The Design Approach for Digital Transformation to The Vocational Virtual Campus

Helen Leeson, Director Learning Design at TasTAFE

Helen Leeson, Director Learning Design at TasTAFE

It feels like COVID-19 was such a long time ago, however the impacts of the pandemic continue to affect our daily lives and has changed our approach to education forever. The challenges were extensive for vocational education and required more than moving classroom activity on-line as occurred with schools and other tertiary education providers. The deeply embedded requirements in vocational education and training (VET) for practical, applied and industry aligned training has never been suited to a largely static delivery model based on lectures and assessment artefacts, and did not transition easily.

Tasmania, the small island state at the base of Australia is the kicking off point for many Antarctic journeys and a mecca for wine and food lovers. Tasmania’s remoteness, limited connectivity, complex social and economic factors all influence the engagement of learners with training, and in particular with technology in training. TasTAFE as the only public training provider in the state, is committed to learner success through being a leading education and training provider that is contemporary in its delivery, closely connected to industry and reflective of our community’s diversity. The TasTAFE Virtual Campus is part of this commitment. The Virtual Campus will integrate existing TasTAFE systems and services to be a single connection point for learners to enhance their vocational journey through digital solutions with industry experts and practical experiences.

When borders and businesses closed, TasTAFE was forced to pivot into a new world of remote training to continue supporting industry sectors with their skill needs and employee development. Historically, vocational training largely relied on replicating industry experiences on campus. Moving on-line during the pandemic was the required immediate response, however the digital capabilities of VET teachers and learners quickly came to the front, as did the acceptance from employers that true skills could ever be delivered through this mode.

Our learning management system (LMS) is an excellent pathway to connect learners to information and guide them through the early learning concepts and knowledge. The LMS alone however, could not simulate authentic work functions found within a job site. Think construction, providing palliative care, cutting and colouring hair, inseminating a cow, or creating that gastronomic delight. Navigating the challenges of building these skills in learners and embedding technology while ensuring they progress to competency is at the heart of the TasTAFE Virtual Campus concept.

Designing authentic experiences for learners, across broad industry sectors, maintaining economic sustainability and ensuring the importance of hands on, genuine skills are built is a wicked problem for VET. One that is exciting and continues to draw the focus of education specialists.

“The strength of TAFE is the deep connection with industry sectors, employers, and the learner.”

The strength of TAFE is the deep connection with industry sectors, employers, and the learner. There are many innovative tools out there, how we use them, support access to them and maintain authentic work function alignment is the ongoing challenge. With remote Tasmania, limited connectivity and low LLND capability in learners, the team at TasTAFE is building a practical strategy for the whole organisation to support all staff, both educators and non-educators to be on the digital transformation journey. Leading transformation through an integrated approach that incorporates the organisation’s culture, the values, the employers we service, and our learners is critical.

A few years on from the initial onslaught of the pandemic, excitement continues to grow with TAFE teachers exploring technology solutions in a vocational training context. It can feel like a kid in the candy shop when attending tech expos, when the sensationalism of the next big thing becomes the focus. However, when learning design becomes an afterthought rather than the driver, teachers and lecturers risk losing the core strength of vocational skill development in the rush to embed technical infrastructure as a training solution.

The true connection between vocational education, industry and employment is what overcomes perceived barriers and forges solutions to strengthen our learners’ experience and their success in the employment marketplace. One example of successful co-design between industry and TasTAFE resulted in a simulated, fully operational mixed enterprise farm for learners to access all aspects of farm management without coming off the job.

Creating our Virtual Campus is greater than transferring resources to an on-line or remote model, it requires a collective understanding of the learner, the work functions required within jobs, the LLND capability of educators and learners, and the support of industry leaders. After all, employers are the end users of vocational education.

The integration of the right technology into learning design is critical. What remains key and top of all decisions for the Virtual Campus, must be that technology is the tool that binds this together, not the driver.