Evaluation of the Clinical Practise in the Beauty Therapy Salon

How will you evaluate the success of your new course design?

• I will be reviewing course evaluations that are taken as part of the Aoraki Quality Management Policy
  
• I will be closely monitoring student satisfaction in the classroom and seeking feedback directly from students in the form of surveys and
  critical incident techniques
  
• I will review assessment results to establish whether assessments need to be re-worked (e.g. are students able to pass without the need for re-sits on a high percentage
  
• I will use observation of the classroom dynamic to seek insight into students thoughts on the course
  
• I will run a trial/ pilot of the course with Diploma students to see what they think of the new course and seek feedback from them
  

  
   

Who will you ask to review your design and test it before you go live?

• As above – I will run a pilot of the programme with the current Diploma students to gather feedback
  
• I will ask for a peer evaluation of the course and seek feedback from them
  
• I will ask industry stakeholders to review the course and feedback (this is my ideal evaluation plan!!)
  
• Focus group of industry/peer/past student representatives
  

 

How will you monitor its success as you use it, and at the end of the first offering?

• Success will be judged by student results in assessment tasks
  
• Retention rates of students
  
• Analysis of budget allocation for the course to establish profit!!
  
• At the end of the first offering – the student success rate will be used as the first monitor
  
• A further survey of student satisfaction
  
• Analysis of data gathered from Moodle – e.g. hit rates for students on the site, monitoring of progress
  

  
   

What criteria will you use to judge success?

• Answered above – student retention and success
  
• Satisfaction in the feedback evaluations
  
• Industry feedback – survey of their thoughts on the students that they employ
  

How will you gather your data?

• Evaluation forms
  
• Moodle
  
• Assessment tools
  
• Discussion groups
  
• Focus group
  

What will you do with the information obtained?

• Develop improvements to the course as required
  
• Continually monitor the feedback to ensure student satisfaction
  
• Re-write assessments/ re-model assessment tools as required
  

Assessing at the correct level for the students

How do I ensure that the students are being assessed at the correct level - and what is the correct level for their assessment? We have been doing some interesting work with the International ITEC sample papers with the embedding literacy developements that all Polytechnics have been involved in and there have been some interesting findings! Some of the words that the multiple choice exams use come out as being at Level 8 literacy level - we are dealing with students on a level 4 programme! - therefore using the correct terms and the correct type of assessment is very important. Using the level descriptors from NZQA I can see that the requirement at Level 4 - our certificate level programme is that the students should be able to:

• Carry out processes that: -a. require a wide range of technical skills b. offers a considerable choice of procedures c. are employed in a variety of familiar and non-familiar contexts So the activities that I am proposing to use for assessment would meet all these requirements - by assessing the students performing a range of activities in the simulated salon I will meet process a, by using a range of treatments for assessment will meet process b, and by assessing the students in a simulated salon where students work on members of the public I will meet process c.


• The students responsibilty and therefore the assessment must include - self directed activities - the performance of treatments in the salon is a self-directed activity


• The course will use moodle as a discussion forum and students will be required to engage in online discussion as part of the assessment for Learning outcomes 3 and 4. The level of this type of assessment would be suitable as students will again be using an unfamiliar context in most cases

Here is my presentation for the course

Constructing courses to enhance learning

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Staffing and Resourcing

What am I going to need?

New technologies will be the biggest issue to grasp for the tutors and students alike.

I will need to make sure that we have some training in place around the moodle system and how to utilise it to its best advantage - both for the students and staff members

Training will need to be given to those students who may be unfamiliar with computer based learning - especially those in our maturer age range.

Tutors will also need training in the use of some of the tools that will be available to them - the composing educational resources course may be of benefit to them? - and some may possibly need some persuasion that Moodle can be a suitable learning platform for the students.

I am going to do some more research on second life - I have just watched Sarah Stewart's link to the use of second life for interview skills as suggested by Terry at our get together - what an amazing tool that could be - need to find out how to go about creating that sort of learning environment for the salon and appearance side of the course - it would be a great activity

I need to organise video clips, audio and still images to use on moodle - this will need to be completed in the Christmas break - We have access to Diploma in TV students with film making equipment, we have Diploma in radio students, so I have access to audio recording devices and I have access to computer and digital photography students. We even have 3D animators - so hopefully my resources will cost nothing other than a cake for morning tea!

It may be a requirement to purchase a digital camera for classroom use - something with movie capability would be great - something like this one would be suitable

More developement ideas for CCEL

What works well and what doesn't?
I have added a lot of references to a similar course we run with our diploma students in this previous posting .
It is difficult to really detail what works well and what doesn't with this course as it is a completely new course - and therefore I have nothing to refer to, other than the similar course offered with the Diploma programme.
Students have enjoyed the hands on time with clients in the salon simulation, they enjoy working with members of the public and getting to experience a range of clientele. The students have reported that it makes them more confident and keeps their focus on time management skills.
Students have also indicated that by using the salon environment it makes them appear more confident when they are seeking work in the "real" world - especially when they may have to do a trade test to show their skills.
Since implementing the blog that I developed for the flexible learning course - students on the Certificate Programme have expressed a great deal of interest in this type of "extended" learning opportunitues - and therefore I feel the use of moodle for the new course will enhance their learning experience and enable the students to feel that they have a place to go for help and further study

Stakeholders!

International exams involve students sitting a 50 question externally provided MCQ closed book theory test and a % based practical assessment for each of the treatments they have studied. For example, the student's on the Certificate Programme will sit a total of 9 theory papers and 8 practical assessments – all of which are marked by external examiners - these exams are all optional - but - if students are seeking to work in the industry we highly recommend that they undertake them.

Employers in the industry place a strong focus on the international qualifications and therefore they really set the benchmark for the students and us as tutors.

Aoraki polytechnic has a strong focus on the industry expertise of the tutors: the following is a statement from the website

"We offer a wide range of courses and programmes at certificate and diploma level that can help you achieve your career goals and support you in becoming all that you can be. If you are entering tertiary education for the first time, returning to study, or simply wishing to up skill in a specific field, we can help.
We have excellent supportive tutors and small class sizes. Our qualifications have been developed in collaboration with experts in relevant industries, professions and trades. They are practical; student focused and have excellent employment outcomes"

As stakeholders - students will expect to be "work ready" at the end of their training.

Two of the aims stated in the polytechnic's charter are that:

To achieve our mission, we are committed to the values of:
Lifetime learning
• through the provision of learning opportunities relevant to all our students

Success
• by supporting students to succeed in their chosen pathway of learning

both of these statements are related to my new course - by encouraging students to undertake more practical, supervised and supported learning and by offering some new options to enhance their learning through the use of moodle - hopefully we will be able to achieve another one of the goals! that of retention!!

I am now going to try and work out how to work this .eXe thing! my learning outcome for tonight!!!

The importance of pronunciation!

Learning outcomes and activities

"This photo by D Sharon Pruitt"

So, a little more detail needed about how these Learning outcomes can be taught and delivered and assessed!

Our second year Diploma students currently run a clinic, with members of the public booking in for the full range of treatments that the students have studied over their 2 years with us.

The aim of the new course that I am planning is to give our 1^st year students an insight into the "real" world of work! Where they will not have 2 hours to do a facial and an hour to wax complete a manicure – with morning tea and lunch times too!!

Many of the students in our 2^nd year Diploma course are already working in industry and therefore have the experience of the "real" world, but for others they complete their training in the first year and then don't do anything at all with those skills for the 2^nd year and could end up being a little rusty and thrown in the deep end when they manage to gain employment at the end of the course. So, feedback from the students at the end of their second year in regard to their clinic days has been incredibly positive.

So there are number of teaching strategies that have worked with this group of students that should quite easily transfer to the first year students:

• The clinic is run by the students, one of the students is manager for the day and is responsible for the smooth running of the clinic for that session, each student is rostered onto clinic for one day, if for some reason they are absent that day it is their responsibility to organise a replacement staff member for the clinic manager - very much creating their own learning but with the support of tutor
  


• The salon manager organises the students duties for start of clinic and end of clinic ensuring that each therapist is available and has their work area prepared - again creating their own learning
  


• Each therapist is responsible for their client's welfare and care from the moment they arrive to the moment they leave, students are expected to seek clarification if they are unsure of any contra-indication that the client may present with – and a tutor is always in the room supervising the clinic and assisting students where needed.
  


• For the first few weeks of clinic practicum students maybe paired together to work on certain treatments to ensure that the client is not delayed – this also has proved good for students confidence when students who may struggle with some aspect of the practical are paired with a student who may be a bit stronger in that area.
  


• Students use their own consultation forms and write up a report of the treatment that they gave – this encourages self –reflection and gives them ideas for areas that they may need to work on to improve their treatments
  


• 
  
  Professional appearance and presentation are an International standard requirement for the Beauty therapy industry – our students undertake International exams at the end of their training – these are externally assessed and the appearance mark for these exams can be the difference between a pass and fail for them.
  
  
  

  Within this learning outcome we give the students strict guidelines on how they should be dressed and how they should appear this is detailed here on the http://www.itecworld.co.uk/ website on their marking crtieria page
  We would use these guidelines to mark the appearance part of learning outcome 2, I would support this learning with links to relevant information on the internet, I would get the students to research the standard requirements for appearance and get students to produce a case study/poster/model of required appearance - I could even use a pre-test on moodle to ensure students were up to speed prior to assessment. and they could be asked to find a relevant video such as this one



• 
  

  Role play is another option for this learning outcome - particularly in relation to the "behaviour" wording - I could set-up audio or video clips showing "professional" and "unprofessional" behaviour for students to view and comment on - this could be done individually or as a group as a class activity



• 
  

  Learning outcome 1 assessment would be completed as practical observation of the range of treatments – each treatment would be observed – this would be a competency based assessment with competency given to students who complete the treatments in the commercially acceptable time. Timing guidelines are again an International standard or are governed by the manufacturer of the product, these time frames would be pre-tested over the weeks leading up to this course - and much practise would be done on each of the treatments in the range - this could be done at home with video evidence taken - a sequencing test could be prepared for moodle to ensure students were ready for the assessment
  

Neomillenial learning and our students

Learning styles for the Neomillenial students
I have linked to this article on the WIKI that we have been collaborating on producing, but thought I would add the link here too!
Some interesting reading - I especially relate to the "napsterism-the recombining of other's designs to individual, personally tailored configurations" the orginal source of this idea is here about how we download music and create our own "albums" rather than buying the whole "L.P." (that's how old I am - I still remember buying my first record - !"


So, how does this relate to my students and the course I am designing?

Obviously it's looking increasingly important to cater for the students that come into this "neomillenial" group, and if I look at the age of the majority of students enrolled on the full time programme they are all born after 1982!! The latest enquiries have students born in 1993!
when this was number one!


and this age group have grown up with multimedia and digital media from the day they were born almost!
So how can I get this integrated into the course, and do I want to focus solely on these students,
as some of our students are certainly in the more mature age group to whom the thought of typing a document on the computer scares the life out of them.

So options for use of flexible learning - as I said in the previous post - I have come up with the rough ideas for the learning outcomes - now I need to think about the students and how I'm going to deliver any necessary learning and how I am going to be able to assess the learning.

We talked about this at the workshop last week -

Some options for delivering material -

• Moodle - with quizzes, video tutorials, sequencing activities that we were shown the other day e.g. checking we are doing things in the right order


• Workshops


• Printed notes if necessary - not sure that they will be for this course


• Forums


• Videos of techniques


• Audio for role plays of reception - ? recording the students as they participate in the activity - maynbe this could form part of assessment???


• Video of students undertaking activities required - again ? assessment

Assessment activities will have to be approved by academic board and ensure they meet the quality criteria for course delivery through the Polytechnic, pre-assessment moderation would be carried out prior to the assessment tasks to ensure learning outcomes and assessment tasks are suitable and at the required level.

Industry liason would be sought at Advisory committee level to source feedback on the activities that industry requires students to be more competent in.

Our ITEC our international examing body expect all students to complete a number of case studies, and have a portfolio of work for their final examination, a practical clinic course would give students a further opportunity to enhance their skills on "real" people.

Much more to think about still - but now need to have a play with the .eXe thing! apparently it's the easy way of producing HTML according to our Web design tutor!

Constructing courses to enhance learning

OK - so I need to discuss my planning for the course I am designing as part of the CCEL requirement.
I have been scribbling lots of notes on various bits of paper during moments of quiet in a very busy work day - assessment and International exam preparation time at the moment - and lots of stressed students needing lots of attention and coaching!

So the plan - (as the plan I made for the flexible learning course does not meet all of the criteria for this course - but - I have put the idea into practise already and all my students are making use of it - http://www.aorakibeautycert.blogspot.com/ if you want to check it out)

To develop a 5 credit course titled
"Clinical practice in the Beauty Therapy Salon"
The course would be delivered with 32 hours face to face over an 8 week period - as the focus is on performing treatments in a simulated salon environment and 18 hours delivered flexibly as self-directed learning.

The purpose of the course would be to enhance the students practical experience and make them more work ready. Constructivism theory is discussed here in more detail .
It would give the students the opportunity to use the skills that they have learned and build on their skills in a "simulated" real life working situation, and give them an idea of what they could experience at work - maybe even somewhere gorgoeous like this:



It will give students an opportunity to build on their knowledge and encourage some self-direction.
Students on the course would be part of the full-time Certificate in Beauty Therapy - the learning outcomes are quite broad at the moment and I made need to focus these to ensure that they can be assessed.
The majority of the students are school leavers, some are young mothers and several more mature ladies returning to study or seeking a change of career.
The learning style of the students tends to be a visual or kinsathetic learning style (see posting for more discussion on this)

I have organised a meeting in Timaru during the school holidays to discuss the feasability of using Moodle for the course -
The learning outcomes I am proposing :
L.O.1 - Perform a range of Beauty therapy treatments in a commercially acceptable time under salon conditions.
L.O.2 - Show professional standards of behaviour, grooming and hygiene in the salon environment


















L.O.3 - Review and reflect on all treatments performed in the salon.
L.O.4 - Describe and discuss the role of the receptionist and undertake reception duties as reuired.

I would expect to use moodle as the discussion board to assess learning outcomes 3 and 4 - possibly in the forum pages
I would use moodle as a repository for learning materials to support the students learning - I will also be trying to post short video clips and audio clips to cover LO's 3 and 4
L.O.'s 1 and 2 would need to be assessed in the salon setting - these learning outcomes may need a bit more refining .

I will add another post about how industry, and other stakeholders may need to be taken into account

Learning theories - applying them on-line

This is a link to a great summary of a website I found tonight while researching Learning theories for the CCEL course - it will probably be relevant to those on the Flexible Learning course too.

A new version of the Beauty students and their learning styles

Beautiful students !
by Helen White - Tuesday, 28 July 2009, 09:59 PM


Pedagogy in definition comes from the Greek paíd (child) and ágō (lead), so in essence the term relates more to the education of children. Andragogy; the term re-introduced by the late Malcolm Knowles(1984) is therefore more suited to our learning context.

Students undertaking the Certificate in Beauty Therapy qualification offered at Aoraki Polytechnic are a diverse and interesting group of ladies. I make the generalisation that the students are Ladies as we have only had 1 male student in 9 years of delivery!

I have a post about one particular "fictitious" student on my blog

Many of the students come to us straight from school or haven't even completed the final years of schooling and have a very different attitude to learning to our more mature students who have greater need for deeper learning and also bring with them many more life skills, many are Mother's of young children, the majority have part-time work and full-time households to run.

J S Atherton at http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/deepsurf.htm states

"Many current university students have been "coached" by their teachers to get the grades they need for admission: they have been trained to be surface learners, and their experience is that it "works"."

Another link to a study on students approaches to learning can be found here http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/44/0b/1a.pdf


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


"The adult comes into an educational activity largely because he is experiencing some inadequacy in coping with current life problems. He has problem centred learning"

Both statements above are relevant to our students.

We have generally had one or two students per intake for whom English is not their first language and their learning styles can be different to others in the group as they are attempting to learn twice the amount compared to the native English speakers.

The learning styles of all the students can be related to the V.A.R.K. model (Fleming, 1987) try for yourself here. The majority of the students fit into the Kinasthetic and Visual learning styles catefories. We could also relate the students learning styles to Gardner (1983) and his theory of multiple intelligences. Students tend to fit into the Visual, physical and interpersonal learning styles.

Another link to my blog where I talk more about learning styles that relate to my students and the theories that I might be using.

For the course that I am going to design I am going to focus on the practical application of treatments in a commercial environment.

The students themselves, our International examining body, Aoraki Polytechnic, future employers and the tutor's are all stakeholders in the course and the outcomes of it.

Students will be more prepared for the working environment with the development of this course; our examining body has a requirement that students perform treatments in a commercially acceptable time; Aoraki Polytechnic aims to prepare students for the workplace with a focus on hands on learning; future employers will have students who are more "work ready" and tutors will be able to reinforce learning and give students "'real working experiences".

One of the aims of the Aoraki Polytechnic Charter is :

"To provide appropriate and supportive student-oriented learning experiences.'

Hopefully my new course will be going someway towards this.


Helen White - July 2009
You're never toom young to try something new

I'm back from hols!

Well here I am again about to start on the next course - constructing courses to enhance learning - and it's all a bit daunting.
I'm sure it'll be fine once I decide what I'm doing - and I know I probably said that about the flexible learning course too!
I am going to present my Certificate in Beauty Therapy blog to my students tomorrow to see if I can gain feedback from them on it.
I will be looking for them to give me feedback on what they see and what they would like to see - I will probably do this as a class dicsussion to begin with and ask those who feel comfortable to post their responses on the blog - anyone know if they can link me to their facebook/bebo page if they would rather comment there?

For my constructing courses to enhance learning course I am trying to decide what to construct!
I have had some discussion around the idea of developing a new module to incorporate into our certificate programme based on a salon practical module - I am having a little problem working out how I can get this to cover the requirements for the ccelc -as students would really need to be working practically in our simulated salon environment and the "teaching" will be minimal.
Any ideas would be appreciated
thought you might like to see the kids first snow boarding experiences -

The presentation on Friday and a survey

Looking forward to the presentation on Friday - I have added another version to the bottom of this post without my little video so I can talk through it, the feedback from others on my plan has been very helpful. It has given me some ideas to focus on especially the cultural and sustainablility issues.
I have devised a very small survey - mainly due to the limited number of questions available on http://www.surveymonkey.com/ to those without a full account - hopefully this will give me some feedback to use - I am also going to try and print the questions to bring to Friday's presentation.
Click Here to take survey

Flexible Beauty Plan version 2

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Click here to listen the audio from the presentation on Friday

The new version

So - here's version 2

Flexible Beauty Plan version 2

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I thought I would update it online and then use this for my presentation next week.

I have added the survey tool to my blog and would appreciate your feedback.
I am trying to write a survey on survey monkey but am struggling to decide on the questions I want to ask and the answers I really need!

This 2nd version is 10 minutes long and is a little more condensed than previously.
I have also talked about the particular educational theories behind my idea.
The first would be to cater to students different learning styles based on the VARK model, giving students who are visual, audio, reader/writer or kinaesthetic learners different material for study.
I also have related the plan to constructivism theory - I feel that if students produce their own portfolio of work that they can refer back to, reflect on and construct for themselves, they will feel more empowered and take ownership of their learning rather than being "spoon fed" the requirements to pass the course.
I have just noticed that both my children have been through their pre-schooling using this learning theory as they both went to Montessori pre-schools and experienced the wonderful constructive learning environment that Maria Montessori developed in the early 1900's.
Dr. Maria Montessori’s innovative approach was that “Education should no longer be mostly imparting of knowledge, but must take a new path, seeking the release of human potentialities.”
What a thought for us all as educators.

I would also link the plan to Jerome Bruner's scaffolding theory where students have supports to their learning.
These supports may include the following:

Resources
A compelling task
Templates and guides
Guidance on the development of cognitive and social skills
These supports are gradually removed as students develop autonomous learning strategies, thus promoting their own cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning skills and knowledge.

Comments would be appreciated and any feedback will be used in my evaluation of the plan

The Flexible Beauty Plan

So here is the plan

I hope it is going in the right direction and would love some feedback - the learning curve for me has been using these multi-media resources to document my learning.

Posting this presentation proved a challenge in itself - but I may be able to point Leigh in the direction of a great tool called "ispring" that converted my power point and audio to a .swf and then I could upload to slideboom!

So many ideas; so little time!

"The beautiful thing about learning is no one can take
it away from you" B.B. King

An insightful quote from the legendary blues singer and songwriter - not sure where it originated or in what context - but a great quote for our course none the less.

So - I've come to the point of summarising my findings of the last few weeks! My thoughts go back to the beginning of the course when we had to set up the blog, and introduce ourselves and the feelings that that invoked.

To summarise my feelings I would say I experienced the following:

• Fear - of the unknown methods and applications


• Surprise - at what I knew how to do and what I managed to do


• Intimidation - some of the course participants looked like they had been blogging forever and made me feel inferior about my blog


• Isolated - not sure that this has still been overcome really


• Inquisitiveness - I loved learning more about the topics we covered


• Proud - when I did something myself and got some feedback


• Fun - especially searching through you tube funny video clips

If I look at all of the feelings I experienced through this learning process I have a clearer picture of what our students must go through; which in itself is something I know I tend to forget.

I have so many ideas for flexible learning as I have stated previously in my blog that I still can't say that I have come up with my plan; as to thinking about the wider issues such as universal design, cultural sensitivity, access, equity and sustainability, I think I need to formalise the plan first and then directly relate the plan to those areas.

SO - the plan - or rather the ideas!

• Idea 1 - new assessment for Anatomy and Physiology - has to be done for my students this year - but course descriptor states written test - so unable to change that - looks like that idea won't work. Also I need to be aware that if I do change the assessment method it would have to go through approval procedures etc. and not sure that approval would be granted


• Idea 2 - Moodle - what a muddle - Have a meeting next week with the EDA from Timaru to discuss this option and according to the Charter is something that Aoraki would like to use more of - but time frame and paperwork etc. means that this probably won't be an option that I can develop. Our PD day in Timaru alerted us to the availability of moodle and the talk by Selena Chan certainly opened up some further thought on that possibility.


• Idea 3 - Develop some flexible learning resources for the students particularly in the area that I teach either - Skincare, Aromatherapy, Indian Head Massage, Body Massage or Anatomy and Physiology - not sure if this is going to fit the course requirements though?? I love the resources that the Chef's at Otago Poly have developed and would love to be able to develop something along those lines for my students - particularly in the practical areas even with something like eye lash tinting - my issue here would be health and safety -would I want this resource being open access when there is a health and safety issue? The risk I also have is that students will miss class because they know they can catch up "on-line" - this is probably something I need to give detailed thought to - how would I control access, and in what context would students be given access to material on-line as the nature of the course is face-to-face.


• Idea 4 - set up a course blog with links on-line quizzes, mcq tests etc. use the blog as feedback mechanism - amongst other things - again think this is too wishy-washy for my flexible learning plan - the risk here is that it may not prove to be as useful as some of the other ideas -


• Idea 5 - ?????

There are many considerations that I need to take into account before I could proceed with any of these ideas - timing being a key consideration, along with privacy issues and cultural awareness, especially if I was to develop the resources for subjects like Massage.

All questions and concerns that I am still trying to fathom out answers to, and decide what my focus is going to be. Any helpful guidance would be appreciated!

Isolation and Sustainability

Before I review Fred Lockwood's paper I feel the need to talk about my own experiences of workload and self-paced learning.
As an extra-mural student at Massey University I found it both isolating being self-directed/self paced and un-sustainable in regards to the workload. The course materials were wordy, all involving theoretical, educational text-books with little to no interaction with anyone - other than a bit of written feedback on assignments. Sustainability for me was a problem as I tried to juggle part-time work; 2 pre-schoolers (at that time); husband and house-hold. It was obviously my choice to undertake the study; but feel that the workload and nature of course material really impacted on my motivation and desire to complete the course.
Since then, I have done my own elearning - a completely self-directed, totally on-line, (very low level) computer skills course. This was Aoraki's first foray into elearning and from feedback from other students (mainly other staff at Aoraki) most people found even this level of course too time consuming; they perceived the workload as too much; even though most of them didn't even attempt to complete the course -through lack of motivation and need; I believe. (My husband being one of them!)
So, back to Lockwood's paper - useful points - well there are many in this paper - what I see as useful may not be useful to others - and is that a question we need to ask - especially when he talks about
"Staff are in danger of working too hard in generating teaching materials, and students are in danger of having to work too hard to study it – if in fact they study all of it. This is likely to be more pronounced as students are directed to an array of web sites and to the growing amount of published literature, and as expectations are raised"
How do we decide what is necessary course material; what is extra course material; and how do we make a decision on what it is we need to read/watch/learn?
Time is another key point in sustainability - my own students are all working part-time; some with more hours than others and nearly all in industry related jobs - most of them increase their workload during the "holidays" - and we still expect them to be putting in their self-paced/directed home study to complete the "full time" hours.
The next key point for me is "over-length materials" - and I am sure that we are all culprits of this - but - how do we decide what is over-length? what do we keep and what do we omit?
I'm sure if you asked the majority of students to honestly answer how much of their course material they have studied cover to cover as it were - there wouldn;t be many with 100%.
Well, I will add another post after Friday's meeting - if I need to - still not sure what my flexible learning plan is going to be. Have hit a bit of a hurdle with the "moodle' option - have to go through enormous hoops to get access and use - applying to commitees and filling in forms - may prove a bit of a stumbling block - am on a mission now to see why it has to be this way.
My smile for today - some classic mis-communication!

P D Day in Timaru - not perdiodic detention!

Yesterday we had an Aoraki Polytechnic Professional Development day in Timaru for all staff from across the 5 sites.
There was lots of discussion about flexible learning - as mentioned in the previous post we had a session with Selena Chan from CPIT. She is a great advocate for elearning and how it will affect all learning in the future. She did also make the comment "learning online is also a skill" - which I found encouraging. She also showed us a table that has been composed by the school of education at Harvard in an article named "Learning: Peering Backward and Looking Forward in the Digital Era" . She also introduced us to resources that we may be able to use to create an eportfolio - these were multiply; vox; a New Zealand resource named Mahara; a comic strip creator called comiq, and finally video sites like metacafe.
We were also alerted to the use of moodle for our programmes - so that may now be the focus for my plan!
Not long until the ski season starts - hence the snow picture!

An interview

What a mission!

First - had to wait until yesterday's Aoraki full staff training day in Timaru to be able to get my interviewee in the same place as me! Then; the radio tutor who was meant to lend me a audio recorder didn't end up coming - so had no way of recording. However; thanks to one of our sessions during the day with a wonderful tutor from CPIT called Selena Chan who talked about the functions that we may use on our mobiles - and hey presto! my phone has an audio recording device! So managed to get the audio - next the problem of uploading this file - extension .amr to my blog :) this has been todays mission - I have discovered that you can't just upload audio like you can a photo or video - so I had to convert the file to a recognised format and then make a movie clip in windows movie maker - lots and lots of learning today - and all achieved with blog reading and google and playing (good job the weather is so disgusting today! )

Anyway - here it is and hope it works!

Technology changes for Education

The Future of Technology and Education

View more presentations from sspengler.

Interesting viewing

Who am I?

How do I identify myself culturally? Well - I am English - like many of the other participants I think! The word "culturally" always puts me off when I am asked this question - I don't know why?

Even though New Zealand has been home for 13 years - England will still be home too! England is now so "multi-cultural" that I really don't think anyone could say that they are totally "English" although some people would probably disagree with me!

When the "English" are referred to it's usually alongside football (soccer to you kiwi's!), fish and chips(fush and chups) and beer (speights)! None of which appeal to me in the least!

The only really English culture I have is the cup of tea - this links you to a real Devonshire cream tea shot - with proper clotted cream !

So, I would probably use the words "educated" , but not in everything and certainly still learning. "Family" - the central part of my day to day life. "Traveller" - like exploring and investigating other cultures with the family - I'm sure I could write a lot - but it said we needed to be brief!

This is the link to Clyst st Mary - the village I lived in until leaving home, and below is a picture of the church we were married in.

Being accessible

Universal design; the first thought I had was to break down the title into the two words - Universal and Design and think about their meaning.
Universal to me literally means the whole, total, complete and usable for many things. I looked up the term universal in the answers.com on line dictionary and the "Encompassing all of the members of a class or group" definition I felt was particularly relevant in this instance.
Design to me is another word for plan, layout or even idea. Again; the answers.com on line dictionary has some suitable definitions, but the following was the most relevant
"plan something for a specific role or purpose or effect".

So; going back to Universal design, after some research on our favourite google I discovered that Universal design isn't just related to educational practise but covers things like larger handles on the can opener, wheelchair ramps into buildings and swimming pools, lever taps and braille buttons. However; I did find ths site http://www.udeducation.org/ to have lots of inteesting articles about universal design. The article teaching non-traditional students was particularly important.
So; universal design to my understanding is ensuring that our educational practises are wholly, completely and totally covering the whole class or student body and that we have plans and designs for all students whatever their ability or disablilty, nationality or belief.
I have so many ideas in my head on how to apply all these new ideas into my course that I really think I need to come up with one plan and stick to it! Is anyone else having trouble sorting out a plan - One of my main ideas is really a bit of a steal from the wonderful video clips from the chefs. I would love to get video's of the practical elements of the subjects I teach on line for the students to be able to view at any time; photo slideshows would work well too - maybe once I decide on the plan things will be clearer on how universal design can be incorporated into it.

The Charter according to Aoraki

Well - down to the nitty gritty of this weeks learning! Kaplan's video clip is eye opening; and it does get you thinking - I do wonder if those people who studied in what they refer to as antiquated, traditional ways may feel a bit offended by this video - and I can see from the comments to the clip that their are many people who have that opinion!
I have chosen option a) for this week and am going to write a critique of the Aoraki Polytechnic charter.
Aoraki is a regional provider based in Timaru, with satellite campuses in Christchurch, Ashburton, Oamaru and Dunedin(where I am based). The first bit of flexibility that I can identify without even looking at the charter is the fact that we have sites in 5 locations; 3 of which would be classed as rural - giving flexibility in location for studies to some degree.
The charter is accessed from the Aoraki Web site it is listed here as a draft for consultation, but I am sure that not much has been changed in regards to flexible learning ideas.
One of the first key strengths identified in the charter is: "We are one of the youngest and smallest polytechnics in New Zealand. We focus on being flexible, adaptable and able to respond quickly to the changing and future educational needs of our communities and the growing abilities of individuals. We pride ourselves on creating joint initiatives that encourage students to maximise their learning. Personalised support is a key feature appreciated by all students"
This statement is quite broad in its range and for me doesn't identify clearly enough how Aoraki is able to be flexible in educational practise; I would like to see more emphasis on the how Aoraki is flexible rather than the "we are flexible" type of statement.
The charter goes on to talk about "collaborative associations", innoviative training solutions;"accessible programmes" and "lifetime educational opportunities"
and states "We work proactively to provide a range of flexible learning options for learners in rural and dispersed communities" - but doesn't actually state how this occurs - what are the innoviative training solutions and flexible learning options for the rural community?
On page 8 of the charter - the title 'inclusive' is used - I like this as a thought for our flexible learning ideas - as many of us are finding our feet with the technology side of things we are probably focussing a lot on flexibility meaning "on-line" - Minhaaj one of the other course participants interviewed Leigh and that was one of the comments raised from his interview. I am trying to broaden my thinking to the "big picture flexible learning" idea and think that inclusion is certainly a form of flexible learning.
The main statement reagarding flexible learning is as follows:
"Flexible learning options
We offer a range of flexible learning options for particular programmes and individual courses. These include distance learning programmes such as the Certificate in Childbirth Education and the Certificate in Complementary Therapies that are offered through distance learning modules. We are also currently developing programmes for blended delivery and online e-learning in a variety of subjects e.g. business, computing modules customer service. Some courses are provided to industry and businesses on-site and are adapted to meet particular requirements. All courses and programmes progress through robust approval, evaluation and review processes to ensure they remain relevant, accessible and of a high quality."

Another broad and generalising statement without any real substance to flexibility. I am going to see if I can meet up with one of the tutors from the programmes identified above for my interview - this might then help me in my own flexible learning plan.


The charter to me seems a little lacking in definition on what flexible learning is to Aoraki and how Aoraki is going to be able to achieve more flexibility in learning and education; I will wait and see if we have any new information at our full staff training day next week!

I like this from Gideon Burton

Meeting the criteria

Nice to see some other people talking to us - I enjoyed receiving emails today - felt like I wasn't alone in this course anymore!!
This is I suppose the difficulty for those of us who like that 'face to face' contact. The very nature of the course is making me think outside my comfort zone of face to face delivery and think of some ways to be more flexible in my delivery.
Check out the flexible learning at Holborn college movie clip; a great piece of marketing!
the information on the support for learning site also made for some insightful reading. I particularly enjoyed the teaching and learning through social networks article; particularly when the author theorises "But sometimes the best way to explain something to someone is to simply show it to them" that links us to a virtual world called second life.
I have managed to find the Aoraki Polytechnic charter and am trying to wade through the waffle to find any references to flexible learning; I know they must be there somewhere but may be hidden as other things; am I right in thinking that where the charter states "providing learning environments that are accessible, supportive and appropriate for students with disabilities" this would be a form of flexible learning?
I just love this clip - some very flexible learning going on from the amazing French and Saunders !!!

Being Flexible - bendy or stretchy

Well - Kermit is doing Yoga which is obviously not the normal every day occurence for a frog; particularly a frog puppet - which leads me on to my thoughts on flexible learning from the readings and audios I have listened to this week.

Is being flexible in our delivery the norm for us as polytech tutors anyway - most of our content delivery covers many learning styles due to the very hands on skills we are teaching.

Is the focus of this course steering more towards the "open" education arena - allowing more and more people to study wherever they may be in the world as seen in the video clip I watched from the University of London that we had been asked to view and analyse.

I also have to question whether being more flexible in the delivery, assessment or whatever may have a detrimental effect on the course - will it be seen as a lower level course because you may get to do an on-line assessment? These are really just some thoughts I have had over the course of the readings/listenings - and would really love some feedback!

So back to Kermit - is he being a normal frog - or a flexible frog?

What a lot to think about

What an awful lot to take in!
I have just listened to the elluminate session facilitated by Leigh and Bron on examples of flexible learning - it was quite hard to find my way round it to start with - I found myself fast forwarding to see how long it was going to be; then reading through the chat board; then rewinding and starting again. I think it would have been really beneficial to me to actually have attended the session; whether that was in an on-line environment or physically - I am still feeling a bit on the outside - not sure if this is a normal reaction from students who undertake this sort of learning. It may be something to do with my own learning style - I like the face-to-face contact and wonder whether this is why I am feeling this way.
I have been undertaking some of my own research and found a great little book by Christine Ward called "Teaching to Learn" which I am sure many of you will have read - really re-enforcing what I know we all do already.
I also found myself thinking much more about my delivery methods - one of my students studying body electrical treatments was struggling to understand the faradic current that is used. I devised an "analogy" ( and I think that's what it's called!) of a wave surging in one direction towards the beach and the wave stopping when it hit the sand - a faradic current is a surging interupted direct current.
She told me that she had gone home to Oamaru for the weekend and been able to tell her Mum that she eventually understood the faradic current - because she remembered the wave story.
On page 9 of the Teaching to learn book Christine states " now is the time for all wise teachers to consider the new knowledge and apply it in their teaching so their students become successful learners now and in the future"
I felt this was a very suitable statement for all of us to consider!

On-line assessment - positive or negative?

Have been thinking a bit ahead of myself - have to re-write an anatomy and physiology assessment for our Level 3 anatomy and physiology module - and I am wondering whether I can incoporate this into my final project for this course? I discovered this website that raises some interesting points about on-line assessment and flexibility of courses. See what you think!

Links to other places

I have managed to add links to my blog as a seperate area - they are all under the Beauty Therapy learning tools heading on the right.
I discovered the website while doing some of my own research - mainly because this course is getting me to think outside the square, or come down from the top of the mountain as suggested by Dave Hill in response to the open thinking article by Alec Couros.
I like the way Alec relates education and learning to a mountain scape, and I can see that my own teaching method may need to involve more of me coming down the mountain rather than standing on the top looking down!
Thought this little song might make you smile :)

Searching for learning tools

This worked as a teaching tool last week - amazing

The Story of Amy a Beautiful Prospect

This is the story of Amy (our common student name for this year - and purely ficitious in this instance) ,aged 29 who lives in Milton.


Amy is a married mother of 3 girls, her youngest child is about to start primary school, Amy's husband is self-employed and works 80 hours a week at least running their farm.

Amy's husband is not that keen on her studying in Dunedin, he would like her to be closer to home.


Amy helps on the farm where she can, she is also involved in the local playcentre, and is on the PTA for the local school.


Amy has a number of hobbies including cross stitch, riding her horse and scrap-booking - whilst also performing the normal daily routines of being a mother and partner.


Amy did not complete high school and has no formal qualifications - she has worked in a cafe as a waitress and worked in the local dairy when she left school, Amy can't type very well, has mild dyslexia and has no computer access at home


Amy also suffers from depression on occasion - this can usually be managed with medication - but when she is stressed and feeling pressured the depression can become an issue for her.



There are an enormous number of considerations for Amy - amongst them are:

• Financial - cost of course fees, also external International exam fees, course kits (products that she would need to undertake self-directed learning at home) Cost of transport and parking (always an issue in central city location - especially as Amy would be arriving late after dropping children at school). Amy may not be eligible for a student allowance, or any help toward course fees.



• Time - even though the on-site attendance at the programme is 20 hours, Amy would be expected to put in 20 hours of self-directed learning at home, she would also need to find models for her case studies and make up any work that she misses if she needs to take time off for family reasons. Travelling distance would be a factor to consider - a daily 40 minute each way drive - and the need to collect/drop off children would need to be considered.



• Level of study - Amy has no formal qualifications - how would she cope with the level of study involved - entry criteria are in place for the programme - and prior life experience is always taken into account, however Amy would need to be certain that she could cope with the learning. Amy would be required to complete case studies, produce her own consultation forms, undertake weekly anatomy and physiology tests, along with revising.
  Amy would struggle with the level of learning and would need learning support and possible peer tutoring - is this something she has time for?



• Dedication - is this something that she really wants to do, or is it just something that she thinks is going to be fun and frivolous.Is she going to be able to commit to her studies with all the external factors competing for her time and energy.



• Physically - Amy suffers from depression on occasion, is this something that may affect her ability to handle pressure and deadlines, is she going to be able to cope hearing about other peoples issues and problems on an hourly basis.

With all these considerations to take into account it would be very easy for me as a tutor to turn here away without thinking about how we could be flexible and allow Amy to undertake some sort of study.

My first options for Amy would be to :

• Enrol Amy on our Certificate in Beauty Skills Programme - this would give Amy an introduction to the full time programme - but is offered over evenings and weekends
• Let Amy know about the support network that we have available for students through access Aoraki
• Tell Amy about our close working relationship with Literacy Aoteroa and how they can help her with study skills

This would certainly be the starting point for Amy, that hopefully would lead to a rewarding career in the industry.

Cultural knowledge

A recent trip to the UK gave the children some in depth learning about different ways of life in different countries -visiting as many places and experiencing as many things as we could in the time we had gave them a real insight into the other side of the world.

• Hopefully this will form part of their lifelong learning and encourage them to experience more of the world. It also makes me think about how looking at things in a book is never going to be as impressive or memorable as seeing it in real life.

Learning from the team

Another example of some learning reaching new heights - this is my 6 year old achieving his first line out with the Highglander's - a great example of fun, interactive learning that can occur at such a young age

A teaching tool for my anatomy class

This is a new flexible learning curve

This took a long time to upload and publish - tried to do the you tube one but my webcam settings must be slow as I looked like I was in a slow motion replay! Any hints to solve this would be greatly appreciated.
I am certainly undertaking my own flexible learning and really enjoying learning already - I have just checked this one too - and there seems to be a delay on the sound - even though it runs smoothly on my home computer

eluminate (title now added thanks leigh!)

Just went and tried eluminate - didn't even know such a thing existed - very interested to see how this works - would be great to have some of these options available for students

An introduction

Well here I am - and this is all very new - I am the Programme Coordinator of Beauty Therapy at Aoraki polytechnic in Dunedin, I have been teaching for 9 years nearly! and this online/computer based learning is all new to me!

Originally from Devon in England - I moved here to NZ in 1997 with my Husband(a Dunedinite who told me it was hot and sunny all the time!) we now have 2 gorgeous kids of 9 and 6 so busy running round after them as well as teaching/coordinating .8 !

I have completed my Cert in Adult Ed and have done a couple of Massey papers relating to Adult Education but actually found them very hard going as they were so theoretically based.

Hoping that this course will give me lots more teaching and learning ideas for the students who seem to know much more about computers than I do!