VET Futures forum

A somewhat belated post about the VET Futures forum held at Holiday Inn Brisbane on March 24.

This was an excellent opportunity for representatives of the VET Futures funded PD projects to get together and share ideas and learnings. Very well organised by Judy and Cathie and I really appreciated the chocolates!

There are some interesting initiatives happening around the state and I could be wrong but it seemed to me the discussions are at a more sophisticated level than a few years ago. It was good to hear Peter Skippington's overview which emphasised the need for cultural change; a focus on teaching learning and assessment; a strategic approach with implementation up to local institutes.

Peter also talked about the potential for TROPIC II in this respect and the need to think about the project in terms of cultural change.

There are some clear links between TROPIC II and some of the other projects. For example, at WBIT Meredith and Karen have already used many II strategies, tactics and skills in their delivery of Assessment Foundations workshops. They explicitly modelled some of these strategies which was a great value add for the teachers attending.

There is potential to link TNQT's Tek Talks, TROPIC II and PALM, looking at options to use the Madeline Hunter lesson design for Tek Talk sessions to be delivered via e-learning. More on that soon I hope.

And because TROPIC II is all about effective teaching and learning, there is definitely scope to link with several other VET Futures projects. I think there is a two way responsibility between the TROPIC II participants and the project managers and other stakeholders at each institute, to share information, discuss possibilities and initiate actions and long-term planning.

In general news, I completed the mid-term report which is now on my.TAFE, and we have our second iConnect meeting scheduled this afternoon. Next workshop is week after next - can't wait! Lots of work to be done after that though. I'm hoping to schedule some sessions here at TNQT in May.