PD updates

Alternative assessment strategies

2011-09-27T09:11:00.000+08:00

I have been pointing out the possibilities of moving away from traditional assessment for some years now. Some of you may be interested in this e-portfolio project which was conducted by AMES VIC under the guidance of Dora Troupiotis, who many of us should remember as VILC trainer who delivered several workshops in Perth. To read the article click here.

Settlement topics

2011-08-02T13:59:00.002+08:00

Here's a link to ImmiTV, DIAC's YouTube channel.

The "Orientation Information" series addresses the following settlement topics:

Education, work, Health, Housing, Money and Australian law.

There are 2 versions of each topic, one for African migrants and one for Asian ones. The general information is the same, but the people represented are different and there are a few small variations, so check the clips beforehand. If your class is full of Chinese and Thai students, they might be puzzled by"you will find Australia very different from Africa"!

"Our common Bond" series contains information needed to prepare for the citizenship test: Australia and its people, rights and responsibilities, government, etc.

Phonetics

2011-07-29T14:27:00.004+08:00

Phonetic Focus is a free resource from Cambridge English online. It offers lots of activities to improve pronunciation and knowledge of phonetics: matching words with phonemic transcription, shoot a symbol, phonemic maze etc. The flash games are fun and easy to play. You can also print a poster and flash cards.

Census information

2011-07-19T11:40:00.004+08:00

The ABS website has posted some video clips in Languages other than English which will be useful for Pre-CSWE and CSWE 1 students. They explain:

-what the Census is,
-how to complete the form,
-how the Census is conducted,
-where you can get help,
-where to find more information.

They are available in the following languages :

Arabic, Burmese, Cantonese, Dari, Dinka, Farsi, Karen, Khmer, Kirundi, Korean, Mandarin, Thai, Tamil and Vietnamese.

However, translated fact sheets are available for Indonesian, French, Russian etc... on the ABS website

The videos are also available on the official YouTube channel for Australia's 2011 Census of Population and Housing

The ABS website has a few ESL activities: a wordsearch, a cloze and a FAQ worksheet, but they are more suitable for CSWE 3 learners.

Types of texts

2011-02-26T09:46:00.002+08:00

Another great resource from BBC Skillwise. This one is about the four main types of texts: informative, instructive, descriptive and persuasive. the factsheets, examples, quizzes and games are all suitable for adults and would be fine for CSWE 2 phase 2 or CSWE 3 learners.

Spelling with eBeam

2011-02-26T09:04:00.003+08:00

BBC Skillwise has some excellent interactive activities and factsheets on spelling . As usual with this website, the font is quite large, so they are highly suitable as eBeam resources. Students can take turns coming to the board and using the stylus to mark answers. Activities cover spelling patterns, prefixes, homophones, breaking down words into syllables, ...etc. Each game or quiz has 3 levels of difficulty and is accompanied by printable worksheets. Some of the games are not really age appropriate. For example, the syllable exercise involves buiding a robot with each correct answer but each class is different and yours might be ok with them. My current Cert 2 students thought it was funny and loved it.

Teaching technology today

2011-01-26T15:10:00.005+08:00

If you want all the links you had in the session on Thursday 27th January 2011, please click here

If you are still confused:

2010-12-02T15:19:00.003+08:00

The e-beam palette and scrapbook have many features and it can take a while to become really comfortable with them all . While you are practising, you might want to have a look at VWeldman's You Tube Channel. There are over 40 short demonstration clips which can help you become more familiar with the various tools.

Clip 35 for example, explains how to draw shapes, like arrows or circles to label a picture or text. There are also clips on using the scrapbook's spotlight or cover sheet, importing and selecting files or objects, the function of the buttons on the stylus, and so on...

Click on See all/ Load more to see all the clips available.

Employability skills

2010-10-22T15:40:00.004+08:00

Do you need to teach employability skills?

This learner's guide to Employability skills is a great resource to help learners understand what they are and how to talk and write about them. Simple case studies about migrants looking for work make the guide authentic and relevant. Most pages have an audio icon so you can hear the information on the page as well. The language level is a bit high for some activities, but could be adapted. Others, like Mara's story are fine for Cert 2 students. Some activities, such as Mara's STARR description would be great to present with the E-beam.

Suitable for:

CSWE3 Module Q (Job seeking documents)
CSWE2 Module G (interviews)

Free to Download English videos

2010-10-18T20:10:00.002+08:00

I did tell you about this site last year but Sharon came across it last week and indeed it has grown and contains better quality videos, which you can download and play in class on a laptop through the telly or in the lab through the projector. Australia Network

"Established in 2001, Australia Network is Australia's international television service, beaming 24/7 to more than 44 countries across Asia, the Pacific and Indian subcontinent. We are part of ABC International, a group that facilitates cross-cultural communication, encouraging awareness of Australia and building regional partnerships. Alongside Radio Australia, International Projects and International Relations, Australia Network keeps our audience connected with the world around them." (http://australianetwork.com/about/)

More importantly it stores the programs it has already transmitted on its server, which you can then download and there's material for all levels from CSWE 1 or 3. Go to http://australianetwork.com/learningenglish/vodcast.htm for an overview of the different series and links where you can download the videos. Choose the wmv version to play on a PC.

You can also make a link in your Outlook account and download links to the programs there.

Enjoy

Website links to explore

2010-10-12T14:38:00.003+08:00

Try some of the following links. Hope you find some interesting resources.

http://www.Readtoday.net/en/

http://www.sums.co.uk/playground/n2a/playground.html

http://www.literacycenter.net/lessonview.en

Shirley

Links from Claire

2010-10-08T14:38:00.004+08:00

Here are the links to the activities I showed at the Friday PD session:

BBC Skillwise games page. Lots of good activities.

Reading directions game.

Ship or ship website. It covers most important minimal pairs. Just click on the sounds you want to practice. At the bottom of the home page, you will find a link to more pronunciation activities from fonetiks. org., including intonation and pronunciation variations (Australian/American/British English).

Go to fonetiks.org and just keep on clicking next page until you find the pages that interest you.

Finally, here's the Norman Rockwell picture: The young lady with a shiner.

Good luck

E-Beam

2010-10-08T06:15:00.004+08:00

Please share your ideas and thoughts, good links and activities through this blog. This is a temporary platform until we get something better up.

If you want to use e-beam to practise with at home, you don't need the ebeam thing itself, you can downlioad the software here:

http://www.luidia.com/downloads.html

The trouble is that after 30 days the so-called trial ends; no worries; just uninstall the program and re-install it.

Hands up... Hands on...ACAL Conference Darwin September 2010

2010-06-28T12:52:00.002+08:00

1. Pre-Conference Forum 'At the front line: context, pedagogy and practice'
ACAL is pleased to announce a pre-conference forum on Thursday, September 9, immediately prior to the conference.
Our guest speakers for the Forum are from the adult literacy front line, and will leave you in awe and inspired, as they paint a picture of the context, pedagogy and practice of adult literacy and numeracy 'Northern Territory style'. This will include presentations that focus on Indigenous contexts and a 'both ways' approach to pedagogy.

In the afternoon, participants will join a facilitated Interest Group of their choosing. These groups will explore the context, pedagogy and practice of an aspect of Literacy and Numeracy. Interest Groups will focus on Indigenous contexts, the justice and VET systems, targeted programs such as the LLNP and WELL, Policy and Research and Numeracy Teaching.
More at http://www.acal.edu.au/2010conf/forum.htm

New ELT Journals

2010-06-21T11:53:00.002+08:00

The ELT Journals for January 2010 and April 2010 have arrived.
They contain numerous interesting articles including:
"Student views on learning grammar with web-and book-based materials", a paper by Huw Jarvis and Marta Szymcyk, which examines whether students have a preferance between these two methods of learning grammar and the results may surprise you; and
"Balancing the dual functions of portfolio assessment", an article by Ricky Lam and Icy Lee, which explores the formative function of portfolio assessment (PA) and how teachers can use it more effectively. The authors examine how PA can integrate teaching and assessment to benefit students' learning of writing.

New rules for Australian Citizenship

2010-06-14T12:47:00.002+08:00

Cessation of the 2 in 5 year residence requirement on 30 June 2010
There has been a legislative change to the residence requirement for eligibility for Australian citizenship by conferral on 30 June 2010.
Since the commencement of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 on 1 July 2007, there have been two different residency requirements applied to citizenship applicants. The requirement that applies depends on when permanent residence status was obtained.
Applicants’ who became permanent residents prior to 1 July 2007, must have been living in Australia as a permanent resident for 2 years in the last 5, including 1 year in 2 immediately prior to application. This requirement will cease on 30 June 2010 under the Australian Citizenship (Transitionals and Consequentials) Act 2007.
People applying for conferral of citizenship on or after 1 July 2010 must meet the following requirements:

Four years of lawful residence in Australia immediately before making an application including at least 12 months as a permanent resident immediately before applying

The person was not in Australia as an unlawful non citizen at any time during the four year period, and

The person was not absent from Australia for more than 12 months in total during that four year period, including no more than 90 days in the 12 months immediately prior to application.
More information on the changes is available from the citizenship website www.citizenship.gov.au or by calling the Citizenship Information Line on 131 880.
This is taken from a letter written by Adrian Burn, Acting Assistant Secretary, Citizenship Branch Department of Immigration and Citizenship

AMEP NEWS

2010-06-14T09:50:00.001+08:00

Here is the latest report from DIAC regarding the AMEP Research Services:
The Department has a long history of supporting research to enhance the delivery of the AMEP. Work is currently underway on a new model to replace the extensive support and research previously undertaken by the AMEP Research Centre.
The new model will identify research priorities that will meet the future research needs of the AMEP and which will take advantage of the expertise of AMEP Service Providers and varied research institutions. Under this model, research and other resources will be hosted on-line by the Department to ensure that Service Providers continue to have access to these valued resources.
As the new research model takes shape, the Department will keep Service Providers informed of developments.
Assessment Task Bank
The Assessment Task Bank (ATB) plays an important role in supporting the delivery of a nationally consistent AMEP and is an important tool for many AMEP Service Providers. Currently, the ATB services are provided by Macquarie University and these arrangements will continue throughout 2010.
Updated on-line assessment tasks can continue to be accessed through the Macquarie University website and Service Providers are encouraged to contact Macquarie University to take advantage of these specialised services.
Further information about the ATB, including tasks and a professional development kit for task development, is available on the Macquarie University website: www.ameprc.mq.edu.au/resources/assessment_taskbank

iatefl voices

2010-05-05T11:09:00.002+08:00

The May-June copy of iatefl voices has arrived on my desk. As usual it is full of interesting articles. Four of them refer to reading and different ways to encourage students to read and some approaches that teachers can use in the classroom.

There is an interesting article by David Greenslade on his experiences teaching a group of mature male lieutenants, lieutenant colonels and colonels from Saudi Arabia. Many of his comments made me smile and recollect some past students that I have taught from this country.

There is also an article by Nick Baguley offering suggestions for activities on the first day of your class. You could adapt his ideas for any level class.

If you would like to read this journal, let me know and I will forward it to you.

Language Literacy and Numeracy Practitioner Scholarships

2010-04-20T16:02:00.002+08:00

Applications are now open for the Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) Practitioner Scholarships Program. This program was included in the ‘Building the Basics Package’ component of the ‘Jobs and Training Compact’, announced in the 2009-10 Federal Budget. Its primary objective is to provide an incentive for individuals to enter the adult LLN practitioner field by supporting them to undertake approved study towards an adult LLN practitioner qualification.

The program is specifically targeted at:
· new entrants (no prior qualifications as teachers or trainers) who wish to gain an adult LLN qualification to enter the field;
· trainers wishing to gain an adult LLN specialisation to enter the field;
· individuals with prior relevant training (eg generalist teachers) wishing to ‘up-skill’ into an adult LLN specialisation with the intention of entering the field.

Applications close April 30, 2010.

For more information go to the following link:
www.deewr.gov.au/llnscholarships

Free Materials

2010-03-30T10:44:00.008+08:00

There are some free materials available at the NSW AMES publications site. Two interesting publications about Beach Safety and Fire Safety. Both are linked to the CSWE and you can download them. There are a number of video clips associated with the Beach Safety topic and a number of audio clips associated with the Fire Safety publication.

The Fire Safety materials refer to a NSW publication produced by the NSW Fire Brigades but these appear to be applicable to WA. It is suitable for Cert II students.

Here is the link for you to go and have a look for yourself and while you are there have a look at some of the other publications that they have.

http://www.ames.edu.au/content/publicationscategory.aspx?pcid=17

Update on changes in the VET Sector WA

2010-03-15T10:36:00.006+08:00

Brenda Micale gave an interesting presentation last Wednesday at the Succession and Leadership Group on the changes we can expect at the new Department of Training and Workplace Development.

The Department will now be divided into 4 key ares:
1. Corporate Services: Penny Bird
2. Service Provision: Sue Lapham
3. Purchasing and Service Development: Ray Harris
4. Policy. Planning and Research: Simon Walker

All areas that come under the title, "Service Provision", will move to the Westone site and it is anticipated that the three other areas will move to the Stirling Hub later in the year resulting in a closure of VET Services at Silver City.

Brenda predicted that Training Packages will have a turbulent year with new flexibility changes requiring that one third of the units in a course are electives and at least one of these electives can be drawn from other Training Packages OR Accredited Courses. This is a new development and could have implications for us with the CSWE. CSWE units may now be included as part of a Training Package course.
All Training Packages must be "greened" with sustainability units being written and inserted into the packages. Will this flow on to the CSWE?
There will be a new format for a unit of competence following the format used in the New Zealand system which uses plain English and is written for students! These will be called Training Products for the 21st Century.

WATESOL SUNDOWNER March 19th

2010-03-09T08:17:00.001+08:00

Join colleagues for an update and discussion about the Australian (National) Curriculum. The draft K-10 documents are out for consultation now, and the senior secondary documents are being written. There are concerns that neither document will adequately address the needs of our learners. This session will summarise those concerns and show participants how to give feedback on this document. The timeline for the development of the Australian Curriculum is extremely short, so we must act quickly to make sure we have our say.

Afterwards, there will be time to enjoy wine and cheese, and to network with your colleagues.

Date: Friday March 19th
Time: 4.00 – 5.30 (presentation at 4.30)
Venue: The Alexander Bar
Wembley Hotel
344 Cambridge St

Members: no cost
Non-members: $15 (membership available at door)

Please RSVP to Emma Sladden for catering purposes.
secretaryatwatesol.org.au

National Working Group Meeting

2010-03-02T11:40:00.002+08:00

The next NWG meeting will be held at Macquarie University in April. This is an opportunity to fill any gaps in the task bank and also to find the answers to questions you may have regarding the task bank.

So, please send me any new tasks that you have created (especially those outlined below) as well as any questions you have before the end of term.

The following LOs require tasks for the task bank:
Certificate III: I1, I3, N1, N2, P1, P2 and
Certificate II: F2, G1, H2, K1, M1
Certificate I: I1
PreCSWE: A3, G2, G3

Our latest Journals

2010-02-24T15:15:00.004+08:00

Modern English Teacher Vol 19 Number 1 has just arrived.
This excellent journal is full of great ideas that you can use in your teaching practice. Articles such as "The Idiot's Guide to big grammar Items Part 2 and Ten things to do with and Interactive whioteboard" are justs two of the interesting articles in this issue. Contact me if you would like to see this issue.

IATEFL voices March-April 2010 Issue 213 has also just arrived.
Interesting articles include: Move with movies in the ESL class room; Content-based project work and Practical teaching ideas. The journal also publishes the dates for conferences world wide so if you are travelling and would like to include a conference in your holiday you need to check this issue.

Contact me if you would like to see either of these journals.

AMEP TASK BANK LIVES ON

2010-02-10T09:10:00.003+08:00

Good News. DIAC has reviewed their decision to stop funding the AMEP Task Bank and National Working Group (NWG) and has now decided to continue with the funding.

Thankfully they have realised the importance of this project and we can now continue to access tasks online at the AMEPRC website.

There will be a NWG meeting soon so please send in any new tasks that you have developed and also any suggestions or recommendations you may have for the task bank or the National Working Group.

Welcome Back to Polytechnic West AMEP

2010-02-02T11:02:00.003+08:00

Hi Everybody

Our January Professional Development days were a great success with more than 50 participants completing 14 different sessions.
A big thank you to all the participants who completed the registration with their ID numbers. This assists the people at ESS to complete your PD records.

Once again the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and we hope that they year continues in this positive mode.

Due to my efficiency (?) I have a number of excess copies of the course notes for: Introduction to Excel and Introduction to Publisher. If you would like a copy for your use, please email me and I will send you a copy.

I have now moved to our Balga Campus and am working on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. My new phone number is 9207 4284.

New tasks needed

2009-10-21T11:10:00.003+08:00

The National Working Group will meet in November to try and fill the gaps in the AMEP RC Task Bank. The tasks needed to complete the task bank are:

Certificate I Learning Outcomes: I1, L3, L4, L5, M1, M2 and M3

Certificate II Learning Outcomes: F2, G2, N2, O2, O3, and O4

Certificate III Learning Outcomes: M1, M2, N1, N2, N2, O1, P1, P2 R1, R2, S1, S2, and S3

Please can you forward these or any other tasks you have developed this semester to me so that I can forward them to Marian Hargreaves.

You could also give them to Simon Kopij or Sophie Burrows who will be going to the next NWG meeting.

LUNCH TIME FORUM ON SUSTAINABILITY

2009-10-19T11:19:00.003+08:00

Come and join other interested people for lunch and a DISCUSSION about sustainability in your workplace. The Forums will be held at each Campus.

Monday 26th October – BALGA CAMPUS & THORNLIE CAMPUS

Tuesday 27th October – CARLISLE CAMPUS

Wednesday 28th October – MIDLAND CAMPUS

Thursday 29th October – BENTLEY CAMPUS

AMEP RC Update

2009-10-13T09:55:00.003+08:00

As you are probably aware, the AMEP Research Centre will close at the end of this year. This means that the National Working Group (NWG) Task Bank will also stop develpoing new tasks. You will still be able to access the tasks as you do now but there will not be any changes atfter that time. The NWG, headed by Marion Hargreaves, has been working non-stop to get as many tasks as possible completed before the close in December.

There are now 313 tasks and guidelines online on the Task Bank – with 10 more to follow shortly after moderation.

A recording session last month recorded all the outstanding listening scripts. 86 sound files, across the certificate levels, are now available online on the Task Bank. These recordings are also being put on CD for distribution to all AMEP teaching centres. Your Portfolio Managers will distribute them as soon as they arrive.

Moderation session for the Task Bank
Cert III tasks were the main focus of the last meeting. Fifteen tasks were moderated. Four were discarded as not appropriate. Marian will now format, proof read and upload moderated tasks. One Cert II task was amended following the results of recent trialling. Thank you to all teachers who gave their time to trial tasks.

A one day workshop for the NWG will be held on Wednesday 11 November to coincide with the National Forum (12-13 Nov.) This workshop will focus on developing guidelines and tasks that have the potential to fill gaps in the Task Bank provision, but need more work before moderation. The workshop will be a valuable opportunity to add to the task bank before the end of the AMEP RC contract in December. I hope that one of our representatives (Sophie, Simon or PJ) at the National Forum will attend the workshop.

The last moderation meeting will be held on Wednesday 25 November 2009. This will be the NWG's last chance to moderate tasks for the Task Bank. If you have any tasks that you feel would be a useful addition to the Task Bank, please send them to me ASAP and I will forward them to Marian.

2009-10-13T09:19:00.005+08:00

WATESOL has a new webpage with information and links to useful sites. You can now also access the TESOL links magazine from this site. Try to find some time to visit the site. The URL is: http://www.watesol.org.au/

iatefl voices

2009-10-06T11:47:00.002+08:00

The September/October newsletter from Iatefl voices has arrived in Thornlie. There are a number of interesting articles in the newsletter including: Using photography to inspire writing, Learning essay writing through games, Careful with your intonation, Group work that works and suggestions to Spice up your grammar.

Teachers in Thornlie are welcome to have a look at the newsletter this week and it will be forwarded to Carlisle next Wednesday, then on to Balga and Fremantle. Look out for it in your centre and ask your Portfolio Manager if you want to see it. Community and country teachers are welcome to borrow it from me when it is returned in approximately a month's time! Let me know of your interest.

QIG Meeting

2009-08-05T18:44:00.002+08:00

Don't forget that there is a QIG (Quality Improvement Group) meeting in Room E002 in Balga next Wednesday 12th August at 2 o'clock. These meetings focus on CSWE issues and are attended by Access and AMES CSWE lecturers and provide a chance to find out what teachers in other sections are doing.

If you wish to attend next week, I am leaving from Carlisle at 1:30pm and returning by about 4:30pm and have room for 4.

PD Team Update: Where are we now?

2009-07-29T09:30:00.007+08:00

Philip has "HOPped" out of sight and can now be seen at Carlisle and Fremantle.
Congratulations to him on his new position.

Sue Shaw has gone climbing the lofty heights in Japan.

Clare is our new Community Liaison Officer. Congratulations Clare.

And Cathy is still here on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays and will endeavour to keep you informed of what's happening here.

WATESOL Update

2009-07-28T12:21:00.003+08:00

This a brief update to let you know that there are a few WATESOL PD sessions in the pipeline for the second half of the year. The first is a Voice Workshop by Julia Moody, which will give strategies for conserving your energy and voice in the classroom. The second is a session by Asetts, focusing on the needs of students who have experienced trauma and or torture. Information about each will be sent out shortly. Finally, we're also hoping to run an information session about the various TESOL courses available in WA. This might be especially relevant to some TAFE lecturers who have been asked to increase their qualifications.

Also, don't forget the WATESOL AGM is on September 17th at the ESL Resource Centre (4 PM). Write this date in your diaries and come along if you're able to. It's an opportunity to contribute to your association, network, and see what goes on. And I promise no one will make you join the committee... A flier with details about the guest speaker will be sent out in the near future too.

Good Food for New Arrivals

2009-07-27T09:13:00.003+08:00

You’re probably all aware of the Good Food for New Arrivals project and may have been using the materials.
The website has an interesting section on Nutrition Resources (including Cultural Food Information) and now offers information for trainers – it’s free to register and have a look around.
http://goodfood.asetts.org.au/

National Working Group Update

2009-06-16T09:34:00.005+08:00

The NWG met last week to moderate listening tasks and the good news is

"It was another very productive meeting and I shall get the tasks proof read and uploaded as soon as possible.

However, having a meeting so soon has meant that I am still following up on tasks from the previous meeting! I have uploaded 22 tasks since then and have another 8 tasks just returned from proofing and ready to upload, plus 1 Pre CSWE task that I have finally got quality images for, so it's also ready to upload.

I will now start organising a recording session for moderated listening tasks. If you have already got good quality recordings please send them to me so that they can also be uploaded." (Marian Hargreaves)

So please send me any listening recordings you have made that I can forward to Marian.

Another look at twitter

2009-06-11T15:25:00.003+08:00

Some of you may recall that in past years I mentioned the edna Roadshow workshop and I recently attended this year's annual event hosted by SIDE in Leederville. It is a pity that this government-sponsored site is not more widely known and there were very few representatives from TAFE and only one from Swan. What is edna? you ask; "edna" is an acronym for Education Network Australia and provides a range of online service including forums, information, groups and resources for primary, secondary and VET sectors and is a much underused resource. Go and look for yourself at the wealth there is http://www.edna.edu.au/ ; get a login and you will be able to go in deeper and find out how edna may be able to help you.

At this year’s Roadshow, there were several sessions that were of interest, including the key note address by Sue Waters, TAFE aquaculture lecturer, who now devotes much (if not all) of her time to online workshopping and inspiration through http://edublogs.org/ . Those of you who have done a Learnscope project with me will remember her assistance at some of the workshops. It was she who pointed out to me the power of Google and its host of utilities and this year she talked about the indispensability of twitter for keeping up to date with your immediate contacts and the distant world. I tried twitter a year or more ago without great success but, inspired by Sue and noticing a lot of mention of twitter in the press recently, I reopened my account and searched for tweeters with ESL as key words. Apart from rejecting quite a few Eastern Soccer League players and fans, I added a number of teachers from around the globe to my list of contacts. Some explanation at this point may be necessary – Twitter is a web-based communication which allows you to send / receive messages with a group of “followers” on your computer or your phone; these messages are restricted to 140 characters (the same as SMS messages) and are referred to as “tweets”. However, be warned; tweets are not only sent to your group alone, but the whole tweeting community. (See this link for the dangers of tweeting about your classes) . On the other hand apparently, twitter has saved lives and in one particular case, a tweeter sent out a message to others who called in the emergency services. (I couldn't refind the link here).

What have I learned in the few weeks as a tweeter, or is it twitterer? As opposed to some who have literally thousands of followers, I have only a couple of dozen and only a few of the messages received are of import. I have tried asking for resources (in this case to teach instructions) and offered some finds of my own. Although I received no help in the resource field, I picked up some news of useful programs and online conferences. I have also had a few questions I asked to the community (e.g. the usefulness of “bing”, the new Microsoft search engine) answered. Like emails, you have to exclude the chaff but it does not take much time to skim through the messages (I have them come up on my google homepage) and you can always block exasperating tweeters. However, although I am not yet convinced of its usefulness weighed up with the time it takes up, I will reserve my final opinion till later.

If you want to keep up with tweeting astronauts and celebrities, then go to http://www.twitter.com/ and sign up for an account. If you want someone to follow as a start, my username (for ill-defined reasons) is "klopstock" - hope to hear from you.

How far is it from Carlisle to Thornlie?

2009-06-10T09:29:00.007+08:00

On a lighter note, I wanted to work out how far it is from Thornlie to Carlisle so of course used Google maps to calculate the distance for me. I entered From: Burslem Drive, Thornlie To: Bank Street, Carlisle.

How far is it by car? Well, actually it's 9,126 kilometres but I don't think that would be accepted on my kilometrage claim form.

One would think that if Google can work out that Thornlie is in WA, it would also realise that I mean the Carlisle in WA as well and not the one in the UK, but I must admit that this is not the first time I have been caught out by Google Maps and it once told me to drive through a freeway barrier to get to a side street.
Anyway, I tried with Oats St with greater success and it gave me the right answer: 10.7 km.

WA CSWE Task bank

2009-06-09T16:13:00.001+08:00

Questions have been raised about the location of the old CSWE WA tasks which were modified for 2008 CSWE.

When we first moved over to the new CSWE last year, it was decided that teachers should be encouraged to produce their own tasks, that all our tasks would be transferred to the AMEP RC Task Bank and that we would not keep a bank of our own. However, as there is a need for additional tasks, PD intends to move the modified tasks to a shared folder (and/or the Internet for community and country) where they can be accessed. We will not, however, be maintaining sets of hard copies. You are advised to go to the file on the server (or internet) and print off as required. That way , you will know that the edition you are using is the latest. The location of the tasks is : L:\Business Units\AMES\Teaching Staff\CSWE\WA Tasks. (Internet address to be advised when available).

The process of moving the old tasks over to this folder, has been started.

(At some time in the future, these AMES WA Tasks may be combined with the Access & Community tasks on the Intranet.)

Your own tasks:

If you have developed new tasks, then please deposit them in the folder:

L:\Business Units\AMES\Teaching Staff\CSWE\Put your new tasks here – not validated yet

or send them to PD.

PD will check them and move them to the WA Tasks folder when validated, time permitting.

Quality Improvement Group

2009-06-02T09:59:00.002+08:00

The Quality Improvement Group meets at Balga in Room E001 from 2pm to 4pm. It provides an opportunity for teachers to meet from across the SWAN campuses to discuss issues to do with the CSWE program and to provide an opportunity for validation and moderation. SWAN CSWE teachers come from Midland, Bentley, Thornlie and Carlisle and in the past met once a term. This has now been increased to twice a term as the CSSN will not continue after June.

All AMES teachers are encouraged to attend if you are not teaching at this time and bring or send a task for moderation. When sending moderated assessments, details should include assessment guidelines, task, answers and mapping. Once the tasks are moderated an electronic copy is put onto Signet.

The dates for future meetings are:
12th August
9th september
14th october
11th November

Updates

2009-05-29T13:51:00.007+08:00

Well the point of this blog was to update staffwho don't read their emails or who can't access the intranet and today I have plenty of opportunity to do so so I thought I'd put up a typical "blog" post, which tend to be online journal entries.

Why do I have the opportunity today? As I have succumbed to the round of pre-H1N1 flu which has been going around the section I am spending the day in bed But where would I be without my Eee lappie? No doubt bored and watching Oprah. But no, today I have taken part in an online Elluminate conference on funding for e-learning technology with participants from places as far away as Melbourne, Lousiana, New York and Northam. What did I learn? Only that wherever you are, it is difficult to get funding for what you need and sometimes you have to amend your requirements to fit in what is being offered.

I also have been playing Scrabble (and won), keeping up with the news around the world (Benno Ohnesorg's 1967 shooting re-visited), listening to ABC FM and a Radio National podcast of the "Movie Show" I missed, following my email and checking up on the online questionnaire that the Cert 2 and 3 students should be filling in. Let us talk about that a bit. I was first introduced to "Survey Monkey" by Dot Waterhouse of NSW several years ago and ran a few surveys for the 2007 and 2008 Learnscope projects only then to promptly forget it. But this week, a survey for a future project was needed and I was asked to do a surveymonkey and was reminded of what a great program it is too use and oh so intuitive. Fantastic for classes too and as an example please go to this link where I have quickly made an example for a cert2 class and try it out. If you want to learn more about it, please contact me at work or by commenting below. How long did it take? about 25 mins (but I'm slow today{flu}).

Shouldn't I be resting? Well this IS rest.

Peer assessment

2009-05-22T15:22:00.004+08:00

I have a Cert 3 evening class and am doing module 3G on instructions. We all know the problems of finding the opportunities to assess speaking tasks, especially in the evenings when they only come for 5 hours and so for the outcome, "Give complex instructions in a spoken exchange" I thought I would have a go at peer assessment (as Georgie Cole had proposed at the CSWE session in Munster). After class presentation and practice, the students were asked to prepare explanations for a machine / appliance they were familar with and be ready to present in class. Having 20 students out front is wearying for teecher and students alike so I put them in groups of 3 or 4 and handed them a tick sheet which summarised the assessment criteria. One student explained and the others asked and ticked and then went to another group and repeated the process - and then again. So we were able to get through a third of the class in about twenty minutes with the students' attention focussed in a small close group instead of drifting away when the volume of a presenting student out front does not suffice to maintain interest.

But does it count? Well, "checklists of learner performance" and "teacher observation of satisfactory performance" are usable methods of evidence gathering and I was able to get a good impression of how they were doing running round the classroom without hearing every word. I also quizzed the other group members after each telling and have the tick sheets. So I think it could be one example of "enough appropriate evidence". What do you think? Who will sign the "Assessment Task Validation" form with me?

Comment below!

QDAS documents

2009-05-22T14:53:00.002+08:00

As discussed in the AQTF session in April, the QDAS documents have now been sent out to your Portfolio Co-ordinator, who will pass a copy onto you for your class file. Every class file should have a QDAS document for reference.

photo: Jean Ruaud

Update to forms

2009-05-05T10:33:00.001+08:00

On the new forms please make the following changes on your copies of the forms:

01 Assessment Task Validation
• Delete “ workplace” on Page 2 under “Validity”, Item 1
• The question was also raised how to fill in this form if you are assessing by observation or assessing an unplanned activity; obviously, you cannot do it before the activity but you should make some record or comment on the form after the event. Discuss with a colleague, PD or your manager if they think what you did was valid.

20 Student Induction
Page 1
• Add “Underline that” to item about “it is important to do homework”
• Amend “Module Number _____________ Module name_______________ “ to “Course Code ______________________”
• If any of the items does not really fit your class you can put “N/A” into the tick column.

Any queries, please comment below.

Quality Day and Swan PD

2009-03-31T14:42:00.004+08:00

All staff should now register for Quality Day. To do so, go to SigNET and click on the link marked "Register Online for Quality Day", enter your 6 letter login and then select "Add/edit selections".

Lecturer PD on Tuesday 21st April : Please register for this through SigNET and click on the Lecturer PD link, choose your campus and download the appropriate registration form for Balga or Thornlie. Make sure you register for the AQTF session at 1 pm. Please note that you should forward this form direct to your Line Manager and not to PACD as indicated on the form. Registrations should be completed by Friday 3rd April (that's this Friday!) so that sentence above should read "forward this form direct to your Line Manager directly" . As we have a Centre Day on Wednesda, just register for the Tuesday.

GOSAC PD on Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th April: Please note that ALL GOSAC staff with the exception of Front Line staff should attend GOSAC PD. To register, go to SigNET, then the PACD tile and click on the "2009 GOSAC staff PD days" and the "Registration form" on the left. Complete this form and forward it to your Line Manager.

If you have any questions, please leave a "Comment" below.

End of Term Paperwork

2009-03-30T15:32:00.000+08:00

Please see this information sheet on how to fill in the Student Achievement Summaries and the Student Record of Achievement for Term 1 2009.

The sheet is also in the links on the right (number 10)

AMES NSW CSWE Training

2009-03-23T11:45:00.009+09:00

The AMES-NSW CSWE training on Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th April will take place in Munster from 0900 to 1530. "Where's that?" you ask. Well look at this map and you can see.

The decision to hold it here was CSSN's.

Lecturers intending to attend this workshop, please register by emailing Julie.Grant@challengertafe.wa.edu.au with your details or by faxing this form to her. You should also fill in a HR-021 Course Application Form and forward it to your Line Manager in order that your PD records are maintained.

Details of the other sessions will follow.

PD in April

2009-03-19T14:02:00.012+09:00

PD in April is being organised through Swan "Teaching & Learning" and the Curriculum Support Services Network (CSSN). There will be four days of PD with one Centre Day, as follows:-

Monday 20th April- Swan Quality Day at Burswood
Tuesday 21st April - Swan PD day at Balga or Thornlie
Wednesday 22nd April - Centre Time
Thursday 23rd April - AMES NSW CSWE Workshop Day 1 at Challenger TAFE, Munster.
Friday 24th April - AMES NSW CSWE Workshop Day 2 at Challenger TAFE, Munster.

The following sessions are compulsory for all lecturers:

College Quality Day (Mon)
AMES AQTF session (Tues 1300 - 1430)
AMES NSW CSWE Workshop (Thu & Fri)

This is 24 hours and if this means that part-time lecturers are doing more than their fraction, they can take time off later in the year during PD time (viz. in December). A Swan HR-021 Course Application form for Accrued PD leave must be completed and passed onto the relevant Portfolio Co-ordinator before the end of term. These forms can be found through the PACD tile on SigNET.

In order to work out how many hours of PD (not including Centre Time), part-time lecturers are obliged to attend, multiply the fraction by 30. (For example, if your fraction is 0.71, then (0.71 x 30) = 21.3 hours).

Casual lecturers should attend the AMES NSW CSWE Workshop (Thurs & Fri) and the AQTF session (Tues). They will be paid at the non-teaching rate for their attendance.

Further details on how to register &c will be made known as they arrive.

Free CSWE 2 Fire Safety Materials

2009-02-12T13:00:00.006+09:00

AMES NSW have recently produced a set of learning materials aimed at CSWE 2 level students on "Fire Safety"including listening soundfiles .

I have asked Sandra to make a set for each centre and they will arrive when have been done but if you wish for a copy before then or are in the Community or Country, you can go here and download a set.

New CSWE workbooks - not quite here yet

2009-02-10T14:27:00.004+09:00

NSW AMES Publications recently confirmed that the updated CSWE workbooks are almost ready - the CSWE II book is going to print and should be available by the end of February. CSWE I and III workbooks should be available by the end of March. (There is no CPSWE workbook.)

Sophie is currently looking into the cost of ordering sets...

Cultural awareness materials

2009-02-10T08:50:00.004+09:00

Cultural awareness was mentioned on the list at the PD week feedback group and until we do have another session, please remember that there are a host of reference materials on the web. Some time ago, Adriaan collated a list a version of which you will find here. If anybody knows of other materials, (or indeed of broken links) please drop me a "comment" and I will amend.

CSWE Module A resources

2009-02-09T12:53:00.003+09:00

In PD week, I provided some copies of the SWAN tafe resources for Module A for CSWE II and III. These were taken from the Signet site.
Today, Jackie Finegan sent an email alerting SWAN tafe staff to the updated, completed resources for module A of the CSWE. They are now available at: http://signet/vet/community_and_cultural_services/CSWE_program_of_work_2008.asp#Student%20Learning%20Plan
Please go to this site and print out the latest one that is relevant for your students.

Get Wise and Understanding Australia materials

2009-02-03T10:13:00.000+09:00

I recently found some useful resources on the EDNA website.
There are a number of different ESL worksheets and also the "Get Wise" materials and "Understanding Australia" books and sound files are available for you to download!
If you were at the PD recently you will have seen some of these materials. The URL is http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/course/view.php?id=2051

PD Week January 2009

2009-01-30T14:18:00.021+09:00

Welcome to 2009 and thank you for attending PD week. As promised I am making available some of the resources that were discussed during the week.

Assessing Intelligibility
Philip's Powerpoint (without the video clips)

You can download the (complete) worksheets from http://www.ameprc.mq.edu.au/resources/professional_development_resources/assessing_intelligibility

At the bottom of this page there is also a link to the video files - now there are quite a lot of them and in addition, they are offered in two formats (Quicktime and Flash). Now your computer may not be able to view either of these formats so you may be prompted for download of software. Drop me a comment (below) if you have a problem.

Clearly Teaching
You get the booklet here - ask PD if you want to view the video again or for the other sections.

New Resources
Find the Teacher's Notes for "Get Wise" here.

Incorporating Phonology
PJ's Powerpoint
AMEP Research Centre's Fact Sheets on Pronunciation

Insights
The Learning Federation
The address for a load of free-to-use resources in image, video, text and learning object form is: www.thelearningfederation.edu.au

Photostory
Get your PhotoStory3 software here

If you missed my exciting articles on the AMEP Forum "Language Learning in the Digital Age" and Class SMSing which I referred to during the week (as well as everybody else's), you can re-read the "Circular" here.

Senior First Aid course
The college now has nine new First Aiders so feel free to have an accident. We should have had 12 but unfortunately three others from the college were unable to attend because they had to go to a meeting with their PM. Congratulations are therefore due to:

Carol Clark
Angela Cusack
Jan Darbyshire
Veronica Dunkley
Clare Harris
Sue Shaw
Louise Ward

from AMES and

Glen Hicks
Paul Saccani

from Swan Thornlie.

The attached photo shows me and Annabelle (we tag-taught the course) in our complementary (but not complimentary) StJohn shirts, which we wore to give the impression to the participants that we knew more than we did.

End of the year

2008-12-02T15:01:00.006+09:00

The end of the term will soon be upon us and you will be as busy as bees.

To ease your labours, please see Link 10 on the right for the latest advice on how to fill the Student Achievement Summaries in and do not use the sheet you used in Term 3.

You will also need to look at Links 06, 07 and 08.

If you have any queries, please use the Comments link below.

Photo by klopstock @ flickr

Resource Report

2008-11-11T13:22:00.001+09:00

You will have seen the new booklet, 'Employability skills and workplace culture in Australia', but have you taken a closer look? Jody reports that it has been "fantastic" with her Cert III students. "We've been working on the Communication section and it answers a lot of interesting questions, looks at workplace issues like humour, swearing, dress codes, management styles, and gives tips on what to do - like watching interactions. I've followed up by giving sample situations and getting students to work out what to do."

Multiple copies of the booklet have been sent to centres, so you should be able to find it easily. (And if you've found a wonderful resource, please alert PD and we'll pass the word around...)

Clare

2008-10-28T13:15:00.002+09:00

The question, “How are teachers recording informal assessment?” arose in our last moderation session.

I asked the teachers in the AMEP RC National Working Group (teachers who moderate tasks for the task bank) what they are doing in their centres and Philip asked Jane Graham from NSW AMES.

Five teachers from the NWG replied.
They are all using either:
a) checklists they have devised or
b) CSWE learning outcome grids (most often)

as the official record.

When they observe a student meeting an assessment criterion they tick the criterion, sign and date. They see this as the evidence that needs to be kept for NEAS and AQTF requirements. They then record the observation by making a note in the teaching notes or on the checklist.
eg: 1. observed in casual conversation in coffee break pc 2.1;
2. checks for information pc 1.3 “so you mean….”
3. pc 3 and 4 observed in class project.

Jane Graham agreed:
“The way assessments are recorded is really to do with AQTF requirements and RTO auditing requirements but I feel it would be useful to write a short note of the evidence, ie "Assessment was conducted through ongoing casual conversation conducted at the beginning of the course which involved greeting, talking about the weekend and a closing." That can then be supplemented by grid checklists.”

Keep in mind we now need to do 2 assessments for each LO!

TAA Update

2008-10-24T11:49:00.002+08:00

There seems to be some confusion about how long students have to complete their TAA certificate. So just to clarify for everyone, Eric Findlay has advised that you have 12 months from the date of enrolment (RPL) or 12 months from the date of the first workshop you attended.

Modules in Phases

2008-10-16T09:24:00.005+08:00

Please find some suggestions by Carlisle / Thornlie teachers for choosing modules when teaching two different phases in Certs 2 and 3 here.

And here some suggestions by Balga teachers for choosing modules across three different levels of class in Certs 1 and 2.

Certificate Validation Sessions

2008-10-14T13:15:00.003+08:00

If you want to read what was discussed in the different certificate validation sessions in the session last Tuesday, please click below:

PrelCourse
Cert 1
Cert 2
Cert 3

All the tasks are not included so if you want to see a particular task, please comment below.

Some points from the Moderation / Validation session October 7th

2008-10-14T11:43:00.007+08:00

Plenary session

Where are the forms and paperwork?

Teachers at most Centres are able to access many forms on the common or shared L:/ and K:/ drives but unfortunately these are not all available to community and other teachers. I believe some of them have been distributed on CD and we will be working on getting the others out to you. There are however, copyright issues with many of the documents and we are unable to provide all papers to you.

PD was also asked to provide other paperwork (eg grids with more than one row/column for repeated assessment); we have the standard NSW AMES grids but feel that producing a whole range of other formats may defeat the purpose as different teachers have varying ideas of what they want in a form, so we may be wasting our time producing paperwork which is only used by a few teachers. What I suggest is that we continue to do what a few teachers are already doing and that is if you make a sheet (or resource or anything) then send it to us so we can make it available to all. Many thanks to those teachers who have already done this. We did hand out some sheets for Modules A but please add to these as well by emailing them to me or dropping them in to the “L:/Business Units/AMES/Teaching staff/ Put you tasks in here” folder.

What records need to be kept of students’ assessments especially if they are informally assessed?

In this (as in many other areas) we are bound to three masters: AMES–NSW, as licensor of the CSWE, the AQTF (Australian Quality Training Framework) as overseer of TAFE procedures and NEAS, as auditing body for DIAC. In the past we have always kept all the student work samples together with the assessment task and the CSWE grid, duly signed and dated. What we are obliged to keep when we assess informally (eg by portfolio or by ongoing observation) is at present unclear (if you recall, Jackie’s record keeping was greatly different to ours). Soon, as promised, we will be sitting down together to research this and will let you know as soon as a process has been decided on.

One of my students wasn’t able to get her 2003 CSWE. What can she do?

ARMS no longer accepts 2003 LOs, so students with previous LOs had to have them credited using one of transfer documents. In most cases this was advantageous to the students but it seems that some missed out if teachers did not have a clear understanding of the transition process. In any case in Term 4, it should no longer be necessary to assess or credit 2003 LOs as this should have be done in Term 3. All teachers should be assessing with CSWE 2008. If you have any queries about this, then please email me or ask your question in a “comment” on the blog.

Before we had to validate our tasks by handing them to PD; now we don’t. Why?

This question has been answered before. The philosophy behind the tasks has changed. Remember my comments in the Term 2 Circular:

[…] assessment flexibility also implies that teachers themselves should be more involved in developing and producing tasks that are aimed at assessing what has been covered in the lessons, not necessarily teaching the class to some particular assessment task. […] Which brings us onto the question of moderation. Tasks that are going on public display like our WA tasks and those in the online assessment task bank should be piloted and moderated because others are going to use them. However, AMES-NSW believes there is no need to have every task that you develop moderated. If it complies with the assessment criteria, then it is a valid task, although you can of course discuss it with a colleague or PD.”

Read the whole article here.

I also answered a similar question on August 22^nd:

“If there are no sample tasks or moderation yet, how are we to know, this term, if the tests we have given students, (especially the new tasks we make) are of the same difficulty as those in other classrooms across Australia?
Ask yourself if your task fits the criteria and if it is appropriate for the given level. Until we do have sample tasks from the licensor, then this should suffice. Is this fair and just? As long as YOU think your students have been assessed fairly and justly then it probably is.”

In brief, you know the criteria and as a “professional” you should be able to make valid judgements yourself. If you want a second opinion, then by all means ask your colleague(s), PD or Program Manager.

How can I find time to record my tasks?

It is quicker and more natural to work from semi-scripted dialogues; ie just make a few notes about the desired direction of the dialogue and speak from these. Reading a dialogue for a non-actor often tends to be stilted and unnatural. I showed some of you (very quickly) how to record your own tasks on a $28 Dick Smith recorder or even on a digital camera, but if you wish, you can send your semi-script to PD and we will endeavour to record it.

If you have any further points or questions please comment below.

flickr images: DanAllison; brtsergio

PD week in October (i)

2008-10-09T14:17:00.006+08:00

Please find Jackie's powerpoint presentation here - Using Portfolios for Assessment.

You will also find Ingrid's powerpoint presentation here and the report that Ingrid mentioned: Vocational Content for the Certificates in Spoken and Written English here.

Soon to be posted are synopses of the Moderation (Validation) sessions.

There were three entries for the fungus competition:

mushrooms are kept in the dark and fed manure - just like us
the photos were of the same thing viewed from different angles - just like the CSWE sessions
philip is a fun guy (fun-gi)

The winner will be chosen by the PD unit and a prize delivered to the winner.

What have you been using to assess?

2008-09-18T09:05:00.002+08:00

This is my question to AMES (in WA) lecturers.

We would like to have some of your examples of your assessment tasks for the Moderation session in October. So, please either

put copies on the L:/ drive in the "L:\Business Units\AMES\Teaching Staff\CSWE\Put your new tasks here - these tasks have not yet been checked"folder
give them to Sandra, PJ, Simon, Heather, Adriaan or Robyn to give to us
email them to me ( if you don't know my email, then ask in the comments box)

It doesn't matter if they're hand-written, typed, word-processed or hewn from solid granite; and it doesn't matter if you think they are "not good enough" for moderation. Just hand them in. All donors can remain anonymous.

Thanks a lot

(image by mharrsch at http://farm1.static.flickr.com/1/245309_d08bb45d8b.jpg?v=0)

How do I fill in the Student Achievement Summaries?

2008-09-11T14:19:00.005+08:00

As the end of Term approaches and assessments have been completed all that remains are the Student Achievement Summaries.

You will see that they have two rows - one for 2003 LOs and one for 2008 LOs and the differences don't stop there so please see this document (click here) for assistance how to fill them in.

You will also need to refer to

the Module Mapping 2003 - 2008 document if they have any 2003 Modules full of A's

and

the Simplified LO mapping 2003-2008 document if they have any single 2003 LOs.

To fill in the codes at the bottom right of the form, refer to the Award Codes chart.

Please ask any questions using the "Comments" link below.

("Tree tunnel" photo by lanier67 at http://farm1.static.flickr.com/66/182642626_0a65281f05.jpg?v=0)

What is a sample task?

2008-09-09T16:37:00.003+08:00

The question was: What are these new sample tasks that have arrived? Can we use them as assessment tasks or are they for practice only?

These tasks have been provided by the Certificate licensor as samples, examples to show teachers what a task for a particular LO should look like. Yes, they can be used for assessment purposes as long as you feel the content is appropriate for what you have been teaching.

Another question arises if indeed there is now such a thing as a "practice task", because, as long as the criteria are okay, if a student performs well on a task then he can be assessed as competent.

NSW Sample tasks

2008-09-04T16:30:00.002+08:00

Yes, they have arrived and each Centre will receive a copy of the 3*2 CDs comprising Tasks and audio files.

Community teachers please contact you coordinator about accessing these tasks.

Questions from Balga

2008-08-22T14:12:00.004+08:00

More Qs, this time from Balga. I have removed duplications.

Do the 2 (or more) assessment tasks have to be formal assessment tasks?
No, see page 17 (Formality of assessment) and section 5.1 page 46 of the CSWE curriculum document for suggestions for the type of assessment. I'm looking at Cert 1 but I assume the other Certs have the same pages. we also said this at PD session in April and also in last Circular article and therefore in the blog.

If informal evidence is used what records need to be kept?
For AQTF purposes, Date, task (if informal, state in a note) signature, P, A, N for each criterion and overall as usual. You will still be filling in the assessment grid.

How should assessment grids be completed to show that 2 pieces of evidence have been provided?
No decree on this. Up to you; Andrew told me he is splitting the grids; or you could seperate each cell with a diagonal line or write one line for P and a cross for A (as long as you explain in a legend).

How many resits can be done for assessment tasks?
Don't know but I would think none for the same task. We had the inhouse rule rule before that students sit an LO only twice a term, but this was more organisational than educational. This is a PM decision. Anyway, as you know, students should not be assessed until they are ready so lots of resits shouldn't really be necessary.

What evidence do we need to collect for Module A ( training plan etc)? Isn't the answer already in the Assesment criteria and conditions and methods of assessment? If you do design a grid or a sheet for this, then please forward it to PD for distribution and/or moderation.

If there are no sample tasks or moderation yet, how are we to know, this term, if the tests we have given students, (especially the new tasks we make) are of the same difficulty as those in other classrooms across Australia?
Ask yourself if your task fits the criteria and if it is appropriate for the given level. Until we do have sample tasks from the licensor, then this should suffice. Is this fair and just? As long as YOU think your students have been assessed fairly and justly then it probably is and the assessment tasks will be up on www.ames.edu.au publications any day now!

Photo by claresnow at http://www.flickr.com/photos/claresnow/2409771412/

Questions from Fremantle

2008-08-21T14:41:00.006+08:00

Fremantle asked these questions earlier this week. Here are Clare's answers.

Q:What does 'Can Write Personal Details' actually mean? (CPSWE)
A: This is the preparation for form filling. I suggest it means that learners can write or copy their name (or whatever) when prompted. Learners still have to understand the word 'name' (and not copy their postcode) but it can be done on a piece of paper, not in the correct place on an actual form.

Does anyone else have a different POV?

Q: Do we date each time we assess or observe as evidence?
A: Yes, that's an AQTF requirement. OK, it's hard because there's only one official spot on the page - but you could write the date in anywhere - all over the page if needed.

Q: What about listening tasks where we don't have audio materials?
A: If you need anything recording, and it's tricky to do it yourself, send your text or discussion outline to PD and we'll see what we can do.

Q:What if you think a task is unrealistic - eg write a formal letter in 120-150 words - but you know that it's possible to write a perfectly good formal letter in 100 words? Is 100 enough?
A: Sorry, no. Then it wouldn't meet all the criteria. This is where you need to remind the students before the assessment: "For the purpose of this assessment, you need to write 120-150 words! You might not use this many every time in real life, but that's what this assessment requires."

Clare Harris

(photo by garnett-law at http://www.flickr.com/photos/garnett-law/2270720235/)

Which transition document do I use - the one with Modules on or the new one with LOs

2008-08-21T12:53:00.008+08:00

As I understand it, the first document we received is to credit students with modules that they have completed in the old Certififcate. So for example, if they have old 2A they are credited with two modules in the 2008 Certificate. Which modules it gives them doesn't really matter. All you need to know is that if, for example, they have been credited with 3 modules from the old Cert, they have to do another three (+A) to complete their new Cert. The database should work this out.

Now, confusion seems to have entered because of the second transition/mapping document. Now, this was designed to recognise students who had not completed modules but had completed single LOs. So, when you have worked out how many modules the students still have to do, you can go and credit single LOs using the second document.

What you should not be doing, is using the LO transition/mapping document to credit completed 2003 whole modules.

If this is still not clear, please comment below and I will amend.

(Photo by dieselbug2007 at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dieselbug2007/369649914/).

How many answers have to be correct?

2008-08-12T12:08:00.003+08:00

Basically, it depends on the purpose of the text and whether it is essential for the reader to understand all the elements of this text. For example if you're giving instructions how to operate a machine or find the way then it is important that students do not misunderstand any of the steps and all answers have to be correct.

In a written formatted text then all responses would also have to be correct for a student to pass the assessment.

However, if the reading text is, for example, a newspaper article and several questions refer to the meaning of words then there can be some leeway in how many answers are correct, as long as the assessment criteria in the curriculum document are adhered to. One advantage of the new Certificate lies in its flexibility and it is up to the discretion of the teacher/assessor to grant a student competence in a given learning outcome.

Some confusion has been caused because on one hand, we were previously informed that all answers have to be correct and on the other, some tasks in the online task bank still mention compulsory questions. If you have any queries to this point, please comment below.

(Photo by beatsrhymesnlife at http://www.flickr.com/photos/beatsrhymesnlife/47161414/)

Credit for old single LOs

2008-08-12T11:02:00.001+08:00

We have just been informed that single LOs which were achieved on the old Certificate can now be credited on the new following the LOS transition document which you will find on the L:/drive (if you are Centre-based) or which will be made available to you shortly.

We are still studying the impact of this new move, so please hold back your questions until we have had time to consult.

Can I credit more than two old elective modules to the new CSWE?

2008-08-07T10:51:00.005+08:00

The transition document states that the old Core modules equate to two modules each and any other two equate to any other two. Because we started old Cert 2 with electives, some students may have 3 or 4 elective modules so can we credit them with more than two?

The NSW rep tells us this:

I've spoken to our quality unit and they agree that if a person has covered sufficient 2003 modules in all the macro skills ie two listening and speaking and two reading and writing (regardless of if they are core or not) they should be given credit for this. So if someone has done let's say, three 2003 elective modules, two of listening/speaking and one reading/writing they only need to do one more of the 2008 reading/writing and any 2 other modules. Note that they must also
complete 2008 module A if they hadn't done 2003 module C.

I'm not sure how the data base will cope with this as it has been programmed
according to my transition arrangements. You may need to manually enter
the details.

Hope this clarifies

How do I Copy Names into CSWE Assessment Grids

2008-08-07T09:46:00.008+08:00

One of the questions I have been asked is:

How can I copy the names of the class I have typed into one assessment grid on the L:\ drive (shared) into another assessment grid?

There are basically two answers:

a) for computer beginners: I suggest you make a photocopy and then cut and paste it (the old way with scissors and glue) onto the next assessment grid.

b) for confident computer users: Unlock the document (View>Toolbars>Forms>Padlock icon). You can now copy the block of names by dragging over them and copying (Ctrl C etc). Relock the document by clicking on the padlock again and unlock the second grid document you want to paste the names into. Click in the first name cell and paste. (Ctrl V etc). Relock the document.

Please note that I have made all these grids "Read Only". This means that you have to save them with another name or in another location. Please save them in your personal folder on the H:\ drive.

The story so far...

2008-08-05T13:40:00.000+08:00

The following information has already been posted and in the main refers to the new CSWE - most recent at the top. Where duplication has occurred, I have deleted the earlier comments.

If you have any questions, please "comment" below the post and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

August 5th 2008

The old assessment tasks are in the process of being updated although new ones need to be written. If you design a task please send or give it to PD. To save you time (and you are not in Freo) I have put a folder on L:\Business Units\AMES\Teaching Staff\ for you to Save as" them in. You will also find Teacher Records (both 2003 and 2006), translations of the new LOs and a range of CSWE reference materials on this drive.

Old resource tasks have not been updated yet. However, teachers could use them to practise an equivalent LO from the new CSWE as long as any changes in criteria are observed.

Remember that there is also a range of tasks on the AMEP Research Centre Task Bank (http://www.ameprc.mq.edu.au/resources/assessment_taskbank).

If you want to use the online taskbank, you will need the UserName and Password. The UserName is ameswc but please ask your Program Manager for the password as this is an open site.

August 1^st 2008

1) As a rule, all teachers should be teaching and assessing from the new CSWE inTerm 3. However, there are certain cases when a student only needs a few LOs to complete their old certificate and in these cases it is possible to teach and assess that particular student in the old Certificate. You should discuss these students with PD or your Program Manager.

2) We have also just been informed that there could be restrictions on ARMS (the database) with entering LOs for the old CSWE, which means that that old CSWE LOs will possibly not be recorded on ARMS. At the end of term teachers need to be aware that they will have to use the CSWE Transition document (on the L:/ drive) to enable those old LOs to be credited in the new Certificate. More information will be made available nearer to the end of this term.

3) Although teachers have been given free choice in deciding which new modules to teach in different phases until the end of the year, they should try and include modules from all four macroskills.

Oh frabjous day – the new CSWE is here

(July 4th 2008 from the AMES Circular Term 2 2008).

Term 3 not only marks a transition for many of the staff and students from the City to the South West but also heralds the change over to the new CSWE. From July 2008 all new students enrolled at AMES have to be taught and assessed following the new CSWE. This means, except possibly for continuing individual students in Distance Learning and the ILCs, that all classes will adopt the new CSWE for their course design in Term 3. We outlined the new curriculum to you in fair detail during the January and April PD sessions and for further reference there is a copy of the curriculum documents in each Centre to assist you with planning your courses. Please have a read through it.

The main queries are going to concern assessment tasks. Assessment procedures are more flexible for the new Certificates and allow a variety of methods of gathering evidence, including verbal questioning, teacher observation and ongoing assessment (see page 46 of the Certificate documents). However, in order to improve reliability, students should be assessed more than once on the same learning outcome – a single example of competence is not sufficient. This brings us in line with AQTF requirements (as you know from your Cert IV TAA).

Which raises the question of assessment tasks: “Is there going to be a set of tasks available for us in Term 3?” The short answer is “No”. AMES-NSW will be providing a set of two tasks per LO and some of our old WA tasks have been converted but these are to be regarded as samples only in order to indicate the broad format of the tasks. The Assessment Task Bank of the AMEP RC (formerly NCELTR) is also working to update their online tasks.

However, assessment flexibility also implies that teachers themselves should be more involved in developing and producing tasks that are aimed at assessing what has been covered in the lessons, not necessarily teaching the class to some particular assessment task. PD ran sessions on task development last October to give you ideas and inspiration how you could go about this.

Obviously, this could involve more work for some LOs but the informality of assessment can mean that assessment could be merged with everyday classroom activities. For example, in a CSWE 1 class, students who perform according to the criteria of 1E2 during the round-the-class warm up conversation on two separate occasions could be assessed as competent. (Keep your checklists close to hand.) In Certificate 2, one assessment for 2D1 (spoken information text) could be your preparation for an excursion. In Certificate 3 “Demonstrate understanding of a news article” (3i2), articles from recent papers could be used – there is no need to recycle the old ones about “crocodile encounter” or “a true hero”. The individual LOs within modules are closely related so that one task could cover the whole module and even include LOs from a different module or Certificate level. In the new Certificates, however, you will note that there are a lot of “demonstrate understanding” LOs (ie Listening) and if you want assistance in producing sound tracks, please contact PD.

Which brings us onto the question of moderation. Tasks that are going on public display like our WA tasks and those in the online assessment task bank should be piloted and moderated because others are going to use them. However, AMES-NSW believes there is no need to have every task that you develop moderated. If it complies with the assessment criteria, then it is a valid task, although you can of course discuss it with a colleague or PD. In any case, informal or observed tasks are difficult to moderate without other assessors present.

Which does not mean that moderation will be abandoned completely – we still need to clarify issues and establish common levels among our teachers. In the October PD week we will be repeating what we did with the 2003 Certificate – looking at student performance in relation to the new LOs and also looking at some teacher-developed tasks.

Assessment grids have been distributed to each Centre and will be available on a shared drive for access by all teachers as will the new Teacher’s Records and conversion charts.

Some time was spent during the PD session in April to determine which modules are recommended for the split into Phases. There was such a vast diversity of opinion in this matter, that we think it best in Terms 3 and 4 for teachers to select those modules most relevant to their classes and after this experimental phase to discuss the matter again in the February 2009 PD session.

Once you get accustomed to it, I believe that the new CSWE will be a much more enjoyable and less restrictive document to teach from. Apart from flexibility with assessment, other positives are that learning outcomes within modules are grouped, the nominal hours have been increased so there should be more time to teach horizontally, themes are developed across the Certificates and there is a broader range of modules to choose from. There are quite a few new concepts in the new CSWE so if you do have any queries, please contact us at Thornlie.

Stop Press

Andrew has reminded me of a few points that I failed to include.

CD overviews of the CSWE in 21 different languages have been ordered and will be (if not already are) available in your Centre for print-out and distribution to the students.

The tasks should be here at the start of Term 3 but the CSWE workbooks, including a CPSWE version, are still being written. Publication due sometime this year.

The writers have attempted to reduce the gap between the different Certificates so that there is not such a jump when a student moves up to a new Certificate.

Philip Nichols

Welcome

2008-08-05T13:37:00.001+08:00

The point of this blog is to collate all information sent by PD so that staff have a one-stop shop where they can go and look back on the emails we have sent out. For this reason, there will be very few images.
Hope it proves useful.