Assignment 1 – The learning contract proposal document
1. My Learning Context or why I want to build a moodle
Economy
Government Policy
TAFE
Industry
Chef
Me
Learner
Teacher
Mentor/Learning Partnership
Technology
International
Students
UTS
Globalisation
This diagram represents my workplace and learning context. I find it makes most sense starting
at the middle and working out. For once I am the centre of the universe.
I got my job because I am a chef, and vocational teachers first and foremost need to be qualified
and experienced in their trade. To start teaching at TAFE I needed Certificate III in Workplace
Training and Assessment, so in order to become a teacher I became a learner. Now I have been
teaching for five years and, contrary to the recent decision by State Government about the
qualifications necessary to teach at TAFE, decided it was time I learnt more about teaching. This
is where I discovered pedagogy and educational philosophy and a whole new universe has
opened up to me. At the same time, it is 30 years since I last attended university and things are
very different now. Most communication is on-line, so are enrolments, access to the library, in
fact just about every aspect of university life can be managed on line. If you miss a lecture you
should be able to catch a pod cast or a vod cast. If you want to share ideas with other students,
use a wiki or a blog. I quickly realized that the way education is delivered and managed has
taken a great leap forward since the last century and I needed to catch up. Then I discovered
moodles, which allows all three aspects of my professional life – teacher, chef and learner – to be
brought together under one roof.
Moodles are the brainchild of Martin Dougiamas, who designed the program while working on
his Ph.D. at Curtin University of Technology in Perth. It is a Learning Management System
(LMS) similar to Blackboard, but because Dougiamas developed it as a tool for his dissertation
on Socio-constructivist approaches to learning it excels in features which support this approach
to education, in particular through its very user-friendly layout and focus on community
building. It provides a framework for everything, from a simple lesson plan with resources
attached to a collaborative project using wikis, blogs, pod & vod casts with learners from all
around the world. In a moodle, everything has a place and everything is linked to everything
else.
In it’s ‘Doing Business in the 21st Century report’, (ref) TAFE identifies its relationship with
industry and enterprises and its ability to respond to industry demands as one of its most
important challenges. As a chef and commercial cookery teacher it is also important to keep up
with industry trends. Many restaurants now have a presence on the web as do most industry
associations. There are dedicated sites for food magazines and TV programs and links to all of
theses sites can be stored in a moodle. And because a moodle is modular, made up of Sharable
Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) items which are all compatible with one another, if a
new course is needed or a new skill is mandated by industry, then another segment can be added
to the moodle in real-time. No waiting for the next text book to be printed or even the next
semester to start. Courses can easily be tailored to specific requirements of an industry sector or
enterprise. Having moodles accessible on line also means that industry can review courses and
select those most suited to its staff.
Most learners from Gen Y and later are classed as ‘digital natives’, they have grown up with the
internet and computer games, they are adept at social networking and have computers at home,
or with them. They are used to searching for information on line, working in groups, sharing
resources, working with multi-media and multi-tasking. As a teacher I have fallen into the trap
(Brookfield) of teaching how I was taught – with a whiteboard and overhead projector. The
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations has recognised this digital
divide and is investing $4.7 billion in a program which focuses on ‘modernizing and improving
the quality of teaching and learning across the VET sector’. Much of that funding is to ensure
‘teachers have access to training in the use of Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) that enables them to enrich student learning’. REF
Another of TAFE’s challenges for the 21st Century (ref) is to offer greater service, diversity and
flexibility for learners. Most vocational learners at TAFE can be split into two groups. Local
students who work full time and often miss class because of work commitments. Having access
to materials on –line means they can catch up on their studies at anytime from anywhere. The
other group of students is from overseas and attends TAFE full time. These students have
varying levels of English language skills and varying motivations for being on the course. Using
moodles means those learners who struggle with certain aspects of a course can refer to the
materials in their own time; specific exercises can be developed to help with language skills or
those learners who want to know more about particular aspects of the course can use resources
provided on the moodle to extend their studies, or develop their own resources and add them to
the moodle.
All of this teaching and learning takes place in an environment that is overseen by our
government and ultimately paid for by our economy. Australia’s recently elected federal
government came to power on the a number of promises, including the ‘Education Revolution’
(ref) which is to supply a computer for every child along with the funding for half a million more
places at trade schools. The recent economic environment must put these funding promises at
risk of severe delay if not cancellation. But moodle is open source ware and is free of charge.
Costs of hardware are coming down – a basic computer can be had for less than $500 and the
Great Recession may mean that they get less expensive still. One significant area that Australia
is struggling with is to provide the necessary bandwidth for rapid and reliable internet
connection, particularly in rural areas. Government policy has yet to be agreed on, let alone
funded or put into practice and the GFC will not help that to happen any faster. Ironically, if
only e-learning and bandwidth were up and running, moodles and their ilk offer the opportunity
of providing education to a greater number of learners at little extra cost.
Over recent years Australian policy has been for educational institutions to become more selfreliant in terms of funding and one of the ways in which they have done this is to enroll full fee
paying students from overseas (put in stats or ref ). The current global economic climate will no
doubt have an effect on the enrolment numbers. While being a chef still earns points on
applications for permanent residency in Australia my sector may be afforded a little protection,
but there is no guarantee in the long term. Australia is competing with other countries for these
learners and their educational dollars and if our educational institutions are to continue to rely on
these learners for a large proportion of their finance, they need to provide world’s best practice.
Moodle is Australian and it would be a major asset to our world standing if we can show the
world that the best educational tools and practice is here.
2. My Learning Contract
Student Name: Joanna Stratfold
Student Number: 10663464
Project Title: Moodle for Mise en Place
Date: March 2009
Learning Objectives
Strategies and Resources
What will be produced
Criteria for assessment
To enhance my e-learning
design skills by creating a
moodle
Research via the internet for
process and best-practice
examples.
A moodle for Mise en Place that
anyone can access/utilise
A 2,500 critical reflection on
my learning with evidence of
wide reading and research that
is properly referenced to UTS
standards.
To design a moodle for one unit
of the Commercial Cookery
Certificate III course and share
with my colleagues at Sydney
Institute
To use the moodle to foster
student-centred self-paced
learning
Moodle organisation’s website
Sydney Institute Moodle
Teachers’ guide
Peers & colleagues (Stephen
and Kirrily in particular)
Knowledge and experience of
my mentor (hopefully Wendy or
Brian) and their feedback &
suggestions
Sample moodles, including
Loftus TAFE Hospitality
moodle
Blogs – moodleman & 2minute
moodles
A reflection of the learning
process, including working with
a mentor and a learning
partnership
A reflection on the use of
moodles as a teaching/learning
resource.
Evaluation and mentor’s report.
A clear description of the value
of moodles and their usefulness
as learning & teaching tools.
An independent evaluation of
my moodle by???
-students
-cookery teacher
-e-learning designer
3. My plan of action
Time line
March 27
Phase
Find a mentor
Agree on learning objectives & mentoring timetable
Produce a moodle
Have moodle evaluated
Write a reflection – on the process & on use of moodles for teaching
and learning