National Monday Update

From the corridors of government departments, to State Parliament, out to the Victorian regional cities of Bendigo and Geelong and internationally to key cities in China – I feel most privileged to have represented ACPET Victorian members over the past five months. I am the Victorian and Tasmanian Executive Officer, Maria Langwell, and this week’s ‘In focus’ looks at our Victorian activities (I’ll report on Tasmanian activities in a couple of weeks).

The Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations Senator the Hon Chris Evans recently launched a new publication Making a difference: Australian international education which celebrates the achievements of international education in Australia. 

Administration staff of Registered Training Organisations are encouraged to attend this workshop to increase their knowledge and understanding of the obligations involved in the administration of Australian Apprenticeships and other competitive purchase training initiatives managed by Training and Tertiary Education. Two sessions are scheduled for the convenience of stakeholders.

Applications are invited from educators and industry specialists to develop and trial professional development programs to enhance the skills of VET practitioners to manage and deliver vocational education and training in the area of energy efficiency.

NSW members are encouraged to take up the opportunity to hear from the e-learning experts. Join social media and workplace learning leaders Jane Hart (UK), John Buchanan (University of Sydney) and an expert panel discuss the ways that we can apply broadband to e-learning as the NBN rolls out.

This half-day workshop will be presented by Paresh Kevat, Business Intelligence Analyst at IDP Education Limited.

In conjunction with the TDC, ACPET secured five $10,000 grants for its members to develop and implement a project that supported their College’s workforce development and capacity. After receiving nine quality project concepts, the TDC has agreed to fund all applicants in 2012. The members that will be participating in the 2012 Coaching and Mentoring Initiative are:

ACPET would like to congratulate Sheila Douglas, VET Manager, Employease, on receiving a place in the 2012 ISS Fellowship Program for her research in flexible/blended methods of delivering aged care training by smaller RTOs to rural and remote communities.

As in previous years, the three outstanding projects from ACPET’s e-learning projects (funded by SkillsVIC) showcase their work at Converge11, the Annual E-Learning Conference, which is designed to enhance e-learning opportunities and knowledge for VET providers. With more than 200 delegates, the ACPET workshop enthused other RTOs to consider e-learning as a mode of delivery and assessment.

Last week, Maria Langwell, ACPET’s Executive Officer Victoria and Tasmania, attended a forum, organised by CQUniversity, Melbourne campus, on Innovations in International Education. The keynote speaker was Associate Professor Christopher Ziguras, Deputy Dean (Learning and Teaching, International) in the School of Global Studies at RMIT.