[LINK] The Government's Climate Change plan

[Tom Worthington]

On 29/10/21 9:27 am, Roger Clarke wrote:

> Another article in the same paper reported on a flotilla of 
> no-longer-used TAFE premises being quietly sold off. ...

Universities are also selling off, demolishing or re-purposing obsolete 
classrooms. These are being replaced with multipurpose teaching rooms, 
integrated with entertainment and recreational facilities, 
accommodation, and commercial offices:
https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2020/08/higher-education-after-covid-19-webinar.html#mall

> Some courses *do* lend themselves to primarily remote learning.
> (There are loads of fill-in-the-paperwork 'qualifications' ...

Fill-in-the-paperwork qualifications are one of the good features of 
Vocational Education and Training. If you can show you already know how 
to do something, TAFE doesn't make you waste time going through a whole 
course. I obtained 80% of a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment 
this way.

> But the trades?  And especially the high-tech trades ...

Yes. The old TAFE infrastructure is of no use for high-tech trades. 
Where new facilities are needed, they can be much more compact. An 
example is the Canberra Institute of Technology's building for renewable 
energy students at Bruce campus.

> Remote, and virtually hands-on??  Haptics isn't at that level, and
> may never catch up with the sci-fi and marketers' visions. ...

Yes, I am helping with a systematic research study of how VR is being 
used in learning.

But you don't need VR for most hands on training. The apprentice learns 
most skills on the job, under supervision of a master. The teacher then 
checks this was done.

This is the approach used by universities for hands on skills in areas 
such as medicine, engineering and IT. Students don't learn much sitting 
in a classroom just listening to a teacher, they need to be doing 
things, first in a teaching workshop, then in the real world. Teaching 
and assessing this way takes time to learn.

More on this in my "Keeping the best bits of online learning after 
COVID-19" webinar next week from Canada: 
https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2021/10/keep-calm-and-carry-online-webinar.html


-- 
Tom Worthington http://www.tomw.net.au