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The use of e-assessment is increasing rapidly in the vocational education and training(VET) sector in Australia. Recent national benchmarking surveys, conducted by the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Framework), revealed that over forty per cent of Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and more than sixty per cent of teachers and trainers are using some form of e-assessment (Australian Flexible Learning Framework 2010).The most common form of e-assessment appears to be the online quiz (Callan and Clayton, 2010). However the consultations conducted during the development of these guidelines revealed that assessors are using a wide range of e-assessment strategies to collect evidence, provide feedback and record and report assessment outcomes. Both the Framework and the former National Quality Council have been keen to promote e-assessment and to ensure that e-assessment materials and practices are consistent with the principles of good assessment that are embedded in the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF).To this end, the Council and the Framework commissioned the development of this set of guidelines. These are designed to: promote quality e-assessment materials and practices that are consistent with the (AQTF), ensure that e-assessment materials are readily accessible across the VET system,and  encourage further innovation in the design and deployment of e-assessment materials and systems.It is envisaged that a range of stakeholders will use the guidelines. For example: enterprise and industry organisations may use the guidelines to check that eassessment materials meet the relevant competency standards, are accessible to all employees and are deployed in the most efficient manner. RTOs may use the guidelines to inform decisions about the acquisition or development of e-assessment materials and systems.  assessors may apply the guidelines in deciding how e-assessment materials and systems may be used to enha

Cultural dimensions of Indigenous participation in vocational education and training: new perspectives by Alfred Michael Dockery, Centre for Labour Market Research and Curtin University This report provides new evidence on the interrelationships between Indigenous Australians' affiliation with their traditional culture and the nature of their engagement with vocational education and training (VET). It aims to enhance our understanding of the causal channels through which culture shapes VET participation and outcomes, and vice versa, and builds on previous work presented in the author's 2009 publication, Cultural dimensions of Indigenous participation in education and training, in a number of ways. Most importantly, richer measures of culture are developed which capture separate elements of the broader concept of 'cultural attachment'. Using these measures and more recent data, previous findings relating to past educational attainment and participation in training are reassessed. Evidence is also presented on the links between cultural attachment and current participation in education and on the benefits Indigenous Australians derive from education and training, conditional upon remoteness and cultural attachment.

On November 9 2011, Adobe announced that it will stop development of the Flash player for mobile devices following the release of v11.1 for Android and BlackBerry.  (http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2011/11/flash-focus.html (Opens in new window)) As a result, at their meeting in Melbourne on 29th November 2011 the E-standards Expert Group decided that as of 2013 it will no longer recommend Flash (swf) as a content format  for delivery of learner content in the VET sector, because it can no longer be deemed interoperable across the existing recommended devices. This does not mean that support is withdrawn for existing content, or that  the recommendation is withdrawn immediately. It does mean that content developers should consider transitioning to alternative methods (for example JavaScript/HTML) of delivering accessible interactive content. Unfortunately HTML5 is not recommended at this time for use in development of content intended for widespread use in the VET sector because of the inconsistent implementation by browser developers.  Please see the E-standards for Training 2011 HTML5 Research report. If you choose to use HTML5 functionality, you should provide a fall-back mechanism for browsers not supporting that element.

I'm currently listening to David Rock's 'Your Brain at Work' in which he uses the metaphor of a stage and actors against a narrative of a typical day in the lives of two protagonists to explain neuroscience and how our brains function. In doing so, Rock explores what we can do to maximise our finite energy and be more mindful of how we are using our brains. This is a compelling book that has already spawned several AHA moments for me - and the two characters are still only half way through their work days! So far, the biggest take-aways for me include: - our mental 'stage' only has room for a few actors at a time - there are times of day that are better for complex tasks than others - by paying attention to your mental processes, you can control the factors that impact the way your brain functions - being 'mindful' and paying attention to your physical surrounds can give you a much-needed break from the narrative processes that would have you dwell on planning and scenarios. Am enjoying this journey immensely and will be sad when it's over. Am looking forward to learning more about how to get the most out of my 1.3 kilos or so of grey matter at my disposal.

This guide will assist assessors to offer streamlined recognition processes and enable them to help employers and recognition candidates to be better informed about recognition. This guide is intended for trained assessors who are familiar with key aspects of quality assessment practice, including the principles of assessment and the use of a wide variety of methods of assessment applicable to both groups and individuals. This guide is not a substitute for thorough training in assessment for all assessors.

MIT today announced the launch of an online learning initiative internally called "MITx." MITx will offer a portfolio of MIT courses through an online interactive learning platform that will:organize and present course material to enable students to learn at their own pacefeature interactivity, online laboratories and student-to-student communicationallow for the individual assessment of any student's work and allow students who demonstrate their mastery of subjects to earn a certificate of completion awarded by MITxoperate on an open-source, scalable software infrastructure in order to make it continuously improving and readily available to other educational institutions.

THERE is a concept in telecommunications called "the last mile," that part of any phone system that is the most difficult to connect - the part that goes from the main lines into people's homes. Prem Kalra, the director of the new Indian Institute of Technology in Rajasthan, one of the elite M.I.T.'s of India, has dedicated his school to overcoming a different challenge: connecting "the last person."

Article behind a paywall, but info worth knowing. No mention of the report itself of course! INDIGENOUS employment statistics are not just bleak, they're opaque and often out of date, making it harder to develop a coherent policy response to the problem. This concern, raised in research to be published today, has prompted key Aboriginal employment groups to call on the federal government to change its approach to collecting employment data for indigenous Australians.

This booklet outlines the results of research the Frameworkcommissioned into how e-learning innovations can be sustained withinorganisations, available athttp://flexiblelearning.net.au/content/benchmarking-and-researchpublications.The research identifies what Australian organisations just like yours, aredoing to build e-learning into how they deliver training now and in thefuture. Their experiences provide some valuable lessons to save yourorganisation time and money in developing more flexible staff trainingsolutions.The booklet summarises the:* evidence for the uptake of e-learning in the delivery of training* benefits of e-learning for employees, employers and training organisations* findings from the Framework funded research into practices that sustain the use of e-learning in training* guidelines around e-learning good practice.

Executive Summary Severe overspending habits can be highly resistant to change because they share many characteristics of addictions. Prochaska's Stages-of-Change Model has been used effectively in treating addictions and has been helpful in debt counseling. This article explains the Stages-of-Change Model using language easily accessible to financial advisers and their clients. Five stages of change are described in this paper: denial, ambivalence, preparation, action, and maintenance-along with the client's potential slide into relapse. The article provides guidance for assessing the overspending client's readiness to change and describes techniques for moving clients toward lasting success in controlling overspending habits.

This study examined the benefits of a community of practice in the context of Ontario's children's mental health sector where organizations are mandated to adopt a standardized outcome measure to monitor client response to treatment.

There are plenty of sites dealing with the use of the apostrophe in English, but many people just want a quick answer to a question that arises in the course of their work.  The following examples show correct usage for questions that arise frequently, and apply equally to British English, American English, Australian English and New Zealand English. A general tip for checking that your use of apostrophes is correct is to change the phrase around so that the part before the apostrophe becomes the last word.  If it still has the same meaning, the apostrophe was correct.

Great page with quick references and easy to follow.

Anal HPV infection more likely to persist in gay men compared to heterosexual men Sexually transmitted infections > Michael Carter Published: 03 November 2011 An international team of investigators have found a possible explanation for the higher rates of anal cancer observed in men who have sex with men (MSM) compared to men who have sex with women (MSW). In the December 1st edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers from the HIM study report that anal human papillomavirus (HPV) infections were significantly more likely to persist in MSM than MSW

The purpose of the Learning Design Tool (LDT) is to assist you in the process of choosing and developing a learning design for a learning resource which covers a unit of competence, or elements of a unit, in a Training Package. The LDT has been designed for both experienced and non-experienced users.

By analysing topics of interest and concern to Australians the researchers have been able to build a 'network map' [of Twitter users] showing the connections between different issues and areas. "Just as newspapers have circulation reports and TV has its ratings, it is important to understand the role which new media are playing in our society," they say.

I work in a private RTO. When can I use copyright material for my work without seeking permission from the copyright owner? Your private RTO is unlikely to have been declared an 'educational institution' under the Copyright Act 1968 10A(4) declaration and will not be operating under statutory licences that allow it to reproduce other peoples creations.Private RTO's can purchase 'blanket licences' that allow it to operate in the same way as the statutory licences. Contact the Copyright Agency Limited for detailed information.Otherwise, if a work is subject to copyright you will generally need the copyright owner's permission to reproduce it. However, listed below are several circumstances where you won't need permission:Owner gives permission Some authors, want to make their work more freely available so they put an alternative copyright statement on their work. This is often true in the VET system where there is a strong culture of collaboration. To check this - read the copyright statements on hard copy items. In the electronic environment look out for items bearing a Free for Education (FfE) or Creative Commons logo.Work is now in the public domain What is the public domain? This is where all works go when their copyright expires. In Australia, that is 70 years after the author dies. Once a work is in public domain you can use as much or as little of it as you like without the author's permission. To find out more try typing "public domain" into any major search engine.

Wikis in education 12 April, 2012 | Interactive web services at the turn of the 21st century spawned a number of new alluring ways to use online services writes Gerry White in DERN.

The architect of early intervention in Australian psychiatry, Patrick McGorry, has abandoned the idea pre-psychosis should be listed as a new psychiatric disorder.

AlphaPlus provides training, services, tools and resources to adult literacy agencies and educators in Ontario and Canada, serving adult learners in Deaf, Native, Francophone and Anglophone literacy streams. We are funded provincially by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Our mission is to increase adult literacy skills through the use of digital technologies by supporting educators and stakeholders with research, tools and training.

The Online Therapy Institute provides a range of services including counselling in virtual worlds and online, web site templates for private therapists to be able to conduct e-counselling and more. Technology is becoming part of the profession. Preparing our learners to use it is vital to their careers.