Flexible Learning Toolboxes

The end of the Autumn Series of Toolbox Customisation Workshops clears the way for more Toolbox professional development opportunities in the ACT in August.

Toolboxes at CIT, August 12th, CIT Bruce Campus, C Block Rm C007,  1200 - 1.30pm
This is a showcase workshop for CIT teachers wanting to know a little more about Flexible Learning Toolboxes and Toolbox Learning Objects and their use at CIT.

Toolbox Learning Objects in Adult and Community Education, August 13th, via Elluminate.
Training materials for VET and Adult learning online have never been this accessible. Toolbox learning objects and resources on the Framework’s Learning Object Network Repository (LORN) have opened up the possibility of fast, easy, free and convenient access to a range of learning activities, resources and learner supports for vocational and adult learners with a range of interests and learning needs. This interactive virtual workshop will model an approach that teachers and trainers
can use to find, evaluate and organize these resources to meet teaching
objectives and creatively engage this group of learners

Toolbox Showcase, August 20th, CIT Phillip Campus, B Block Rm B107
This is a Toolbox showcase workshop for private RTO’s wanting to know a little more about Flexible Learning Toolboxes and Toolbox Learning Objects.

To join any of these workshops contact Helen Lynch :
Canberra Institute of Technology,
GPO Box 826
Canberra ACT 2601
Phone: (02) 6207 4031
Fax: (02) 6207 4834
Email: helen.lynch at cit.act.edu.au

The Customising Toolbox workshop of June 4 held in B107 went down well. The
coffee was hot and most came early so there was time for introductions and a
chat. Sixteen trainers from a mix of private and public sector RTO’s attended. They
brought with them family photos on thumb drives so they could immortalise loved
ones and valued pets in customised learning objects (forever beautiful, digital
and forever here). They took away free and open source software packages for web
editing and image manipulation. Ive already had one phone call about video files
and NVU. I expect a few more as everyone learns to feel comfortable with WYSIWYG
web editing.

There were more than a few trainers who had little knowledge of Toolboxes
(shock, horror). It turns out they are from newly ACT registered RTO’s who have
recently opened for business. Just as well or
Marketing and National Positioning would have my (in late anglo saxon terms)
“guts for garters“.

My thanks to Tenille at CIT for helping out with patience, grace and that
ineffible 20 something unflappability!!!

Come to the next workshop and see what I mean: Web 2.0, Toolboxes and
Toolbox learning objects
Web 2.0 has given us wonderful social
software applications like Blogs, Wikis, Youtube and Widgets that we can use to
add new levels of interactivity and collaboration to our online learning. The
challenge for VET teachers is to make use of these tools for teaching and
learning and to incorporate them into existing e-learning resources such as
Toolboxes and Toolbox learning objects. This workshop shows you just how easy it
is to embed, frame, RSS and link Web 2.0 applications in Toolboxes and Toolbox
Learning Objects Some examples of Web 2.0 applications: Wiki, Voicethread,
Youtube, Blog, Flickr, del.icio.us

WHEN Wednesday, June 18th, 8.15am to 9.30am
WHERE B107 B Block,
Upstairs
Southside Campus , Canberra Institute of Technology
Cnr Ainsworth
Street and Hindmarsh Drive, Phillip.
Register: Call or email Helen Lynch,
6207 4031 or helen.lynch at cit.act.edu.au

Tags: workshops, toolboxes

A new seminar program is due to hit the ACT soon about online learning design and Toolboxes.

It will take you through the steps of designing a simple learning sequence using toolboxes resources and a teaching and learning or instructional design theory to guide content sequencing and activity development.

Contact the ACT Toolbox Champion for more information

The seminar will be offered at CIT’s Phillip campus initially but can be delivered at an RTO and customised to a specific teaching program. All the better to support teachers and traininers to develop e-learning solutions quickly and effectively.

Blogged with Flock

25th of March is the launch date for the Series 10 Flexible Learning Toolboxes. The ACT FLAG member Jenny Dodd will open the event with a brief outline of whats happening in flexible learning in the ACT and what is planned for 2008.

I will then showcase the new Toolboxes so everyopne has the chance to experience the latest in interactivity and sophistication that these resources represent. To attend contact me at Helen. lynch at (replace with @) cit.act.edu.au.

I just recieved a disk of the beta version series 10 Toolboxes and what a bunch of good looking resources they are!

General Construction “BuildRight” addresses units from the BCG40106 Certificate IV in Building and Construction including structural principles, labour and materials ordering and planning. It is comprehensive yet compact and offers, via learning plans, a straitforward way through some some very complex concepts and applications. Is also has an RPL pathway built in…It is definitely work a look.

Retail
The Retailer presents a series of common problems and challanges faced by those folk who staff the registers and isles of our favourite shops. Creative, fun and based on real retail experiences, at Cert 2 level it will be a hit with VET in Schools.

Why Workshop?
The “open-to-all VET practitioner” workshop series lets the Toolbox Champ reach into the VET community and connect with teachers, trainers and managers who have an interest in Toolboxes, flexible learning and the Framework. VET educators see the word Toolbox next to words like Web2 or Self Opening CDRom or WebCT/Learning Management System and are instantly curious about the workshop subject matter. They are happy yo come along to a workshop to find out what its all about. The workshop registration process and post workshop follow-up often leads to invitations to deliver organization specific Toolbox training and showcases…. because when teachers have the chance to experience a Toolbox for the first time they are always impressed by the sheer quality, innovation and relevance of these resources. Veteran Toolbox users continue to enjoy the workshop series because each event is a chance to catch a new ideas, pick up a new skills and meet other teachers and trainers. Smart people don’t come to these events for the coffee.

So.. what are some of the 2007 additions to the workshop series?
Customizing with Web2 shows users just how easy it is to incorporate Web2 applications in Toolboxes and Toolbox learning objects in order to add further immediacy and interactivity to Toolboxes resources.
Building on the way Toolboxes have spaces for educators to add chat, email and forums - framing, syndicating, embedding and linking are methods by which teachers can incorporate youtube videos, news sites, blogs and del.icio.us tag clouds in a way that is sympathetic to their use of the Toolbox. The workshop gets teachers and trainers discussing when it is best to frame or embed, link or syndicate from an educational perspective and shows how easy it all is to do using sites like htmlbasix.com and feed2js.org that generate the html script for you! ( Thank you Alan Levine for creating this site some time ago).

From the Repository to the CD was very popular with small RTO’s who have limited server technology or just want a way to use TLO with students via a different format or with students who perhaps have limited or no internet access.

We need to remember sometimes that when we step outside a capital city in Australia (and in the ACT we don’t have to step far) we step into a world of pretty poor ICT infrastructure, little choice of ICT provider, and into towns and villages where incomes are generally much lower: both these factors can make internet access a bit of a luxury. The CD can plug the gap between the internet haves and the internet have-nots by at least making sure both have access to the same Toolbox or TLO resource.

Toolbox Learning Objects and WebCT is directly designed to support teachers who are trying to incorporate a TLO as a resource for teaching an element of competence or part of a subject topic and who are doing so through a learning management system (LMS) such as WebCT. LMS’s have different ways of dealing with such objects and these are not always obvious, easy or satisfactory!!!

There are of course other workshops that have been added to the series, but these have not been about customization but about, among other things, unconventional ways to apply Toolbox resources in the ACE sector. Customization issues still remain of keen interest to experienced and new Toolbox users and continue to attract workshop participants.

Sourcing Workshop Skills
These workshops have been developed with the knowledge of people like Moir Holms, who first raised the Repository to CD idea with me, and with the flexible learning expertise of fellow FLS educational designer Margaret O’Connell and the Flexible Learning Team at Canberra Institute of Technology.

Developing the simplest and educationally sound approaches to framing and embedding, and working out how to do the CDRom stuff - was something I had to discover for myself!!!!!

This is a new seminar topic in the Toolbox series to be offered on Wednesday Nov 7th at CIT Southside. Everyone Welcome!

There is always a great deal of interest in adding web 2 functionality to toolboxes and learning objects which already come kitted out for “web 1″? that is, forums, email and chat. Web 2 has so much more to offer in the form of Youtube, Del.icio.us. Wiki and Blog and RSS feeds, Toondoo, Gliffy and so many more that bring greatly enhanced opportunities for interaction and collaboration in the online learning environment to Toolboxes.

Come along and see how to add this cool stuff!!

This is an exciting Toolbox Workshop that shows you how to turn Toolbox learning objects into a self opening CD Rom. The workshop was first delivered at the ACT Framework Professional Development day earlier in the year and then again at CIT southside campus in September. The workshop was open to anyone from the VET sector with a passion for learning objects and a tolerance for DOS files!

The workshop won’t run again until 2008 - so keep an eye on the ACT Toolbox Champion Home Page for dates, times and places where you can attend this fun and very useful workshop.

There will be times when you want to make a Toolbox Learning Object (or any other learning object) avaliable to students in the form of a CDRom. Just follow the instructions in the attachment below - its easy!

Create a self opening CDRom for a customised learning object

Welcome to LearnScope participants who today are adding links to wiki’s and blogs into toolbox learning objects. Hope you enjoy the session today!

cheers

Helen