Comments on: My vision for learners in the 21st Century http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/ Living and learning for life Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:26:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Vancouver, CommonWealth of Learning, ideas for WikiEducator « Learn Online http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-11883 Vancouver, CommonWealth of Learning, ideas for WikiEducator « Learn Online Tue, 10 Apr 2007 05:45:43 +0000 http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-11883 [...] Michael Nelson, Web Design – Wikiversity. Michael has been using Training Packages Unwrapped and Wikiversity to develop learning resources for Web Design. He has described compelling ideas inspired by that experience, how he can conceivably see a relationship forming between teachers, students, industry and the Australian Training Authority where openness in expressions of unit standards not only helps teachers and students to engage with and understand them, but would help to keep each unit standard up to date and relevant. [...] [...] Michael Nelson, Web Design – Wikiversity. Michael has been using Training Packages Unwrapped and Wikiversity to develop learning resources for Web Design. He has described compelling ideas inspired by that experience, how he can conceivably see a relationship forming between teachers, students, industry and the Australian Training Authority where openness in expressions of unit standards not only helps teachers and students to engage with and understand them, but would help to keep each unit standard up to date and relevant. [...]

]]> By: Michael http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-7746 Michael Tue, 20 Mar 2007 02:38:11 +0000 http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-7746 No problems Jen. I'm glad it was helpful... I'd love to hear about potential issues that you (or others) see too, so that we can update and improve the process for our classes! Thanks for stopping by :) No problems Jen. I’m glad it was helpful…

I’d love to hear about potential issues that you (or others) see too, so that we can update and improve the process for our classes!

Thanks for stopping by :)

]]> By: Jen http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-7738 Jen Tue, 20 Mar 2007 01:05:12 +0000 http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-7738 hi michael thank you for clothing this idea in a possible reality. it is very helpful and will help policy makers see the potential for the vet system and to understand better teachers needs. cheers jen hi michael
thank you for clothing this idea in a possible reality. it is very helpful and will help policy makers see the potential for the vet system and to understand better teachers needs.
cheers
jen

]]> By: Michael http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-6859 Michael Mon, 26 Feb 2007 23:57:28 +0000 http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-6859 I reckon! Peter's opened up a floodgate of possibilities for learning! I reckon! Peter’s opened up a floodgate of possibilities for learning!

]]> By: Alex Hayes http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-6858 Alex Hayes Mon, 26 Feb 2007 23:10:57 +0000 http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-6858 Peter Shanks rocks. ! Peter Shanks rocks. !

]]> By: Michael http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-6735 Michael Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:13:02 +0000 http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-6735 Thanks Leigh! We certainly have found that the units of competence can be out of date - or sometimes just plain incorrect - especially in the IT training package! I'm guessing this is mostly because it probably comes down to a very small number of people who are paid to edit and compile the official documents with very little funding (I'm assuming), which means that they probably sometimes copy-n-paste the old version - it certainly looks that way anyway. For example, take a look at the notes and discrepancies section of the Learner guide for <a rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/ICAB4135A_Create_a_simple_mark-up_language_document_to_specification" rel="nofollow">Create a simple mark-up language document</a>. You'll see there a few notes about inconsistencies, but the second point in particular is about out-of-date standards (I just updated it to clarify a bit). I'm hoping that this section in particular of the collaborative learner guides can be a place to gather and record errors, inconsistencies or common misunderstandings that might be of use next time they update the package - but it certainly is useful for us facilitators using the units now, and hopefully for learners too. Just made me think - perhaps the section would be more learner-friendly as an FAQ rather than "Notes and discrepancies". So each learner guide for a unit would have it's own Frequently Asked Questions section. If the people responsible for the official docs have time, they could edit and provide advice too. In the mean time, I simply do my best to help learners understand the specific criteria that are out of date, as in the link above. Hope that helps! Thanks Leigh!

We certainly have found that the units of competence can be out of date - or sometimes just plain incorrect - especially in the IT training package!

I’m guessing this is mostly because it probably comes down to a very small number of people who are paid to edit and compile the official documents with very little funding (I’m assuming), which means that they probably sometimes copy-n-paste the old version - it certainly looks that way anyway. For example, take a look at the notes and discrepancies section of the Learner guide for Create a simple mark-up language document. You’ll see there a few notes about inconsistencies, but the second point in particular is about out-of-date standards (I just updated it to clarify a bit).

I’m hoping that this section in particular of the collaborative learner guides can be a place to gather and record errors, inconsistencies or common misunderstandings that might be of use next time they update the package - but it certainly is useful for us facilitators using the units now, and hopefully for learners too. Just made me think - perhaps the section would be more learner-friendly as an FAQ rather than “Notes and discrepancies”. So each learner guide for a unit would have it’s own Frequently Asked Questions section. If the people responsible for the official docs have time, they could edit and provide advice too.

In the mean time, I simply do my best to help learners understand the specific criteria that are out of date, as in the link above.

Hope that helps!

]]> By: leigh http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-6731 leigh Wed, 21 Feb 2007 06:59:42 +0000 http://liveandletlearn.net/my-vision-for-learners-in-the-21st-century/#comment-6731 I like it mike! A lot. Here in New Zealand we still have the tension between Unit Standards and Learning Outcomes. At first I couldn't understand the people here who were rejecting the standards. There was the usual arguements that seem to totally miss the point - something about competency units being too restrictive. Personally I see them as very lierating, as you demonstrate here. But this is not the real criticism of Unit Standards in New Zealand. The real one is that the units in some cases are out of date and do not represent what someone should truly know in any given vocation or what ever. My question is: Have you found this to be the case with any of the Australian Units? If not, do you think this is simply because they are a relatively new initiative (compared to NZ's unit standards) and that not enough time has gone by for any given unit to be grossly out of date? And given that the NZ example shows that Nationally Managed Unit Standards can fail in quality, how do you see one or more of the features in your vision helps to fix or prevent that problem occuring? Is there a way that your system can provide feedback into the office that manages the unit standards? Big questions, but if you can project your thinking into this highly likely senario in Australia, and current problem in NZ it would help me a lot. I like it mike! A lot.

Here in New Zealand we still have the tension between Unit Standards and Learning Outcomes. At first I couldn’t understand the people here who were rejecting the standards. There was the usual arguements that seem to totally miss the point - something about competency units being too restrictive. Personally I see them as very lierating, as you demonstrate here.

But this is not the real criticism of Unit Standards in New Zealand. The real one is that the units in some cases are out of date and do not represent what someone should truly know in any given vocation or what ever.

My question is: Have you found this to be the case with any of the Australian Units? If not, do you think this is simply because they are a relatively new initiative (compared to NZ’s unit standards) and that not enough time has gone by for any given unit to be grossly out of date? And given that the NZ example shows that Nationally Managed Unit Standards can fail in quality, how do you see one or more of the features in your vision helps to fix or prevent that problem occuring? Is there a way that your system can provide feedback into the office that manages the unit standards?

Big questions, but if you can project your thinking into this highly likely senario in Australia, and current problem in NZ it would help me a lot.

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