Office of Teaching and Learning

This paper is based on ongoing research that builds on an earlier study exploring the innovations and adaptations made to face-to-face delivery in programs from Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Higher Education (HE) in a TAFE institute in Victoria, Australia during the Covid-19 pandemic. Participants were drawn from two faculties within the Institute and included learners, teachers and lecturers.

COVID-19 has compelled businesses to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies and rethink traditional models to enhance customer value and maintain a competitive advantage. This presentation explores innovative approaches to IT training which leverage online and remote training options to empower students. By focusing on flexible delivery modes, including the HyFlex model (Gogia 2021), we aim to address the dual challenge of meeting the skill needs of the IT sector and enhancing productivity in the digital economy. In conclusion, this study exemplifies how online and flexible learning modes can be effectively utilised to empower learners by providing accessible, engaging, and relevant training. Students are prepared for successful employment outcomes in the IT fields but also contributes to addressing the broader skill needs and productivity challenges in the digital economy. This presentation calls for further research and investment in flexible learning models as a strategic approach to workforce development.

In a Higher Education context learning is an individual experience within a learning community. Such a community no longer needs to be bound by temporal or spatial limitations. Drawing on concepts found in Complexity Science, Ecological Psychology and Distributed Cognition this paper argues that educational design needs to focus on supporting the dynamics and flow of interaction, the exchange of ideas and negotiation of meaning within a curriculum based ecosystem.

Digital technologies have the potential to support spontaneous, self-organizing learning activities when students are engaged, want to learn and empowered to drive their own learning. We have a learning design that integrates a problem-based learning philosophy and approach with appropriate e-learning platforms and communication tools, which interface with tutorial discussions and supporting learning materials and resources. This paper outlines the elements of our approach and some initial evaluation of its effectiveness.

This study investigates the workings of three higher education partnerships with Holmesglen Institute – a public Technical and Further Education (TAFE) provider based in Melbourne, Australia. Anecdotally, some such partnerships succeed more than others, but no systematic study has yet been conducted to support that claim empirically, possibly because partnership performance is difficult to measure. Partnerships often have multiple objectives, and their performance can be analysed at different levels. A further performance problem concerns whether organisations can build partnership management capability for beneficial outcomes. The study therefore sought to answer two questions: 1. Why are some partnerships more successful than others? 2. How can organisations build institutional capability to enhance partnership management and success?