Meating a need: remote site learning: Dianne Van Berlo
INTERVIEW | Greg Madden, TAFE NSW ICVET
Dianne Van Berlo, Manager, Online Projects, TAFE NSW New England Institute, is using tablet PCs and web conferencing to deliver training in remote places. Dianne talked about her work and her insights, demonstrating the kind of flexibility, use of technology and adaptation to individual needs that is the face of TAFE in the future.
Why use a tablet PC for training?
A tablet PC is a slate-shaped mobile computer, equipped with touch-screen technology. This allows the user to operate the computer with a stylus, digital pen, or fingertip, instead of a keyboard or mouse.
For people not comfortable with using keyboards, the tablet PC is easier, as sketching and handwriting are a more familiar form of input rather than a keyboard and/or mouse. Those who are unable to type can begin to learn and utilize the additional features of a PC and begin to interact with the electronic world.
Dianne explains: `There are a lot of people out there who have never been in an office, who have never learnt how to use a keyboard… When you stick ‘a tablet’ in front of them, you hand them a pen, and off they go.’
Dianne sees the tablet PC’s greatest utility as its ability to take the classroom out into real workplace environments where there are no desks, no tables, no powerpoints.
`I have teachers who are going to deliver training to retail trainees in service stations for example. All the training resources are on the tablet PC, so when trainer goes everything is available plus all the assessments. The student can write directly onto the assessment screen while standing up and observing a workplace activity. They’ve got the capability to (hand) write on any sort of document that you import into a windows journal’.
Food for thought
Dianne has applied the tablet PC technology to her 
classes studying Certificate III in Rural Operations and Agriculture. She takes the tablet PC’s out to the cattle feedlots which are used for conditioning livestock. Dianne explains: `For example, I give the students a blank diagram of the anatomy of a steer and I get them to label the various parts of the digestive system. They just write over the diagram. I have feedlot plans and layouts. I get them to label those’.
Dianne is impressed with the technology from a teacher productivity perspective: `The nice thing is, once I come back into the office, I have a wireless router with custom-made software, so that I just download the documents students have completed. They get automatically uploaded to a data drive in my office and that way we have digital storage and student evidence without reams of paperwork’.
Partnerships
Partnerships and external funding have been key in the achievement of this program. Meat and Livestock Australia funded the development of training andassessment tools for the feedlot courses. The software development also received external funding.
The New England Institute also worked in partnership with the North Coast Institute. Together they created ‘teaching objects’ (learning topic areas) for the project. Tablet delivery is based on those teaching objects. Several teaching objects may fit across several units of competency.
What next - web conferencing
Dianne’s next step is to start web conferencing at the feedlots with the tablet PC’s. Currently she’s in negotiation with the ‘lot feeders’ who wanted all the trainee learning based at the feedlot. But as Dianne explains, they had to be moreinventive: `it’s just not economically viable to go out and do all delivery at the feedlot when it is 1,000 km away. So I am gradually getting them used to the idea of web conferencing for the theory subjects, such as OH&S and Quality Assurance’.
Dianne stresses the importance of thinking through the simple things in conducting web conferencing. From her experience, these include:
- a good induction is needed for any eLearning so that people understand how you use the software platform
- establish a purpose before you start
- begin with a brief introduction and then let people know if you are going to do a lot of talking. Give them only ‘listening status’ and don’t let them engage in questions and conversations until you are ready
- while one teacher delivers to students, another should sit in the background and make sure the session and communication pods are working well
- you need to actively engage the participants in any activity that you want to use; but don’t let it be a free-for-all with no established guide lines
- the activity needs to involve a structured use of tools so you are achieving a learning outcome. It shouldn’t be just an informal chat session unless that is what you have planned.