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Background One World also operates a long day care centre and kindergarten located in Victoria and delivers quality training to more than 400 children's services students throughout the state located in up to 200 child care centres. Most of the students already work in the child care industry and study remotely with the support of a trainer and training materials. In 2003 One World for Children won the Community Services Industry Award in the Innovative Products category for their interactive website for learners. Customising existing web-based learning materials One World for Children used the Cybertots Toolbox - a collection of web-based learning materials that assist in the online delivery of qualifications from nationally endorsed training packages - to help them get started with online learning. Cybertots is a virtual child care centre where animated characters (Director Alison and Team Leaders Nicole and Pierre) guide learners through activities aimed at developing skills and knowledge for the workplace. Managing Director of One World for Children, Karyn Connors, said she saw Cybertots being demonstrated and thought it matched the company's philosophy of making learning interesting and challenging. One World for Children received national funding to undertake a professional development project (*LearnScope) to customise the Cybertots to suit their specific needs and develop their own interactive training website for learners. On their website, students can also access detailed information and resources to support their study, find out more about their trainers or get connected on the site's online chat room. Parents can also access the One World for Children website and take a virtual tour of the child care centres they operate, find out information about the early childhood programs delivered, obtain fact sheets on early childhood issues, access staff profiles and find out about the training services. One of the developers of the website, Carol Pundij, believes delivering flexible learning has enhanced One World for Children's teaching and learning programs. "Everyone learns differently and at One World for Children we try to modify our training to meet students' needs. For us, the website is another form of training for those who can access computers. "We offer a choice of learning options from online to paper-based. The encouraging news is that the number of students who are willing to try a new style of learning is increasing. Some people still want hard copy learning materials, but even they are making small inroads to flexible learning by doing things such as emailing assessment. It is all about flexible delivery and being able to offer students options that also suit your business needs," she said. For more information about One World for Children visit: www.oneworldforchildren.com.au/Training/index.asp How they got there - The Australian Flexible Learning FrameworkThe Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Framework) was established in 2000 to support the vocational education and training (VET) system to meet the rapidly increasing demand for flexible learning and e-learning from industry, enterprise and clients. The Framework is a five-year national strategy collaboratively funded by the Australian Government and all States and Territories to achieve a shared vision of a skilled Australian workforce. The development of Toolboxes is funded and supported by the Framework. One World for Children customised the Cybertots Toolbox to assist them implement flexible learning. Toolboxes are low cost, high quality web-based learning products that are provided on a CD and can be installed on a server or used on a stand-alone computer. They are nationally endorsed training package resources that are listed on the National Training and Information Service (NTIS). Toolboxes meet the Australian National Training Authority's (ANTA) quality assurance requirements. For more information about Toolboxes visit: flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox Staff also participated together in a Framework *LearnScope project which provided funding and mentor support for professional development in flexible learning. For more information about LearnScope and other ongoing online professional development opportunities available, visit: flexiblelearning.net.au/learnscope Flex e-News
Last updated: January 31, 2006 |
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