectedness (don’t spell check it) of machine and technology will enable learning to be available everywhere, anytime it is meaningful and memorable to our personal needs.
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My grandson asked me why do we need street signs when Google Maps gives our location and directions on how to get somewhere else?
What if we just spoke the name of the person we want to visit and our transport device will take us to their current location, checking first it was convenient to them for us to visit?
One of the benefits of a classroom learning experience is being able to see your teacher. It may seem strange but seeing this mysterious person can also add credibility to what you are studying if you know they have a passion and depth of knowledge.
When working with teachers transitioning to the online environment, I encourage them to consider ways they can present themselves to their e-learner. This is particularly important with a new learner group, as first impressions count and this is your opportunity to inspire your new learner into undertaking their studies with you.
This may be as simple as a link to their LinkedIn profile (mine is https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracieregan/) but even better is a short video introducing the course:
Digital teaching practices – welcome from Tracie Regan on Vimeo.
If you aren’t comfortable in front of a camera (and you can see I’m not a professional either), perhaps use a simulation of yourself. Try the app Tellagami https://tellagami.com/
or tap into your creative side with a PowToon https://www.powtoon.com/
also read:
More and more vocational educators are using a ‘blended learning strategy’ as the basis of their teaching. Blended simply means using a combination of platforms for training – the classroom experience and/or an online learning management system (LMS) and/or virtual classroom. Done well, there is a seamless integration of learning experiences for the active learner who is passionate about their anytime/anywhere learning preference.
consistent_experience
To do this well though, there needs to be a dual quality focus on the learner, and the trainer. In the excitement of using new technologies in training, we can lose sight of the learner and their experience.
Setting the stage for learning.
Are you applying a consistent learning environment? This includes seeing your company brand in every learning space; resources formatted with a consistent style guide; making the student handbook available in each space to remind learners of expected behaviours.
Can your learner access their resources consistently? In the classroom you may have print versions available to the class that are also available as a download in the LMS. If you do (and it is a good idea for those tactile learners) then you also need to systematically check versions to ensure these are the same across platforms.
Can learners be supported consistently? If you have tutors on campus, do they also support the online learner in the LMS and are they available to support the learner in the webinar? For example, a learner with an identified literacy need may benefit from using larger font. It is relatively easy to provide a large print handout in the classroom or show someone how to make the font on their computer screen larger but did you know a participant can also make the chat font larger whilst in a webinar, and this isn’t seen in the same way by other participants?
Setting the stage for training.
Are you applying a consistent training environment? This includes applying your company brand to every learning space; using a style guide for resources; using consistent resources on different platforms.
Are you trainers confident in each teaching space?
Have your trainers got access to consistent resources? If the training organisation has quality and version controlled teaching resources are these available in different formats and still quality and version checked? Making the same resource available in different formats also aids in supporting our learners’ needs.
resource formats
Working across platforms also requires a robust delivery plan – when and how the training will be delivered to the learner by the trainer. This detail should be included on your TAS (Training & Assessment Strategy).
Alongside this TAS is the trainer’s Facilitation or Lesson Plan. A Lesson plan outlines learning objectives and resources whereas the Facilitation Plan includes an engagement strategy. You may want to develop a Facilitation Plan for each platform, but remember to then use an overarching document that ties these threads together.
Here is an example of a webinar based facilitation plan:
Webinar facilitation plan
Apply a considered, consistent approach to your blended learning strategy will ensure all needs are met – compliance, learner and trainer.
This article is also available in LinkedIn
If you liked this article you may also like:
https://www.thoughtco.com/change-screen-or-device-font-size-31357
https://elearningindustry.com/6-blended-learning-models-blended-learning-successful-students
E-teaching 