Regular online network meetings take place the first Tuesday of every month. A face to face professional development and networking event will take place on December 8 in the Sydney CBD. CCA members can find out more and register via this eventbrite link.
Restoring ❤️in what you do project Inspiration, Quality and Sanity was facilitated by Chemène Sinson of Blackwater Projects. Designed to help lift the management, understanding and facilitation of learning for VET practitioners, VET managers and anyone interested in shaping better facilitation and training. (Funded by the NSW Government, with participation open to all CCA members.)
Scoping with VET managers informed project activities’ timing and focus. The building of facilitation skills of trainers and assessors in both face to face and hybrid learning environments has been the priority for this phase of the program.
The principles of adult learning underpin everything VET practitioners do. A first session considering recent research into adult learning principles and performance and how practitioners might reflect on and apply this research to their current practice was held in late March. The recording of this session is available on the CCA member Hub.
A second session revisited and reflected on the two principles of adult learning covered in session one: i) focus on performance and ii) help learners remember (teach to enhance memory retention).
The third (and arguably most important) principle was introduced, namely that adults learn best when they feel safe. The session introduced the concept of psychological safety and explored why and how to establish and maintain a psychologically safe learning environment.
Session 2: Performance and Psychological Safety
Session 3: Engagement in the live, online environment
Live, online learning is here to stay. When COVID-19 first took hold and stay-at-home restrictions were introduced, all providers scrambled to convert their face-to-face training to a live, online delivery mode. Educators were applauded for our agility—errors in execution were understood and forgiven, given the quick turnaround time. Two years on, the forgiveness of a fast turnaround has been replaced with an expectation of quality. Adult educators are now expected to offer quality learning experiences that achieve outcomes, even in the live, online environment.
This practical workshop examined strategies to engage learners and achieve outcomes in live, online sessions.
Session 4: Using foundation skills to engage students and improve student outcomes
Many people think that trainers only need to focus on foundation skills if learners struggle with reading, writing or numeracy. But a focus on foundation skills improves outcomes for ALL learners. This session clarified some of the language and terminology that surrounds foundation skills, looked at why it is so important to focus on foundation skills in all VET programs, and covered some practical strategies to address foundation skills and - in doing so - maintain learner engagement.
Session 5: Quality assessment practices (revisiting the heart of assessment)
Program funding
The project is funded by the NSW Department of Education through the 2021-22 ACE Teaching and Leadership Program, which is aligned to the Department’s priority to improve adult and community education outcomes.