Presentation for the VET Development Centre (March, 2014)

1. INNOVATION IN THE VET SECTOR –
IS IT POSSIBLE?
Michael Coghlan
NewLearning
27/3/14

2. INNOVATION IN THE VET SECTOR –
IS IT POSSIBLE?
Yes, but it’s getting harder.

3. INNOVATION IN THE VET SECTOR
Examples from the past
Current state of play
Path to future innovation

4. INNOVATION ON THIS DAY
(March 27th)
• 1790 Shoe Laces and Holes
• 1849 Steam powered percussion rock drill
• 1855 Kerosene
• 1860 Corkscrew
• 1866 the Urinal
• 1884 First long distance telephone call
• 1914 First blood transfusion

5. INNOVATION
Involves:
• Time to play/experiment
• An element of risk
• Possible failure

7. FLIPPED LEARNING

8. ACCIDENTAL FLIPPING
• TAFESA DENTAL

9. PRACTICE FIRMS

10. RESPONSIBLE SERVICE OF ALCOHOL

11. 1997 - 2002
TAFESA: the first organisation outside of North America
to adopt WebCT

12. •Created by Jay Easterby-Wood (NT VET)
•Bought by Microsoft

13. Video created by a student of one of his
peers demonstrating competence in the
safe use of hand and power tools
Video/photographs created by students on
mobile phones and uploaded to Facebook
USER GENERATED CONTENT
http://www.flickr.com/photos/judybaxter/813957814/

14. Is a video created by an apprentice using POV
technology somewhere in remote Australia sufficient
to prove that s/he is competent at fitting service gauges?
POINT OF VIEW (POV) TECHNOLOGY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrGbfYkuu8E

15. Is a video created by an apprentice using POV
technology sufficient to prove that s/he is competent at fitting
battens on a roof?
POINT OF VIEW (POV) TECHNOLOGY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glj1zB-uoRc&feature=youtu.be

16. Virtual Worlds
Image courtesy of Jo Kay
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jokay/3354082811

17. http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/flickrCC/index.php
FINDING CREATIVE COMMONS IMAGES ON FLICKR

18. Stephan Schmidt

20. PEER ASSESSMENT: Moodle Workshop Tool
Overview
• This project explored the role of online peer
assessment in helping to determine a candidate’s
competency
• Unit of study: Promote team effectiveness
http://accesstoskills.wikispaces.com/AS079

21. http://mobile.news.com.au/realestate/investing/technology-now-a-tool-of-the-trade-in-construction/story-fndbarft-1226579678745

22. MODEL OF EXCELLENT PRACTICE
Blue Dog Training (Engineering) QLD
• Interactive online quizzes
• Electronic skills profile (type of eportfolio)
– Photographic and journal evidence
– Series of complex online tasks that test underpinning knowledge
• Work closely with on the job supervisors – interview
supervisors and students
• Frequency of tasks and photographic evidence recorded
• Build effective relationships with learners and employers
• ie: USE A VARIETY OF APPROACHES
http://www.bluedogtraining.com.au/

23. Blue Dog Trainer:
• How do I know that written report is the
student’s work? I know because it is one piece
of several pieces of assessment. I know in
particular because I have developed a
relationship with that student. I talk to them
by mail and phone, and also I talk to their
employer when I can. Any good teacher seeks
such validation.”

24. CC image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zen/3661826940
Many of them enabled via funding from:

25. INNOVATION INTO THE FUTURE
Is there a problem?

26. Victor Callan (The University of Queensland)
Berwyn Clayton (Victoria University)
http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/files/Eassessment_AQTF_final.pdf

27. Skills of the VET Teacher/Trainer
Many practitioners not sure
what is acceptable to auditors –
results in a culture of meek
compliance > unwillingness to
innovate

28. However..... 
• Auditor’s comment:
“I suggest you steer away
from collaborative
assessment.” (2013)

29. TEACHING AND LEARNING OUTCOMES
(circa 2000)

30. TAE CERTIFICATE OUTCOMES - 2013

31. HOW WE’VE CHANGED:
• The focus of VET has shifted from LEARNING
to ASSESSMENT.

32. TIME SPENT ON ASSESSMENT

33. TIME SPENT ON ASSESSENT
– the last 5 years -

34. LECTURER COMMENTS:
• wasting a huge amount of time on bureaucracy to meet auditors needs rather than
on delivery of outcomes to students
• the Audit /ASQA requirements for VET and Tafe training has increased the time
needed prepare and assess in training
• a lot of the time is spent on the quality requirements now e.g. filing assessments,
tracking training plans etc
• marking, documenting, recording, student information systems, fulfilling auditable
requirements takes the largest proportion of our time
• Very little time available for research, and development of materials past what is
already available due to the increased demands time for assessment ... Too much
time spent doing tasks that should be done by administrative staff.... Quality
system also demands multiple records of many outcomes and this takes significant
time also
• Administration and compliance requirements, especially in relation to assessment,
have significantly reduced the time available for quality lesson planning and
resource development

35. What an assessor in the Australian
VET sector needs to show!
• Provide evidence to support your
decision to approve student X
competent in unit of competence Y on
day Z last semester
• extreme cases: need to report on every
student on every unit of competence
for every day

36. WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED?
because a couple of kids mucked around in class

37. • Sugata Mitra:
"the stupidity and short-sighted self-interest of
politicians combined with the laziness and
cowardice of many who work in education is a
powerful and deadly brake upon change."
(Sugata Mitra)

38. STEMMING THE TIDE
Two questions:
1. Will this improve my
teaching?
2. Will it reduce the
amount of time I have
to prepare lessons?
Greg Whitby

39. THE PROBLEM:
"The dominant culture of education has come to focus not on teaching
and learning, but testing...this...leads to a culture of compliance rather
than creativity.“
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_death_valley.html

40. What needs to happen to ensure
innovation in the VET sector?
• Innovation needs to be a standing item on the agenda in
work groups meetings
• While we have every learning experience budgeted,
audited, assessed and reviewed there will never be
any true innovation - the system doesn't allow it (Peter A)
• Without the support of the organisational culture, the best
laid plans "to be innovative" just won't happen. VET culture
is problematic. The work is meaningful for most, but the
desire to do the extra is hindered by lack of support, lack of
time, and lack of security in the sector. Culture is the key!
(Andrew K)
• TIME! (Frank)

41. What needs to happen to ensure
innovation in the VET sector?
• Peter Shanks (Sprout Labs, Tasmanian Polytechnic/TasTAFE):
– Encourage the delivery of single units of competency and skill sets
– Sanction the delivery of non-accredited courses (e.g. no assessment and certification...
just the facts and the practice), either for 'just in time learning' or as a feeder to
accredited courses
– Create a decent API for the training package material and bring all content under a
creative commons license
– Become a centralised open badges issuer for training package based units of
competency and link RTOs into it so that they can issue and verify student
achievements, and so students can easily display and move their qualifications from one
RTO to another (see http://openbadges.org/)
– Encourage/fund the translation of training package material into other languages
– Actively promote and support the use of Training Packages overseas
– Build tools for creating content and an interface for discovery, remixing and sharing. Aim
for student generated, mobile based content and you might just about make something
relevant before the next big change comes along (my guess: AI generated content
available through some ubiquitous interface - wearable or embedded in everyday
devices).

42. ”if we want to allow innovation to happen in the VET sector
we need to have a work culture and environment that allows
experimentation and trialling without the requirement of success,
profitability or quality” (Peter A)

43. 2014 Aust Technology Outlook (Horizon Report)
Trending Educational Technologies:
Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One
Year or Less
• BYOD
• Flipped Classroom
• Mobile Learning
• Online Learning
Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to
Three Years
• Badges/Micro-credits
• Games and Gamification
• Learning Analytics
• Open Content
Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to
Five Years
• The Internet of Things
• Machine Learning
• Natural User Interfaces
• Wearable Technology

44. FLIPPED LEARNING
( a form of Blended Learning)

45. MOBILE
• more than 50% of the world
now access the Internet via
a mobile device
• Develop content for mobile devices first!
• Moodle 2.x reformats automatically for the
mobile screen; also apps available for all
smartphones

46. AUGMENTED REALITY (AR)
Inspire Centre, University of Canberra

47. 3D PRINTING
CC image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/7464973344/

48. (Open) BADGES
From Peer2peer university

50. DEVICES that can be implanted in the brain are being trialled to treat seizures, pain, psychiatric
conditions and Parkinson's disease.New electrodes - half a millimetre thick - are being designed
to insert into the brain, detect abnormal brain activity and deliver instant treatment.

51. GOOGLE GLASS
"A study of over 4000 people carried out by
the Centre of Creative and Social Technologies
(CAST) at Goldsmiths University, revealed that
one in five Britons were uncomfortable with the
privacy implications surrounding the Google Glass
– and believe that it should be banned outright.
The research paper, The Human Cloud: Wearable
Technology from Novelty to Productivity, found that
around half of respondents expressed a general
mistrust about the invasive nature of wearable
technologies such as Google Glass

52. eAssessment via Uberveillance?
Google Glass Narrative (formerly
Memoto)
CC image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ucdjoe/9303044876
See also Autographer

53. DRONES FOR GOOD
CC image by mobology
Drones for Schools

55. No strings attached funding

56. INNOVATION
Involves:
• Time to play/experiment
• An element of risk
• Possible failure
99% of success is built
on failure.
(Charles Kettering)

57. LAST THOUGHTS? QUESTIONS?
COMMENTS?

58. END OF
TODAY’S
SESSION
Unless otherwise stated all images used in this presentation are Creative
Commons images by mikecogh - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/
Michael Coghlan
NewLearning
michaelc@chariot.net.au
Slides available from
http://www.slideshare.net/michaelc/