NSW Outreach xchange

Education at a glance 2011: OECD indicators

2011-09-16T15:28:00.001+10:00

Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators 2011 offers a rich, comparable and up-to-date array of indicators that reflect a consensus among professionals on how to measure the current state of education internationally. The indicators provide information on the human and financial resources invested in education, on how education and learning systems operate and evolve, and on the returns to educational investments. The indicators are organised thematically, .....Read more

Toward a personal learning environment framework

2011-09-16T15:26:00.000+10:00

Over the past decade, it has been argued that technology-enhanced learning (TEL) could respond to the needs of the new knowledge society and transform learning. However, despite isolated achievements, TEL has not succeeded in revolutionizing education and learning processes. ...Read more

Petrol Pricing in the Hands of the People 4 the People

2011-05-09T10:39:00.006+10:00

Are you tired of paying heaps for your petrol? Then read this ok!

THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' PETROL FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE AS A COLLECTIVE CAN GET PETROL BACK DOWN TO $1.00 PER Litre....

This was originated from a retired Coca Cola executive. If you are tired of the gas prices going up AND they will continue to rise this winter, take time to read this, PLEASE. This is great idea and very simple to participate. This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the 'don't buy petrol on a certain day' campaign that was going around last April or May!

It is worth your consideration. Join the resistance!!!! We are going to hit $ 2.00 a litre and it might go higher!! Want petrol prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. The oil companies just laughed at last year’s action because they knew we would not continue to 'hurt' ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us!

By now, you're probably thinking petrol priced at about $1.50 is cheap. It can only get dearer ... and dearer unless WE do something about it.

Politicians pay NOTHING for petrol - you the taxpayer, pays their petrol consumption. Do not expect them to fight for you. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre of petrol is CHEAP at $1.50, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the market place...not sellers.

With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocket book by not purchasing their petrol! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How?

Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying petrol. But we CAN have an impact on petrol prices if we all act together to force a price war. Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY petrol from BP, the biggest price-up driver company. If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of BP petrol buyers. It's SO simple!

Now, don't wimp out at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions and even BILLIONS of people!! I am sending this note to 20 people.

If each of you sends it on to at least twenty more that's (20 x 20 = 400) .. And those 400 send it to at least twenty more (400 x 20 = 8000 ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the fifth group of people, we will have reached over SIXTY FOUR MILLION consumers.

20x20 = 400
400 x 20 = 8,000
8,000 x 20 = 160,000
160,000x20 = 3,200,000
3,200,000 x 20 = 64,000,000
64,000,000 x 20 = 12,800,000,000

That's 12.80 Billion people folks, who will have been contacted!!!!! unbelievable?? Do the maths and see for yourself. Again, all you have to do is send this link to 20 people. That's all...so just do it!

I'll bet you didn't think we had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference.If this message makes sense to you, then please pass it on. THEY will LOWER THEIR PRICES TO BELOW THE $1.50 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK. It’s simple – send the message along to others and choose to not buy petrol from BP.

SIX BILLION people:

Now THAT's people power. LET'S JUST DO IT ! ! ! More power to you friend.

Note: IF YOU DO CHOOSE TO FORWARD THIS THEN PLEASE USE YOUR BCC FEATURE FOR EMAIL ok

"Skills For Prosperity: A Road Map For Vocational Education Education and Training" report - Skills Australia

2011-05-02T10:27:00.007+10:00

Skills Australia is launching "Skills For Prosperity: A Road Map For Vocational Education Education and Training" report. The Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, Senator the Hon Christopher Evans MP is launching this strategy. This report is the recent review of the national VET sector over the last 10 years in which they recognise the important role of the VET sector in raising Australia’s productivity and addressing skills challenges to ensure Australia’s future economic growth and prosperity.

Australia’s VET system has served the nation well but we now need to take further strides along the reform path to help position the system to meet the needs of individuals and enterprises.

The launch is on Tuesday 3 May 2011 from 11.45am – 1.30pm here at Sydney Institute, Ultimo TAFE College, The Muse, Building C, Harris St, Ultimo (for map click here). The report will be available on the Skills Australia website or click here. There is also an upcoming conference for your diary - Skills Australia together with the nation’s 11 Industry Skills Councils will be hosting a conference with the theme Putting skills at the heart of the economy on Thursday 21 July 2011 at the Crown Conference Centre in Melbourne. Further details will be available soon at the Skills Australia website.

Medal of the Order of Australia for TAFE Outreach Coordinator

2011-01-26T10:36:00.010+11:00

Nola is well known to us all for her tireless community work that goes well beyond her role as a TAFE Outreach Coordinator. Currently Nola's roles include TAFE Outreach Coordinator at Liverpool, a member of the Australian Multicultural Advisory Council (AMAC) and a range of multicultural positions in her local and broader community. These roles demand that Nola keep abreast of policies and issues relating to equity in education. Nola's commitment to social justice is put into practice on a daily basis.

Response to Skills Australia

2010-12-22T10:27:00.000+11:00

TAFETA Outreach Special Interest Group submitted a response to the skills Australia's "Creating a future direction for Australian vocational education and training" discussion paper. The response welcomes the opportunity to advance the Australian VET system with particular emphasis on the public provision of Vocational Education and Training that serves to ensure the quality is not reserved for the privileged.

The quality of the training is limited by the funds that can be won rather than a commitment to funds to offer the best vocational education and training being made by the government of the day.This means that resources are not used cooperatively but rather in competition.It fools us into believing that we are doing the best because “someone won a tender” rather than collaborating and pooling more resources together to gain a better outcome.

The role of VET for the Australia of 2020

2010-12-21T21:49:00.002+11:00

As our population grows older and our society depends on people staying in the workforce longer, it is important that the opportunities for relevant education is available for all at all stages of their lives. This could be in relation to industry identified skills shortages or enabling adult basic education for those who did not have adequate schooling earlier. Such education or training could be sponsored at a local community level where industry, RTOs and community organizations identify a gap in what is needed for the development of the local area. Currently the various Institutes of TAFE NSW fund TAFE Outreach sections which work directly with community organizations to enhance Community Capacity Building in the community by offering relevant educational courses as requested by communities. These courses are vital as a stepping stone to further training and education. The future of such courses could be jeopardized without a commitment by VET to flexible, community based delivery.

The current approaches by DEEWR to fund programs that incorporate partnerships between organizations such as the Innovations Funds and the Critical Skills Investment Funds reflects attempts to encourage planning at a local level. However this is perhaps somewhat in tension with VET curricula course planning being driven by industry skills councils. When funding is more directly market driven there is the danger that the most vulnerable learners will become more marginalized and that local communities will be unable to respond to their local labour markets (Collaborative Learning Ecologies: Reflections on the Governance of lifelong learning, 2009, p6[i]).

For Australia to be a leading international economy in 2020 we need to be informed by models of best practice and to encourage innovative thinking and work practices. This will not come through a sole focus on competency based training in the VET sector. In addition, with the current low standards of qualifications required by the trainers/educators of this sector we are losing the ability of the trainers to critique the sector, model flexibility and vision a different approach.

[i] Inquiry into the Future of Life Long Learning Sector Paper, Collaborative Learning Ecologies: Reflections on the Governance of Lifelong Learning, 2009, England, National Institute of Adult Continuous Education)

Adult Education in Europe: same same?

2010-11-28T18:27:00.002+11:00

The European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults (RELA) is a refereed academic journal creating a forum for the publication of critical research on adult education and learning.

The journal examines issues in adult education in Europe within a broader global context. How different is adult education in Australia? Are they tackling the same barriers to effective practice as us? Where does adult education fit in term of policy?

...narrowing of the field of adult education: on the one hand, forgetting values that centrally gave birth to it, such as social emancipation and critical action and thought; on the other hand, using adult education as an instrument to mould workers to the new labour market, while legitimating the instrumental character of the neoliberal free market.

Leesa and Jim on the Skills Australia Report

2010-11-01T08:53:00.002+11:00

There’s an interesting item on Radio National about the Skills Australia discussion paper Creating a future direction for Australian vocational education and training released last week. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nationalinterest/stories/2010/3051916.htm Leesa Wheelahan (University of Melbourne) and Jim Barron (CEO Group Training Australia) were interviewed about the Skills Australia report on Radio National. Key messages were: 1. TAFE has had to do more with less funding (rather than coasting). 2. Increasing student fees will not have a big impact because they only represent 4.5% of total revenue. 3. We need to shift the training culture so that businesses view training as an investment rather than a cost. 4. TAFE is more than a provider. Government has to invest in institutions to build knowledge and capacity building. The report is available http://www.skillsaustralia.gov.au/PDFs_RTFs/discussionpaper-creatingnewdirectionforVET.pdf

TAFE Outreach response to NVEAC Draft Blueprint on Equity

2010-10-03T09:26:00.000+11:00

Mid 2010 the National VET Equity Advisory Council (NVEAC) presented the draft NVEAC Blueprint "Creating Futures: Achieving Potential through VET" and invited stakeholders to make a written submissions in response to it. 50 submissions have been published on the NVEAC website including a response from TAFE Outreach coordinators.

Throughout NSW, TAFE Outreach's practice has adapted and responded to policies, changing social norms and emerging challenges for more than thirty years and in that time we have achieved excellent outcomes in engaging the most marginalised in our communities through participatory and transformative education processes. We welcome your acknowledgement of the value of being informed by good practice and your recognition of the significant gap between engagement programs and Certificate III qualifications.

Sydney Peace Prize for 2010

2010-05-14T11:08:00.007+10:00

I got this email today from Julie Regan of Creative Coaching Options expressing her extreme delight in Dr Vandana Shiva receiving the Sydney Peace Prize for 2010. Dr Shiva has demonstrated her dedicated commitment to the preservation of the planet as evident by her actions and leadership. She sets an excellent example to the rest of the world. Anyways, I thought I would share Julie's thoughts with you all ok as she suggests "that should we get the opportunity to see" Dr Shiva, "it will change your life".

I am very excited to hear the news that Dr Vandana Shiva, the Indian physicist and environmentalist, has been awarded the Sydney Peace Prize for 2010. I saw this woman (Dr Shiva) speak at the 2008 International Coach Federation conference in November 2008 and she is truly inspiring and visionary. As a long time environmental activist she has worked tirelessly and fought some major battles with global companies to maintain living condition for poorer and disenfranchised people in India, including working on a global commons seed project aimed at keeping plant seeds in the common domain and not patented by the likes on Monsanto. When I saw her speak, Dr Shiva was speaking about the GFC (global financial climate) and had some insightful and damming things to say about the collapse of the global economy. She was also speaking about the role coaching had to play in creating change in the world. Check out the announcement ......

If you would like to contact Julie Regan @ Creative Coaching Options, send her an email julie@creativecoachingoptions.com ok.

The Falzon

2010-03-21T14:44:00.007+11:00

Tired of weasel words and new public management, I have been doing a little research on the need to for the organisation I work for to maintain fee exempt course as part of their social responsibility. It brought me back to John Falzon. His passionate eloquently written prose inspires reflection and critical thought that is foreign to the management drivel I read and am exposed to way too much of. Like my friend Leigh, this is a man who is not motivated by hatred and will not let hatred get in the way of promoting social justice and the common good. In his article Social Crisis Social change he speaks out against paternalism and its punitive drivers:

The alternative to the “instrumental” approach is the movement for liberation. All progressive social changes have been won through the hard work of those who believed that another kind of society is possible. This approach can be neither paternalistic nor coercive. It is best summed up in the powerful words of Lilla Watson and the group of Aboriginal activists she was part of in Brisbane in the 1970s: “If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

Australian Workforce Futures

2010-03-12T15:40:00.005+11:00

A National Workforce Development Strategy

Julia Gillard has just launched Skills Australia's latest contribution which makes mention of Outreach programs on a couple of occasions. Julia acknowledges those marginalised with particular reference to LLN.

Critical to achieving these will be our ability to lift the rate of workforce participation for those groups of people who are not participating to their full potential, including those who are marginalised due to a lack of skills, particularly the foundation skills of language, literacy and numeracy.

The executive summary highlights the success of Outreach programs:

We recommend strategies to encourage the delivery of further education and training in more flexible and innovative ways to suit the needs and interests of employees at different stages of their working life. One way to achieve this for existing workers would be through a more flexible approach to using employer incentives to support training for those who are not apprentices or trainees. For job seekers we recommend extending the highly successful flexible outreach programs which have successfully encouraged and equipped many women to rejoin the workforce.

The paper reflects on seeking solutions to effective outcomes with the most marginalised in our communities by learning from others.

Models of successful programs to engage marginalised people and at risk groups need to be studied, adapted and applied as appropriate. The examples that follow demonstrate how flexibility, partnerships and community involvement can make a difference: The Men’s Shed: A highly successful, flexible outreach program that helps marginalized people to participate in the community and workforce has been established in the Nambucca Shire.

Adult Student Guide

2010-03-10T15:41:00.002+11:00

Looking for new material? Here is a link to the great resource. Its an American site that has loads of resources and self directed learning resources that you could use for the students and also in your preparation for classes ok. The site is the Adult Student Guide. Here is an example for developing goals:

Decide where you are / what your current status is: Use your feelings and intuition, assess your situation, obtain and analyze any available data, and ask for input from others.
Locate where you want to go or be: Based on where you are, decide where you want to go.
Develop a course based on the conditions you want to satisfy: Using the data collected above, and input from other sources, create a listing or chart of what steps need to be accomplished to get to where you want to be.
Chart your progress: Check off the items accomplished. Make notes about things that need updating or changing.
Alter plans based on new information and opportunities: Time changes things no matter what. What you dreamed of 5 years ago may be quite different from what you visualize now. New obstacles, responsibilities, and opportunities are sure to pop up after the first draft of your goals. Don't be afraid to revisit the plan to add new tasks or delete items that are no longer relevant. Worth checking out ok - http://www.adultstudent.com/student/goals.html

How is Australia Faring?

2010-02-26T13:19:00.007+11:00

How Australia is Faring: Australian Social Inclusion Board Report

The Australian Social Inclusion Board released its first annual report in January 2010, setting a baseline for measuring progress on reducing disadvantage in Australia. It reports clear statistics on 44 social inclusion indicators,such as income, work, education, and social participation in the political,civic and community spheres. It also addresses access to resources, and identifies locations of concentrated and multiple disadvantages.

Key element of achievng Social Inclusion have been identified as:

Learn (participate in education and training);
Work (participate in employment, unpaid or voluntary work including family and carer responsibilities);
Engage (connect with people, use local services and participate in local, cultural, civic and recreational activities); and
Have a voice (influence decisions that affect them).

CLOUD CULTURE: THE PROMISE AND THE THREAT

2010-02-25T22:59:00.000+11:00

Facebook, google, twitter, what effect will they have on culture? This essay explores the pros and cons, acknowledging we are in the early stage of the web and its potential.

Our interests as citizens and consumers will be best served by their being a rich variety of cultural clouds: public and private, social and voluntary, global and very local, cosmopolitan and nationalist.

So how do clouds fit in? Read on as Leadbetter interogates notions of our digital futures.

Hello to the IT Ultimo Mob

2009-11-17T14:13:00.001+11:00

We r sitting here in M1.10 checking out bogging with Gary

Practitioner experiences and expectations with the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAA40104): A discussion of the issues

2009-11-11T09:23:00.005+11:00

NCVER have published discussion paper about the experiences and expectations of the Training and Assessment (TAA40104). As the standard teaching qualification in the vocational education and training (VET) sector and its adequacy and relevance are interrogated.

The paper provides a good historical context and raises issues about teacher efficacy. It is part of a review process in relation to the TAA Cert IV.

Your comments would be appreciated to generate some informed discussion.

In focusing on some of the key concerns about the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, Smith (2004, p.73) emphasised the fact that the training of people teaching in the VET sector is highly complex, particularly as trainers and assessors are operating in diverse settings and contexts and under a range of employment agreements and conditions. As a consequence, Smith suggests, the preparation of teachers and trainers is not likely to be as straightforward as it might be for teachers in other educational sectors. Extreme diversity and complexity ensure that a ‘one size fits all’ approach to teacher education in the sector is unlikely to work.

A Hairiffic Day at Broadway

2009-10-19T15:19:00.003+11:00

This is Stephanie and myself after we had been to the hairdresser at Broadway.

Tapatjatjaka Visit to Sydney

2009-10-19T14:12:00.006+11:00

We are here with the mob from Tapatjatjaka Arts Centre - Kenneth, Jane, Stephanie, Ansara and Susan. They are down here on an arts study tour. We are all in the classroom looking at how easy it is to place a photo - only taken yesterday - up on to the internet. This photo was taken at the Botanical Gardens.

Outreach 2009

2009-06-17T21:07:00.002+10:00

Social Inclusion Research Papers

2009-05-21T13:01:00.004+10:00

As you are all aware the Govt has a new name for Access and Equity! Its social inclusion and the reason why we know is that there no longer central support for NSW Outreach. Our equity section has traditionally sent out a link to research papers on the social inclusion site to assist us with any of our funding applications ok and we thought we will put a link up here for you all too ok.

Lock up, Locked Out

2009-05-17T20:33:00.003+10:00

Peter Jeffs, Untitled 1, 1995-2000/2007, gelatin silver photograph, 115x174cm. From the exhibition Time and Distance at Centre for Contemporary Photography 2008.

The greatest power for progressive social change lies precisely with the excluded. The people who can best define and interpret the reality of exclusion and socio-economic insecurity are also potentially the only ones who can, in the end, determine the means towards, and the ends of, social inclusion.

John Falzon's eloquent article in Human rights Defender, Volume 17: Issue 1: August 2008, provides an overview of service delivery and advocacy to the most marginalised in our communities in the context of devolution of state responsibilities and "diminishing rights of citizens".

Further, the coercive corralling of disadvantaged groups into the low end of the labour market may result in the lowering of labour costs, but this in itself can act as a disincentive for business to actually invest in training and technological innovation. In other words, productivity increases can be discouraged because profit margins are increased on the backs of cheaper and more compliant labour.

Can learning outcomes be divorced from processes of learning?

2009-02-24T10:18:00.003+11:00

This is not the first time this question has been tackled. Leesa Wheelahan's paper interrogates the role of training packages and curriculum. What effect do training packages have on students access to theoretical knowledge underpining vocational practice?

This paper argues that competency-based vocational education and training qualifications in Australia deny students access to the theoretical knowledge that underpins vocational practice, and that they result in unitary and unproblematic conceptions of work because students are not provided with the means to participate in theoretical debates shaping their field. Competency-based training (CBT) is thus a form of ‘silencing’ because it excludes students from access to the means needed to envisage alternative futures within their field.

AVETRA

2009-02-09T10:57:00.001+11:00

AVETRA is Australia’s only national, independent association of researchers in vocational education and training (VET). It was established in 1997 with initial financial assistance from the Australian National Training Authority Research Advisory Council and receives support from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).

These links pages are designed to help AVETRA members and other researchers find information they need. It contains a wide range of links from both Australia and overseas

Accommodation Prices in Sydney - Who Would Believe Me?

2008-10-21T17:41:00.004+11:00

Have you ever had that awful awful feeling of "where am I going to stay in Sydney" and hey not to mention "at a place that suits my budget". Well we have found a pretty good tool for that hey.

What happened was that my sister Susan is coming to Sydney for a conference with her work at Lifeline in Cairns and some of her colleagues were asking for some recommendations and Lesley has not been in the conference organising bizzo for a while so I had to go and search the net hey and found this great link with extradinary results that I thought f@#% I have just got to share it with OUTreachers........for example a room at Darling Harbour for under $120 or how about a room in the city for under $100. Too good to believe it hey! Well go on, take a look at it yourself - http://www.ratestogo.com.au/SearchResults.asp?CityID=1

Oze Teacher Learning Technologies

2008-07-19T20:17:00.004+10:00

Educational Uses of Specific Learning Technologies The guide is mainly for teachers of Australian primary and secondary school. There are some great links to free and inexpensive resources that might be useful for adult education.

Welcome Back

2008-01-18T11:06:00.000+11:00

Welcome back to Outreach for another year of innovative Outreach practice. We have been busy at state office endeavouring to support your practice. The intranet site is being updated with information on staff, professional development, projects, resources and guidelines. We are also working on the feedback from the Outreach conference and addressing issues raised. The Equity Unit presented a response to “Doing business in the 21st century” along with many others. It is a indication of the level of commitment of TAFE NSW staff that a proposal is meet with such a response. Check out ABC podcasts for some easy listening such as the following recommended by Barbara Bee who has spent the holidays working on her PHD.

“Human Rights Oration by Anne Summers: Putting Equality Back On the Agenda Equality for Women has been off the political Agenda for too long now. No human rights agenda can be complete without the inclusion of a clear commitment to the equality of women.”

"Education is the engine room of equity"

Rudd 2007

NSW Outreach Staff List

2007-11-14T11:41:00.000+11:00

Here is the NSW Outreach Staff List for you to download ok. It is important to keep the list updated so if you know of a change please contact Donna or Jude and they will in turn update the list.

Ubiquitous Outreach Exchange 2007

2007-10-31T17:02:00.000+11:00

| View | Upload your own

A new social purpose agenda in adult education

2007-08-17T15:46:00.000+10:00

Rick Flowers pointed me in the direction of this conference information. His query was "If you or we convened a similar sort of seminar in Australia, would there be much interest?"

The conference aims to explore how radical political education might be reshaped, maybe kick started. This would be followed with the publication of a policy discussion document to "promote political education and active citizenship."

The following quote is a reminder of the pressures of adult educators in an environment that seems to be dishing up more opression to the opressed.

"the notion of radical social purpose education is drowned out by the narrowing orthodoxy of skills and employability"

Financial Tips and Safety Checks

2007-07-02T14:23:00.000+10:00

The Austrailian Security Investment Commission has information available on their site for teachers/facilitators providing info to students re financial matters ok.

As the consumer protection regulator for financial services, ASIC's aim is to improve the financial literacy of Australian consumers so that they can make informed decisions about financial products and services, and identify and avoid financial scams and rip-offs. We believe that money management skills should be learned at an early age, if young people are to become confident and informed consumers in adult life. We provide lots of valuable information on our websites that can be used when teaching personal finance and consumer rights to young people.

This is worth a look ok. Click here for link.

Scams Scams and More Scams

2007-07-02T13:44:00.000+10:00

Are you sick and tired of those emails that come through saying that you have won a prize or lottery? Well its most probably a scam hey. and after 60 minutes who can blame you for being paranoid...so Lesley has done a bit of research and went straight to the NSW Police site and thought I would post this for you all to use ok. SCAMwatch is a government run website giving consumers info on what are the latest scams and info on how best to deal with these scams.

....to provide information to consumers and small business about how to recognise, avoid and report scams. Scams that are reported to SCAMwatch will be analysed by the ACCC. Many scams originate overseas or take place over the internet, making them very difficult to track down and prosecute. If you lose money to a scam, it is unlikely that you will be able to recover your loss. The ACCC publishes this website to help consumers recognise scams because prevention is definitely a better option when it comes to scams.

This site is worth a look ok.

NSW LearnScope 2007 wiki

2007-06-26T13:27:00.000+10:00

Its that time again folks - A Big welcome to NSW LearnScope where NSWtox has ! Head Office has been successful again and has received a 2007 LearnScope funds to implement Outreach Ubiquitious Learning project. In order to record our learning, each member of the Ubiquitious Team will create a wiki to reflect their learning throughout the project. This will happen during our workshop. Members will receive an overview and will continue to add to their journal things that you have tried and to include commentary on how you found it, whats good or not good about it etc etc. This speace will also may be the space where we look at development the Northcott bizzo hey. Anyways.......what we need you to do is click the title link here to the NSW LearnScope wiki and on the left handside scroll down and create an account. To help us identify each other instantly, can we all start our usernames with a 33, (which is NSW Outreach Ubiquitious Learning project number ok) so that when we go back to our respective workplaces "id"ing your teamates will be pronto.

Ubiquitous Outreachers Agenda

2007-06-25T06:20:00.000+10:00

Monday 25^th June

Session 1 3 – 3:45pm @ Felton Woods Katoomba

Meet and greet. Share individual goals for the project.

3:45 – 6pm

Rick Flowers (UTS) Robyn Jay (LearnScope) and Barbara Bee (Outreach Teacher). The role of ubiquitous learning, social software and free and open source software in Outreach Practice

This will be followed by dinner @ Felton Woods

Tuesday 26^th June

Session 2 9 – 10:45am @ Wentworth Falls TAFE (C109)

Identify and use a range of ubiquitous tools

Session 3 11am – 12:30pm

Evaluate opportunities and limitations that come with emerging technologies, including the use of wikis and blogs according to organisational policies and guidelines.

Lunch 12:30 – 1:30pm

Session 4 1:30 – 3:00pm

Explore collaborative solutions to support Outreach Practice

Session 5 3:15 – 4:30pm

Investigate suitability of tools to support current reporting and accountability requirements in Outreach practice

This will be followed by dinner @ in Katoomba

Wednesday 27^th June

Session 6 9 – 10:45am

Evaluate the effectiveness of ubiquitous tools

Session 7 11am – 12:30pm

Plan dissemination of information regarding best practice in Community Education/Outreach

Lunch 12:30 – 1:30pm Depart or bushwalk in the steps of Charles Darwin

There will be online sessions to follow up this workshop.

Grammar Linkgages...

2007-05-25T17:07:00.000+10:00

Is that grammatically correct? Need some help with your P's n Q's? The Language Literacy blog has a series of links to usful tutorial sites.

Ubiquitous Outreach Exchange

2007-05-25T09:09:00.000+10:00

What is happening this year for Outreach practioners in their exploration of current educational debate and emerging technologies.... We have received funding for another LearnScope project and are in the process of preparing for our work shop. The project blog will be Ubiquitous Outreach Exchange where we will keep you up to date with where we have been, where we are and where we might be heading.

Mini posting

2007-05-09T23:58:00.000+10:00

A couple of weeks ago i took the plunge and traded in my reliable old mobile for an updated model. To date i am pleased to say i am finding it well worth while. My phone now serves as a camera, audio recorder, mp3 player, research tool, alarm, calendar and anything internet. I feel utterly ubiquitous as i write this posting from my new appendage.

Getting ready for another round....

2007-04-06T14:38:00.000+10:00

I have just listened to a conversation between Alex Hayes and Wendy Zammit about some of the options we should be exploring to enable us to provide truly rich and accessible tools to support our practice.

The recording with Wendy was a little patchy as we had a staggered line and my headphones need replacing however here is the recording.

It is well worth going to, Alex also demonstrates using wikieducator and talks about the advantages of using such tools in the current environment. Prospective team members might like to leave a comment here with some feedback for the team.

Redefining Who We Are and What We Do?

2007-04-05T12:07:00.000+10:00

What with all the cirriculum writing for the new units of competencies that are aspiring to capture the essence and heart of what makes Outreach, we thought we might use technology to help us along the way hey. If you would like to look at what is now being said about Outreach or should I say what is not being said and you would like to add your two bobs worth......get a load of this.

Outreach programs ensure NSW education is accessible to learners who face barriers to learning. Barriers to learning include geographical and social isolation, language and cultural factors, financial hardship, lack of educational confidence, being unaware of opportunities to learn, a disability or family commitments. Outreach Coordinators talk with communities, agencies, government and industry to determine the location, length, time and type of course needed. Courses may include modules from a range of vocational courses, depending on the needs of local groups.

Want to have a closer look at more then click here!

An Essential Skills Action Plan

2007-03-25T16:05:00.000+10:00

I am reading a paper from ANTA/ DEST called An Essentail Skills Plan, that exams future directions for basic literacy. It has a refreshing approach, talking about successful outcomes not only in terms of "employability" or "work ready" but functioning effectively socially in family and community contexts. The approach is less of a bandaid:

Short-term funding and strategies that set-up a competitive environment between providers of essential skill services are counter-productive to the development of sustainable partnerships and quality programs.6 Funding mechanisms need to be created that allow for flexible delivery of programs and encourage partnerships between organisations, with more flexible ways of utilising existing pools of funding being explored. Proposed new three-year funding cycles may help to facilitate greater collaboration for programs that seek to embed essential skills via a ‘builtin, not bolted on’ approach. Funding and support for successful and innovative projects and for new initiatives are particularly important.

I would love to hear what others think.

In the words of Barbara Bee...

2007-03-19T18:17:00.000+11:00

A few months ago I was chatting to Barbara Bee, she was recalling the events of days gone by at Granville. I asked Barbara is she would write it down as not all of us knew this history. I am pleased to say Barbara has recorded her story for us. An extract follows:

Despite all this TAFE remains my educational home and it has and still does give me the greatest satisfaction in teaching and encouraging community initiatives.

I think too that Outreach is under-appreciated and under-valued because its philosophy is at odds with user-pays. It resists the commodification of a basic human right to adult education and argues it’s never too late to learn.

So, you may be asking at this point, where’s all this preamble leading to and what has it to do with the present reorganization of TAFE women’s programs in Outreach?

Thank you Barbara

What is a qualification in our brave new world?

2007-03-18T17:25:00.000+11:00

The Australian Qualifications Framework defines qualifications.

Qualification is defined as follows: formal certification, issued by a relevant approved body, in recognition that a person has achieved learning outcomes or competencies relevant to identified individual, professional,industry or community needs.

A debate I hear often is about course accreditation, the handbook goes some way in clarifying such debates with definitions such as:

Accredited course means a structured sequence of VET that has been accredited by a state or territory course accrediting body and leads to an AQF qualification or statement of attainment.

Who needs it - Certificate IV WTA and Certificate IV TAA?

2007-03-18T15:01:00.000+11:00

There is much debate about who needs the Certificate IV, old or new to teach or assess learners. Should those with the old Certificate IV be upgrading their qualification and other such questions emerge regularly in such debates. There are also questions about the value of the qualification in teaching practices. This link to the AQTF 2005 RTO standards is source of the requirements.

7.3 a The RTO must ensure assessments are conducted by a person who has: i the following competencies from the Training and Assessment Training Package or is able to demonstrate equivalent competencies:
TAAASS401A Plan and organise assessment

TAAASS402A Assess competence

TAAASS404A Participate in assessment validation

Printing in the Mountains

2007-01-15T15:59:00.000+11:00

Ever wondered how to set up your printer when you log on to a differnet computer? If you are lucky enough to work for WSI you can just follow the link and smile and nod at the geeks telling you to map the printer....

Crows Nest Outreach exposed...

2006-12-03T14:56:00.000+11:00

The dynamic DaViD has been at Crows Nest Outreach opening up a myriad of new opportunities to the folks:

All about Social Software, Personal Blogs, Wikipedia, Ubuntu and Knoppix Linux, capturing and authouring streaming Internet media, podcasting and vodcasting, all my pet stuff like VHS to DVD, vinyl to CD, FTA digital TV capture, FM capture etc. etc. Fantastic response from the students and great support from Daena.

TAFE Part Time Casual Teachers Campaign

2006-09-15T16:17:00.000+10:00

I spoke to Phil Bradey atr the Outreach conference about some of the issues relating to part time casuals and job security. He suggested that as Outreach does quite fit the mould a visit to website and some time to visit the Teachers Federation website and put forward our case for Outreach PTCT. There is a proforma letter under the Take Action heading half way down the page. This is our opportunity to contribute to the dialogue. Perhaps Outreach PTCT who are working in other sections the 19 hours required on a least a twelve week program could get Temporary itinerant positions... Outreach tempory teacher could be nominated on a partime basis...

The success of the Federations Pro Rata Case resulted in significant benefits flowing to Part Time Casuals teaching at least 10 hours per week, and the creation of many TAFE Temporary Teacher positions since July 2005.

Congratulations on 30 years

2006-09-13T20:43:00.000+10:00

Watch out for our blog update to mark the anniversay of 30 years of Outreach.

Some Photos from the 2006 TAFE NSW Conference in VET Teaching and Learning Practice

2006-08-09T09:46:00.000+10:00

Here are some photos from the conference which is bought to you through Flickr, a FREE online photo management and sharing application thats worth a try ok.

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from nswtox1. Make your own badge here.

TOSSA for NSWTOx

2006-05-25T14:58:00.001+10:00

We have a new LearnScope project that will explore the use of social software to enhance new e-networks and access to resources for teachers, community partners and students. The project will enhance local partnerships providing opportunities to explore innovative local solutions for emerging issues. It will also provide teachers with skills and knowledge to transfer to community groups and students to ease the transition for on-line learning advancement.Team members are made up of TAFE NSW Outreach Coordinators and part-time IT teachers, with a librarian and 2 education officers involved to assist in the state-wide management. This project will be an integral part of the overall TAFE NSW Outreach professional development strategy, which will continue to develop an Outreach community of practice throughout the state.

LearnScope is a project of the Australian Flexible Learning Framework that aims to increase and improve organisational capacity to provide quality e-learning and e-business solutions to clients.

AMES

2006-04-06T12:34:00.000+10:00

AMES
Originally uploaded by leighblackall.

Business What???

2006-04-04T22:13:00.000+10:00

Free resources for the ethical development of people, business and organizations. For learning, self-development, for helping others, and for bringing more compassion and humanity to organizations and beyond. Classical and innovative concepts and materials - made simple, free and fun. This is a great site – absolutely heaps of really useful stuff.

Happy New Year

2006-01-21T10:36:00.000+11:00

Another summer holiday drawing to an end. I hope you are all refreshed and ready to tackle the challenges and opportunites that will greet you this year. I have been doing my homework for "Certificate in Outreach & Popular Education" and been directed to some inspirational links. If you are in need of inspiration check them out.
Highlander Research and Education Center
http://www.hrec.org/ The HREC located in Tennessee USA, was founded in 1932 and is the one of the oldest and best-known popular education centres in the world. Highlander has inspired workers, grassroots leaders, community organisers, educators, and researchers to address some of the most pressing social, environmental and economic problems facing the people of the American South. This site has a list of programs, resources, and links to local community organisations.
Liberal Adult Education in Sweden
http://www.folkbildning.se/Default.asp?c=60 This site offers an overview of how popular education is viewed in Scandinavia. For more than a hundred years Swedish people have come together to examine their lifestyles in order to strengthen their opportunities for influencing their own situation and often to influence and change social conditions; to listen to lectures; and finally, to take part in cultural projects. Around 75 percent of Swedish people aged from 18 to 75 have at some time taken part in a study circle. Many links in this site are in Swedish.

Edna Links

2005-12-11T23:16:00.000+11:00

Set up your own Account...

2005-12-05T00:00:00.000+11:00

Quickstart on setting up a blog account with blogger.com. These instructions step through the proccess of setting up blog accounts, group or individuals, with some tips for naming conventions to make it work.

Photos of Outreach 'Introduction to Floristry' displays

2005-11-29T12:47:00.000+11:00

Here are some photos of the Outreach 'Introduction to Floristry course' for NESB people and their teachers, and the lovely floral displays they prepared for their final class.

Introduction to Floristry course for NESB students

2005-11-29T12:13:00.000+11:00

Outreach at Richmond has just completed a 12 week course "Introduction to Floristry", specifically designed for people of Non English Speaking Background. The 12 week course was team taught by an English and a Floristry teacher and covered practical hands-on floristry skills as well as some of the English terms and language around the floristry industry. Students were from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, China, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Liberia. On the final day of the course they put together a display of their new skills. One student gained some work experience with a Floristry business as a result of the course. Another has been able make and sell small floral arrangements to members of an African community group in Western Sydney. Most of the participants came from the Blacktown area so the trip out to Richmond College each week was in itself an experience for many.

Hello! welcome to Outreach Central Station

2005-11-07T10:06:00.000+11:00

Just a wee note to let you who's who in state office at the moment.

Derek Waddell - Relieving Manager, TAFE Equity and Outreach;
Sue Sim - Acting SEO, Corrections;
Donna Johnston (aka toxic) - Clerical Support;
Kaye Lockhart - Acting CEO, Outreach;
Maria Leontios - SEO, TAFE Equity and Outreach;

We had the chance to catch Derek and Donna in action at a recent leanscope workshop in the Blue Mountains so we thought we would share it with you all too ok.

Paper on provision of career advice to adults reentering workforce

2005-10-21T13:23:00.000+10:00

This website has links to papers on the provision of career advice for mature job seekers. Really relevant to much of what we do in Outreach.

Outreach Conference Tune Into SubUrban Sistaz

2005-09-14T08:36:00.000+10:00

Food for thought was the call of the day during the presentation the Aboriginal Eudcation by John Lester. With the challenge before them, Outreach staff head outdoors to the foodfest prepared by the dedicated Gibbah Gunyah staff. Great food and great company - what more could u ask for....that u may well ask....Fellow Outreachers were wooed by the urban rap lyrics by SubUrban Sistaz. The teenagers recently participated in a hip-hop course run at Granville Outreach.

Sunrise at Gibba Gunyah

2005-09-14T05:59:00.000+10:00

The first day of the 2005 NSW Statewide Outreach Conference. Everyone is asleep with a maybe a little bit of a shiner but who cares with a great sunrise like this to look forward to every morning away from the loved ones :>)

Cert Outreach Pop Ed

2005-09-13T18:26:00.000+10:00

Certificate in Outreach & Popular Èducation: here is the latest updated information of these Term 4, 2005 Workshops (13 Sept. 05)

2005 Statewide Outreach Workshop

2005-08-12T09:30:00.000+10:00

As per Derek's email dated 9/8/05, by majority vote, the Outreach state-wide workshop will now be held on Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 September with our pre-workshop LearnScope Blogs meeting on Tuesday, 13 September from 2-5pm (location to be advised). A draft timetable will be forwarded to you all in the next 2 weeks. Cheers Donna

Outreach Exchange

2005-08-06T14:22:00.000+10:00

Yet another possibility for sharing information online and keeping in touch. Blogs (weBLOGS) are like an online diary, they are hosted free, don't have to have logins, you can add comments to entries and upload pictures with a title and description simply by sending an email to a given address. This is a communication tool that has been around for a while and has become poplular in recent times. They are used as a means of sharing information. One very famous one is the following from a journalist inside Iraq http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/. This is one of a range of tools we could use to bring aobut easier communications through out NSW Outreach community

Human history is more and more a race between education and catastrophe H G Wells 1921

2005-08-04T00:04:00.000+10:00

Many thanks to Monica for this overview summary of the seminar she attended with Professor Candy. I found the seminar to be informative and thought provoking. Professor Candy gave a realistic perspective to the transformation of our society and learning by ICT. – Monica Clapp

Conference call was worth it

2005-08-02T21:10:00.000+10:00

Look at all the acitivity!

hello from kerrie

2005-08-02T17:38:00.000+10:00

Just saying I have at last arrived thanks to the patience and support of Kerry!

casting the net

2005-08-02T17:03:00.000+10:00

This is the Learnscope podcast link!

Another Great Wiki....

2005-07-12T22:51:00.000+10:00

Further to Leigh's discussion about wiki's to gain knowledge and skills, my Colleague Michael has started this wiki. Any of you who are interested in learning about html and css, this is a great place to start.

Nambucca Valley Women's Gathering

2005-07-01T22:20:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone. It was so good to meet you all at the workshop & to learn all of these wonderful new skills. I'm completely inspired. Here is a link to the Nambucca Valley Women's Gathering blog . I've put links (additional blogs) to each town in the community which you can see on the sidebar on the blog. The idea is that one woman from each town will look after the blog (for their town) thereby (ideally) engaging the community in providing news, communicating and networking with women in their own town and throughout the community. The site aims to assist the breakdown of isolation in the community. I've contacted a few computer savvy women that I know to moderate two of the town blogs so I will post an update when they've been trained & the site is running. Many thanks to everyone, Kerry

Link: http://www.nambuccawomensgathering.blogspot.com/

bluerumours2

2005-06-30T21:40:00.000+10:00

After extensive investigation my sources can reveal that all those presenters who kept on disappearing from the room were in fact making use of a TAFE embedded Hotel Room with full services just three classroom doors away!!!!!!!! While you and I were slaving away at this damn blogging thing, there they were sitting in hotel luxury sipping pink gins no doubt!!!!!

bluerumours1

2005-06-30T21:26:00.000+10:00

Who was the learned colleague who had the choice of the riot squad to be called to Dentof Woots Manor OR being sent to her room by the management, for what must have been the most obscene crime to have tressled its carpets since Queen Victoria and Albert Einstein once stayed there in 1907? And what was his/her heinous act?

"The Three Sisters" as seen from Wendon Foots Manor about 2am after conferenshing with Derek!!

2005-06-30T19:34:00.000+10:00

PAUL est arrivé. CLIQUEZ ICI !!! OUI OUI..ici..cliquez le MOUSE ici !!!!!!

2005-06-30T18:44:00.000+10:00

Je suis arrivé... où sont les enfants.... aux montagnes bleues...? ...mon petit Mini Mignon Dominion

Katoomba Workshop

2005-06-29T09:27:00.000+10:00

What a great workshop! -I really enjoyed Leigh's session on Tuesday - he was so inspiring. Thanks Jude, Lesley, Paul and Elizabeth for all your help yesterday - I definitely needed it!

The Gods are with us!!!

2005-06-29T08:48:00.000+10:00

Adding pictures has alway been a bit complicated in blogger, however just for us, they have started a new service that is going to make it a lot easier. The results below....

This post is via email

2005-06-28T11:55:00.000+10:00

Another method of posting is via email. You can set this up in you blogger settings under the email tab. ********************************************************************** This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain privileged information or confidential information or both. If you are not the intended recipient please delete it and notify the sender. **********************************************************************

Teaching Inspirations

2005-06-24T09:31:00.000+10:00

Looking for inspiration for this week's class? Look no further - you can find dozens of ideas to base classes on right here

emailing pictures and text to our blogs

2005-06-20T00:08:00.000+10:00

emailing pictures and text to our blogs
Originally uploaded by nswtox.

One technology we are pretty comfortable with is email. If you can send an attachment with your email - you are set to go - that is to put a message on the blog with a picture. If you can't send an attachment we can guide you through that process. Flickr offers a service where we can store our images with them, but having setup the account we need never return, simply use the email address they supply us with and send our pictures directly to the blog. The Subject for the email becomes the title for you blog posting, the message of your email becomes the body of your blog posting.

Content Delivery in the 'Blogosphere'

2005-05-08T17:53:00.000+10:00

Came across this great article, have linked to the print version for easy scanning!

The Pedagogy Behind Blogs
Practical Suggestions for Implementing Blogs
Benefits of Student Blogging
Getting Started With Blogs and Blogging

LearnScope 2005

2005-05-06T23:13:00.000+10:00

Lesley and I attended the Induction at Redfern today. We look forward to sharing easy accessible tools that will enhance our ability to share resources and provide more opportunities to teachers and students. Good stuff all round. You may like to follow this link to EDna and have a look at Moodle in action a taste of what is to come!!

General Links - Research and Stats You Can Trust

2005-01-21T11:50:00.000+11:00

Checkout these links submitted by Derek on our links page. Derek recommends these as great "sources for up-to-date research......"

How do you make a hyperlink?

2005-01-13T10:06:00.000+11:00

Putting a link in a blog is a really an simple task. In the editing window, type in the text to use for the link. Highlight the text to be linked, (example Sydney Morning Herald), then choose the link button on the toolbar, (fourth from the left). A box will appear on your screen. After http:// type in the webaddress for your link, example www.smh.com.au and then click OK and bingo you have a link to the Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney Morning Herald

WhatyaReckon

2005-01-12T10:49:00.000+11:00

is this really as easy as they say??