Mentoring Online Course
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For Teachers
This website was developed as an assessment item for
- FET8610-Creating Educational Web Environments
and contributes towards my Masters in Education Technology, USQ,Toowoomba,Qld.
My aim was to develop a course to make learning about Occupational Health and Safety fun, rather than a boring "must do" before VET students go out to work placement. This unit or a similar OHS unit, is a core unit of most Certificate courses. My aim is to produce core learning materials adaptable for these units and where the assessment tasks may be contexualised to suit the vocational area.
I used a program called Articulate Engage and Articulate Quizmaker to create interactive acitivities to engage even the most reluctant learners. Articulate Engage makes it simple to include audio dialogues and videos to accompany text, so even students with low levels of literacy can work through the content easily and quickly. Articulate Quizmaker makes it so simple to create interesting quiz activities, students find assessment enjoyable. By loading into Blackboard Content Management System and linking to the gradebook, many activities can be selfmarking and give instant feedback. I used avatars to give a real life authentic feel to the assessment items.
Teaching Pedagogy
The learning materials used in this unit are founded on sound teaching pedagogy which are based on learning theories to support learning and meet curriculum goals. I have:
- Designed innovative learning experiences
- Catered for the individual learning needs of my students by providing a variety of ways to access learning materials
- Provided choices for students to contribute to the assessment process
- Provided access to learning materials in a managed online evironment as well as access on the school network when blackboard was not accessible
- Enrolled all students in the LP, managed passwords, negotiated network and access problems
- Used a variety of collaboration tools in blackboard to construct meaning and for students to gain a deeper understanding.
- Used these tools individually and in groups through all stages of the learning process and have also used them for reflection so students may refine, develop and gain further knowledge and information.
- Created a packaged html learning unit loaded into blackboard integrating a variety of ICT for teachers at Oakey State High School to facilitate with WHS and VET classes within the school. Teachers are able to choose items that satisfy the learning goals of their students.
- Received permission from video sources to use video content Initiated learning conversations to improve teaching pedagogy with colleagues while developing this unit
Research supports the use of multi-modal texts:
Charles Fadel, of Global Lead, Education Cisco reported on recent neuroscience and visualization research in Multimodal Learning Through Media:What the Research Says.This paper confirms that students learn better when visuals are used to support text.
When both speech and text are combined together in learning, retention is high. Fadel points out that when well desinged materials which include interactivity with both vision and sound are presented to students, the learning is enhanced and they learn more.
On completion of this course I want all students to
- have an appreciation and understanding of the need to adhere to OHS policies and procedures in the workplace
- recognise OHS issues in the workplace and respond to a variety of real life experiences in the appropriate manner
- know their OHS designatied personel and their roles within the organisation
- access and use detailed information about OHS information if the need arises
- be able to complete appropriate documentation in the case of OHS situations arising
- critically evaluate their own OHS skills to identify hazards and reduce risks in relation to acceptable industry standards
- gain confidence needed to cntribute to the OHS environment of the workforce and know how to work safely.
Learners
These skills are compulsory before students begin their yearly work placement. The materials in this course can easily be adapted to cover OHS units of competency from other training packages.
The learners may include students of all ages at secondary school and TAFE colleges studying units from any OHS VET training packages.
Students prior learning should include some knowledge and skills in the following software programs:
- word processing software (Microsoft Word)
- web browser (Internet Explorer)
The skills of using the Blackboard Content Management System will integrated and will include the use of:
- Wikis
- Chats
- Blogs
- Discussions
- Submissions
- Gradebook
- emails
The course offers a mix of learning activities:
- OHS documentation
- interactive games
- podcasts and screencasts
- online communication skills ie blogs, wikis, chats, discussions, teleconferences
- independant assignment tasks that reflect their own interpretation and level of skills
Curriculum
This course specifically covers the unit of competency BSBOHS201a Participate in Occupational Procedures which is part of the new Business Training Package BSB07. It introduces the competencies:
- Work Safely
- Implement workplace safety requirement
- Participate in OHS consultative processes
- Follow safety procedure
Constructivism
Focuses on the learner and the knowledge that they build internally. Based on active engagement with ideas and materials,
Views learning as a process in which the learner activiely constructs or builds new ideas or concepts based upon current and past knowledge.
eg: The student is building on the knowledge and skills already gained throughout units previously studied. Each individual has different entry skills and through active participationof set tasks will process this information and build new ideas
An important part of this course is not just to teach a block of content but implicitly help students think more productively by combining:
- creative thinking (creative ways to present their podcast, screencast or presentation on ergonomics)
- critical thinking (to evaluate hypothetical real life situations and decide on action plan)
The tasks for each job role uses the following levels of thinking:
Knowledge: observation and recall of previously learnt knowledge in units of communication, computing packages, occupational health and safety.
Comprehension: read, recall, grasp meaning, translate knowledge, interpret, order, group, discuss, predict consequences in all individual and discussion activities.
Application: use methods, concepts and theories from previous work and life experiences to solve problems in new situations
Analysis: order, explain, connect, classify, arrange, compare, select, explain, infer in individual and discussion tasks.
Synthesis: combine, integrate, modify, rearrange, substitute, plan, create, design, invent, compose, formulate and prepare in all all tasks and activities.
Evaluation : compare and discriminate between ideas, assess student ideas, self evaluate and make choices based on reasoning issues.
Resources Needed
The following resources are needed :
- E-mail accounts for all students
- Microsoft Word
- Internet Explorer
- Audacity
- PC for each student
- printer
- scanner (optional)
- sound recorder (optional)
- Camtasia
- Blackboard course setup through The Learning Place
- Course enrolment for each student through The Learning Place
All web resources are listed in the student resources page
Human Resources
The learning program can be operated under the direct supervision of one classroom teacher.
Evaluation
All evaluation for BSB07 training package is competency based. If students produce evidence to show they have the required elements of competency equal to industry standards, then they are evaluated as being competent in the unit.
I have provided a matrix showing the type of evidence needed to gain competency. You can access this matrix from the Evaluation/Assessment Criteria or through the menu at the top of page. Teacher may use this page to enter the Student's name, tick the radio boxes and print out an evaluation page at the end for each student.