There are a variety of repositories available (mostly for free) that can provide you with content for your e-learning programs.
A good starting point is a Flexible Learning Toolbox. If you decide to use a toolbox in its entirety it is not free however training organisations can purchase one copy and can then make the content available for use by staff and students as a learning resource.
You can view toolboxes at http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/.
Toolboxes have also been broken up into learning objects (or chunks of content) that can freely be downloaded and are easily customised for use in your course. You can search the toolbox repository at http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/repository/index.htm.
The LORN repository provides teachers and trainers with both user pay and free resources http://lorn.flexiblelearning.net.au/. This repository has access to about seven different databases. Learning objects are downloaded as Zip files and can easily be uploaded into Learning Management Systems such as Moodle.
The Framework website also includes free resources to assist you to plan and embed e-learning into your training delivery. Visit the gallery for some useful tips on digital stories and their usefulness. While you are there take the time to explore the site and read some fo the useful tips and hints http://designing.flexiblelearning.net.au/gallery/activities/digital_story_telling.htm
If you have other links to VET resources that you would like to share, please feel free to post them as a comment to this post.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
E-portfolios present some risk
It seems that many project teams are interested in implementing e-portfolios this year but few if any have included issues surrounding e-portfolios as part of their risk management strategy.
The first issue that comes to my mind is the issue of learner privacy. I acknowledge how effective e-portfolios are as a tool to assist learners to collect evidence and present it to their facilitator to demonstrate levels of competency - there is absolutely no question around their usefulness. My main concern is that e-portfolios collect private information about the learner; even though the learner has some control over what is included in their e-portfolio the question must be asked 'who else has access to this information?'
E-learning strategies that involve e-portfolios must take into consideration the sensitive nature of the information collected in an e-portfolio and how this can best be managed. It is crucial that your learners are fully aware of the risks involved in keeping information in an online environment, who has access to it, and what type of content should included or excluded from their e-portfolio.
One way to manage your risk is to develop a privacy plan for your organization. In this plan you must clearly identify what the risks are, how your learner’s will be informed of the risk, who owns the content in the e-portfolio (remember your learner’s are creating this as a result of an enrolment in one of your training programs) and what will happen to it after the course is over.
Another issue that presents itself is the opportunity for an e-portfolio to be 'hacked into' or the learner’s identity stolen. Your risk management strategy must carefully consider this and ensure that security measures are implemented to prevent this from happening.
I hope this post has started you thinking of some potential risk. There are some useful resources available to assist you with the management and implementation of e-portfolios. Please visit http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/content/e-portfolios-4 for more information and access to some free resources.
The first issue that comes to my mind is the issue of learner privacy. I acknowledge how effective e-portfolios are as a tool to assist learners to collect evidence and present it to their facilitator to demonstrate levels of competency - there is absolutely no question around their usefulness. My main concern is that e-portfolios collect private information about the learner; even though the learner has some control over what is included in their e-portfolio the question must be asked 'who else has access to this information?'
E-learning strategies that involve e-portfolios must take into consideration the sensitive nature of the information collected in an e-portfolio and how this can best be managed. It is crucial that your learners are fully aware of the risks involved in keeping information in an online environment, who has access to it, and what type of content should included or excluded from their e-portfolio.
One way to manage your risk is to develop a privacy plan for your organization. In this plan you must clearly identify what the risks are, how your learner’s will be informed of the risk, who owns the content in the e-portfolio (remember your learner’s are creating this as a result of an enrolment in one of your training programs) and what will happen to it after the course is over.
Another issue that presents itself is the opportunity for an e-portfolio to be 'hacked into' or the learner’s identity stolen. Your risk management strategy must carefully consider this and ensure that security measures are implemented to prevent this from happening.
I hope this post has started you thinking of some potential risk. There are some useful resources available to assist you with the management and implementation of e-portfolios. Please visit http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/content/e-portfolios-4 for more information and access to some free resources.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Copyright must be considered as part of your risk management strategy
We are living in an infomation age and content is available to us like never before. If you search the web with a key word you are bound to come up with thousands of site containing information about our chosen topic. Technology makes it easy for us to copy this information, download photos, videos, graphics and so on.
Some of this content will be useful in classroom and online activities. So how do we know if we are abiding by copyright laws in Australia or breaching them?
As you develop your e-learning strategy consider copyright infringement as a possible risk. Consider the strategies you will employ to minimise or completely remove this risk.
For example, a good strategy to minimise the risk is to ensure your team is educated and fully informed on copyright infringement.
The Australian Flexible Learning Framework has some useful resources that might assist you to educate and inform your team. Visit the Copyright Kitchen for more information.
This website will answer some very important questions, including:
* who owns the copyright for the work you create as a result of your employment
* copyright guidelines for editing another teacher's work
* using music in PowerPoint
* using video recordings from youtube
I have found some other useful URLs that you might find useful when you are considering copyright as part of your e-learning strategy.
http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/856
http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/ip/copyright.shtml
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/7505/
Some of this content will be useful in classroom and online activities. So how do we know if we are abiding by copyright laws in Australia or breaching them?
As you develop your e-learning strategy consider copyright infringement as a possible risk. Consider the strategies you will employ to minimise or completely remove this risk.
For example, a good strategy to minimise the risk is to ensure your team is educated and fully informed on copyright infringement.
The Australian Flexible Learning Framework has some useful resources that might assist you to educate and inform your team. Visit the Copyright Kitchen for more information.
This website will answer some very important questions, including:
* who owns the copyright for the work you create as a result of your employment
* copyright guidelines for editing another teacher's work
* using music in PowerPoint
* using video recordings from youtube
I have found some other useful URLs that you might find useful when you are considering copyright as part of your e-learning strategy.
http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/856
http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/ip/copyright.shtml
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/7505/
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Identifying your project risks
My intention here is not to list every project risk you might face but to at least get you thinking. Every project is different, therefore not all of your risk will be the same, however there are also some generic risks.
One that quickly comes to mind is the implementation of new Training Packages. As you consider the qualifications and units of competence you will develop you should also spend some time identifying what is out there, its usefulness and currency. If you are looking at the TAA for example you need to explore TED 10 as some of the units you are used to will soon disappear or be merged with others.
Changes in staff are common throughout the life of a project. This too needs to be identified and stategies considered to counteract any potential negative affect this could have on your project.
Projects not achieving their outcomes due to poor planning and unrealistic expectations is another common risk. The key here is to develop some timelines (gantt charts, workbreakdown structures, network diagrams etc) to see how long your project will really take. If it will go beyond the current funding period (30 November) you will need to scale it back a little to make sure you are planning a successful project.
Technology issues also cause delays. Make sure you talk to your I/T people, get them on board and consider any limitations of your platform, hardware, software. Plan strategies in consultation with your I/T people to reduce or eliminate the risk.
Budget problems can also cause concerns for project teams. Carefully evaluating project costs and possible expenses at the beginning of the program is one way of managing this. Your project manager will also need to carefully manage your budget throughout the life of your project.
Lack of Management Buy-in can completely ruin a project. This is one of the reasons why you are required to get CEO and Business Partner sign off. Before you finalise your project application make sure they understand their commitment, the project outcomes (in terms of benefits to the organisation) and the roles they are expected to play.
The technical ability of your team can also cause problems if not assessed correctly. Appropriate strategies to help you may include staff undertaking skills audits at the beginning of the project to identify skill gaps and plan for any possible training required.
Projects not tracking correct are another likely possibility. Someone needs to take responsibility for monitoring project progress on a regular basis and informing team members of timelines, responsibilities etc.
Another interesting area is managing and interpreting stakeholder expectations. Careful planning and a strong communication strategy is the key to success. I came across a software project checklist that might give you some ideas of other project risks to consider as you work on your project application http://www.softwareprojects.org/project_riskmanagement_starting62.htm.
As you can see the list is starting to grow and we have only considered generic risks. Project risks are a very important part of the project lifecycle so spend a little bit of time on this section to ensure your project is a success.
One that quickly comes to mind is the implementation of new Training Packages. As you consider the qualifications and units of competence you will develop you should also spend some time identifying what is out there, its usefulness and currency. If you are looking at the TAA for example you need to explore TED 10 as some of the units you are used to will soon disappear or be merged with others.
Changes in staff are common throughout the life of a project. This too needs to be identified and stategies considered to counteract any potential negative affect this could have on your project.
Projects not achieving their outcomes due to poor planning and unrealistic expectations is another common risk. The key here is to develop some timelines (gantt charts, workbreakdown structures, network diagrams etc) to see how long your project will really take. If it will go beyond the current funding period (30 November) you will need to scale it back a little to make sure you are planning a successful project.
Technology issues also cause delays. Make sure you talk to your I/T people, get them on board and consider any limitations of your platform, hardware, software. Plan strategies in consultation with your I/T people to reduce or eliminate the risk.
Budget problems can also cause concerns for project teams. Carefully evaluating project costs and possible expenses at the beginning of the program is one way of managing this. Your project manager will also need to carefully manage your budget throughout the life of your project.
Lack of Management Buy-in can completely ruin a project. This is one of the reasons why you are required to get CEO and Business Partner sign off. Before you finalise your project application make sure they understand their commitment, the project outcomes (in terms of benefits to the organisation) and the roles they are expected to play.
The technical ability of your team can also cause problems if not assessed correctly. Appropriate strategies to help you may include staff undertaking skills audits at the beginning of the project to identify skill gaps and plan for any possible training required.
Projects not tracking correct are another likely possibility. Someone needs to take responsibility for monitoring project progress on a regular basis and informing team members of timelines, responsibilities etc.
Another interesting area is managing and interpreting stakeholder expectations. Careful planning and a strong communication strategy is the key to success. I came across a software project checklist that might give you some ideas of other project risks to consider as you work on your project application http://www.softwareprojects.org/project_riskmanagement_starting62.htm.
As you can see the list is starting to grow and we have only considered generic risks. Project risks are a very important part of the project lifecycle so spend a little bit of time on this section to ensure your project is a success.
Working on your budget
Okay so this is the hard part and probably an area that could do with some improvement to get your project application across the line.
Let's explore some common budget areas. We will start by consider project roles.
You will of course need a project manager. Someone has to drive your project, monitor your project and evaluate it. As you think about how much to allocate to your project manager consider the types of duties they will carry out.
Your project manager will (this is only an idea not an entire list):
* understand the big picture
* control and monitor the budget
* liaise with key stakeholders and keep them informed of project progress
* document, monitor and assess project issues
* understand risk management (we will talk more about this in a future post) and identify, reduce and eliminate various project risks depending on the nature of the risk
* development, implement and monitor project milestones
* have an understanding of instructional design
With all the duties above in mind, how much time each week will your project manager need to devote to your project, what is their hourly rate? Will this amount go in the funding column or the in-kind column for the organisation?
You are likely to require the expertise of content experts. What will their role be and how much time should they devote to the project? As with the project manager you will need to make a decision which column the funds will apply against.
Will you require an instruction designer or do your staff on the project already have this expertise? If not, you may need to include this in your project budget.
Other roles on your project might include a web developer, audio/video producer, graphic designer and quality reviewer. You may also require the assistance of administrative support staff.
Your project may require some trials and evaluations. Who will do this and how will you cover the expenses?
Will your course be distributed online or on CD? Are any of these expenses legitimate expenses (refer to the NSW funding guidelines for clarification on what can and can't be included in your budget)? Can you request funding or claim these costs as in-kind or RTO payments.
How will you support your learners? Are there any costs associated with this support and should this be included in your budget?
Will you use workplace coaches and mentors. Their time can be estimated and costed and included in your budget. If they are fulltime employees and their salaries are already covered you might like to consider including this in your in-kind contribution column (remember that you must match the funding amount $ for $).
How much is your organisation willing to contribute to the project (in terms of dollars and in-kind)? This too can be included in your budget.
How many team meetings will you need to hold and where will these meetings be held? If you are using a meeting room within your own organisation you can cost in the hire costs for such a room and include this in your in-kind contribution.
What other costs will you need to cover? Consider attendance at induction in Sydney, conference fees for e-learning 2010, travel etc.
By now you should have started to formulate a reasonable budget. Remember funding cannot be used to purchase infrastrure, hardware or software. It can't be used to run a conference or other one off events and the focus of your project cannot be professional development for your own staff.
If you find your project is running on a tight budget you could visit http://creativecommunity.flexiblelearning.net.au/ for some useful tips and tricks.
Let's explore some common budget areas. We will start by consider project roles.
You will of course need a project manager. Someone has to drive your project, monitor your project and evaluate it. As you think about how much to allocate to your project manager consider the types of duties they will carry out.
Your project manager will (this is only an idea not an entire list):
* understand the big picture
* control and monitor the budget
* liaise with key stakeholders and keep them informed of project progress
* document, monitor and assess project issues
* understand risk management (we will talk more about this in a future post) and identify, reduce and eliminate various project risks depending on the nature of the risk
* development, implement and monitor project milestones
* have an understanding of instructional design
With all the duties above in mind, how much time each week will your project manager need to devote to your project, what is their hourly rate? Will this amount go in the funding column or the in-kind column for the organisation?
You are likely to require the expertise of content experts. What will their role be and how much time should they devote to the project? As with the project manager you will need to make a decision which column the funds will apply against.
Will you require an instruction designer or do your staff on the project already have this expertise? If not, you may need to include this in your project budget.
Other roles on your project might include a web developer, audio/video producer, graphic designer and quality reviewer. You may also require the assistance of administrative support staff.
Your project may require some trials and evaluations. Who will do this and how will you cover the expenses?
Will your course be distributed online or on CD? Are any of these expenses legitimate expenses (refer to the NSW funding guidelines for clarification on what can and can't be included in your budget)? Can you request funding or claim these costs as in-kind or RTO payments.
How will you support your learners? Are there any costs associated with this support and should this be included in your budget?
Will you use workplace coaches and mentors. Their time can be estimated and costed and included in your budget. If they are fulltime employees and their salaries are already covered you might like to consider including this in your in-kind contribution column (remember that you must match the funding amount $ for $).
How much is your organisation willing to contribute to the project (in terms of dollars and in-kind)? This too can be included in your budget.
How many team meetings will you need to hold and where will these meetings be held? If you are using a meeting room within your own organisation you can cost in the hire costs for such a room and include this in your in-kind contribution.
What other costs will you need to cover? Consider attendance at induction in Sydney, conference fees for e-learning 2010, travel etc.
By now you should have started to formulate a reasonable budget. Remember funding cannot be used to purchase infrastrure, hardware or software. It can't be used to run a conference or other one off events and the focus of your project cannot be professional development for your own staff.
If you find your project is running on a tight budget you could visit http://creativecommunity.flexiblelearning.net.au/ for some useful tips and tricks.
Work closely with others as you develop your strategy
Your e-learning strategy will involve several departments in your organisation. It is essential to make sure you are in constant communication with them, that their needs have been discussed and considered and that they understand the role they will play in your project.
Prepare a project plan and include a realistic budget. If your application for innovations funding is successful you will be required to develop a full project plan. Don't let this frighten you too much you will have access to plenty of support to assist you to do this. In the meantime you must consider some simple project planning techniques to ensure that your project application is realistic.
Carefully consider the resources you will need including human aspects and equipment. Do you have access to these resources? Will you need to purchase them (remember your project application will not allow you to purchase infrastructure, hardware or software [including subscriptions to online spaces such as wikis]). Having said this, you can hire equipment or if you organisation has the equipment calculate the possible hire fee and include this in your in-kind contribution).
If you are unsure about the hardware and software you will need discuss it with your I/T department. They can easily inform you of the type of software and hardware available and the platforms they can support. The important thing is to do your homework before you start and then you won't have any nasty surprises later in the project.
Gather your team together and really consider what your online environment will look like. Will you use a learning management system (such as Moodle) or will you employ a team of programmers to create your own? As you research this consider the equipment your learners will have access to. What browsers will they use, what plug-ins will they require and how easy can they obtain and install these plug-ins. Sometimes I find it helpful to include this in my student induction and issue all students with a CD that includes all plug-ins they are likely to need and some step-by-step instruction sheets to install these (if you are developing instructional how-to guides these can also be counted as a project deliverable and given back to the Framework for others to use).
Another really important consideration is where your e-learning program will be hosted and what the limitations are, including access limitations. I once taught an online program and the web-designer decided that the platform would be updated over the Christmas vacation. This web-designer didn't realise that courses run 24/7 and that this decision would impact an existing student group. The plan was to maintenance over a period of six weeks while everyone is on holidays. Communication and planning can easily identify potential issues and put into place appropriate strategies to overcome these hurdles.
Continue to consider how your e-learning course will look. Will you use a common style (by this I mean fonts, heading structures, page layouts)?
If you are just starting out on your journey this might be a good time to have a look at http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/content/plan-e-learning for tips on planning e-learning.
Prepare a project plan and include a realistic budget. If your application for innovations funding is successful you will be required to develop a full project plan. Don't let this frighten you too much you will have access to plenty of support to assist you to do this. In the meantime you must consider some simple project planning techniques to ensure that your project application is realistic.
Carefully consider the resources you will need including human aspects and equipment. Do you have access to these resources? Will you need to purchase them (remember your project application will not allow you to purchase infrastructure, hardware or software [including subscriptions to online spaces such as wikis]). Having said this, you can hire equipment or if you organisation has the equipment calculate the possible hire fee and include this in your in-kind contribution).
If you are unsure about the hardware and software you will need discuss it with your I/T department. They can easily inform you of the type of software and hardware available and the platforms they can support. The important thing is to do your homework before you start and then you won't have any nasty surprises later in the project.
Gather your team together and really consider what your online environment will look like. Will you use a learning management system (such as Moodle) or will you employ a team of programmers to create your own? As you research this consider the equipment your learners will have access to. What browsers will they use, what plug-ins will they require and how easy can they obtain and install these plug-ins. Sometimes I find it helpful to include this in my student induction and issue all students with a CD that includes all plug-ins they are likely to need and some step-by-step instruction sheets to install these (if you are developing instructional how-to guides these can also be counted as a project deliverable and given back to the Framework for others to use).
Another really important consideration is where your e-learning program will be hosted and what the limitations are, including access limitations. I once taught an online program and the web-designer decided that the platform would be updated over the Christmas vacation. This web-designer didn't realise that courses run 24/7 and that this decision would impact an existing student group. The plan was to maintenance over a period of six weeks while everyone is on holidays. Communication and planning can easily identify potential issues and put into place appropriate strategies to overcome these hurdles.
Continue to consider how your e-learning course will look. Will you use a common style (by this I mean fonts, heading structures, page layouts)?
If you are just starting out on your journey this might be a good time to have a look at http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/content/plan-e-learning for tips on planning e-learning.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
So what e-tools will you use in your e-learning strategy
Of course this is the fun part. If you are like me you love the challenge that technology brings to the table.
This is the really cool part of designing a course that includes e-learning.... but don't get too carried away.
My main message is making sure that your strategy will aid, improve and assist learners to learn, but having said that they should also have some fun.
This post could go on and on, but I won't I will leave room for you.
As we are talking about considering a strategy for a project application we must consider the following points:
Start by identifying the e-learning tools you will evaluate and make a short list of those you will trial and implement (if applicable) during the project lifecycle.
If you are unsure you should first start by considering:
* What technologies do your learners have access to?
* What technologies do your staff feel confident to use in the learning environment
* Was your past strategy successful or do you need to introduce other technologies to better meet the need of your clients?
Someone asked me a question the other day that I think should be included in this blog. The question was 'My learners come from disadvantaged backgrounds, they do not have computers at home and even if they did the internet connection (assuming they have one) is very unreliable. How can I use e-learning in my programs?'.
This is an excellent question and my answer is 'consider the technology your learners have access to'. As the discussion progressed I discovered this group of learners all had access to mobile phones and many had iphones and mp3 players. My suggestion is to consider the activities that are useful to their learning program and where appropriate develop audio and video files that could be downloaded or bluetoothed to their phones and mp3 players for later viewing. You could even get them to listen or watch these applications and then contribute to discussions or discussion forums when they next attend class. Applications such as the ones mentioned above are also useful if you are demonstrating skill and the learner would benefit from watching this demonstration as many times as they need.
SMS is a standard feature that many learners would be very familiar with. How could you use this feature in your learning environment? Just to start this discussion you could use it to post course announcements, you could use to prompt discussions and promote collaboration. There are so many ways it could be used, we just need a little imagination. If you have some ideas you would like to share, make a comment and let's get this discussion happening.
A 2009 project team developed an application for timber grading that could be either downloaded from a website or blue toothed to a phone to assist learners as they worked and graded timer. Checkout http://nswinnovations.wikispaces.com/09-44 for more information on this 2009 Framework project and for a link to their website.
This is the really cool part of designing a course that includes e-learning.... but don't get too carried away.
My main message is making sure that your strategy will aid, improve and assist learners to learn, but having said that they should also have some fun.
This post could go on and on, but I won't I will leave room for you.
As we are talking about considering a strategy for a project application we must consider the following points:
Start by identifying the e-learning tools you will evaluate and make a short list of those you will trial and implement (if applicable) during the project lifecycle.
If you are unsure you should first start by considering:
* What technologies do your learners have access to?
* What technologies do your staff feel confident to use in the learning environment
* Was your past strategy successful or do you need to introduce other technologies to better meet the need of your clients?
Someone asked me a question the other day that I think should be included in this blog. The question was 'My learners come from disadvantaged backgrounds, they do not have computers at home and even if they did the internet connection (assuming they have one) is very unreliable. How can I use e-learning in my programs?'.
This is an excellent question and my answer is 'consider the technology your learners have access to'. As the discussion progressed I discovered this group of learners all had access to mobile phones and many had iphones and mp3 players. My suggestion is to consider the activities that are useful to their learning program and where appropriate develop audio and video files that could be downloaded or bluetoothed to their phones and mp3 players for later viewing. You could even get them to listen or watch these applications and then contribute to discussions or discussion forums when they next attend class. Applications such as the ones mentioned above are also useful if you are demonstrating skill and the learner would benefit from watching this demonstration as many times as they need.
SMS is a standard feature that many learners would be very familiar with. How could you use this feature in your learning environment? Just to start this discussion you could use it to post course announcements, you could use to prompt discussions and promote collaboration. There are so many ways it could be used, we just need a little imagination. If you have some ideas you would like to share, make a comment and let's get this discussion happening.
A 2009 project team developed an application for timber grading that could be either downloaded from a website or blue toothed to a phone to assist learners as they worked and graded timer. Checkout http://nswinnovations.wikispaces.com/09-44 for more information on this 2009 Framework project and for a link to their website.
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