Australian Council for Deans of Education - Vocational Education Group - 10th annual conference - notes DAY 1

 At the annual ACDEVEG conference today and tomorrow where I have been invited to give a keynote. This is the first time I have attended this conference but many who are attending, would be familiar faces from the NCVER no-frills and AVETRA conferences.

The ACDEVEG is an inportant lobbying and support group for educators who work towards educatiing VET teachers. As such, these VET educators, are the teachers that ensure good teaching is a key part of the Australian VET system. 

The conference begins with Darryl South, the convenor for the conference welcomes all the conference delegates.

My keynote 'the importance of VET teacher education at a time of rapid change: some learnings from Aotearoa New Zealand' is based on the book chapter, recently published - Chan, S. (2024). Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE) in Aotearoa New Zealand: Implication on educators of VET teachers. In T. Deißinger & O. Melnyk (Eds.). Partnership-based Governance and Standardization of Vocational Teacher Education in Ukraine pp.79-94). Germany: wbv Publikation. 

The book chapter argued for the importance of VET teacher education and the need for VET teacher educators to keep up with the play and to especially model bicultural practices, which are foundational in moving into Te Pūkenga. However, even as Te Pūkenga is being disestablishes, the principles and need for continual professional knowledge and skill development, are still important. The presentation covered a brief overview of the reasons for the strong bicultural focus in Aotearoa and the ways the intended, enacted and experienced curriculum have transformed or have to adapt to keep up and move with the current and future national and social aspirations of Aotearoa. 

Then, Annette Foley presents a preview of the second editions of the ACDEVEG text book on 'teaching in the vocational sector in Australia'. The first edition 2014 was edited by Roz Kemmis and Liz Atkins. A second edition is now being published with updated chapters and the addtion of 2 more chapters with chapters on contemporary VET pedagogy and VET the economy and society. Publication date planned for June 2025. 

After afternoon tea, two steams of presentations are provided. Sessions are 45 minutes long so the participants are able to drill deeper into the topic being discussed. Notes below:

First up, a workshop on 'teaching VET teachers academic writing and integrity through Gen AI with Anthony Pearce from Federation University. The workshop helped participants explore academic integrity; connect AI to academic integrity; and assessment design considerations/frameworks. Shared a worked example ( course on writing and analysis for study and work - using AI to help teachers write resources. Shift from detection to integration of AI into assessment strategies to enhance student learning. Introduced the AI assessment scale (leonfurze.com). No AI, AI planning, AI collaboration, full AI, AI exploration. Design assessments which are diffcult for AI to reolicate, focus on higher order thinking skills, solve problems and create. Assessment tasks that require students to work at the higher levels in Blooms taxonomy. 

3 assessment tasks for from the example - compare and contrast sources (choose a topic, find academic sources, generate AI essay, find quality source and compare); reference and plagirism (use citations in text, write a reference list, discuss the academic and ethical issues in adding citations to AI); academic essay (submit academic essay, own work, focus on argument and critical thinking). Shared feedback from learners on the course. 

Note, there is nothing out there on using AI in competency based learning. 

Then, presentation with Sweta Singh and Michael Cowling on the work by Ke (Kelly) Xu, their PhD student, on 'upskilling and reskilling vocational educators for VR--based training environments. Shared the background, research question and methodology. Literature review shows VR used mainly in medical, military and workforce training. Digital literacies are essential for using VR but not all VET teachers have the right levels. Therefore, important to find out how to equip VET educators with the  knowledge, skills, and attributes to be able to confidently leverage VR. Shared the research methodology and next steps. The context will be on VR training on tunnelling units of competency.

Last up for the day, a round table with Wendy de Luca and Marg Malloch on 'learning and teaching: Vocational educators for the twenty-first century'. Shared the plans for an up and coming book. Sought feedback on the proposed content to see if there are other possibilities. 

TAFEtalks: GenAI in TAFE teaching and learning - notes from webinar

 Attended the session hosted by TAFE Directors Australia (TDA). as organised by their GENAI group.

 The session overview is: 

Experts from CQUniversity in Queensland, TAFE NSW and South Metropolitan TAFE, WA will discuss the role of GenAI in learning and teaching, the development of holistic GenAI Action Plans, ethical considerations and governance, the distinction between learning and performance and more.

Presenters include - Dr. Shweta Singh (Director, VET teaching and learning, Central Queensland University); Dr, Suneeti Rakhari (Director Education Quality, TAFE NSW);  Jacqui Creasy (Digital Product Manager, Commercial and Credential Education, TAFE NSW); Ferg Roper (Principal lecturer, Learning and Development, South Metropolitan TAFE); Tony Maguire (Regional Director, ANS D2L) - sponsor.

Notes from the session:

Jenny Dodd welcomes attendees and begins with a welcome to country, instructions for the meeting, and overview of the sessions. Also thanks sponsors :) Then introduced all the the presenter, in order of their presentations and as listed above. 

Dr, Singh begins with overview of technological readiness and infrastructure requirements including access to digital tools and internet, technology adoption, capacity building for teachers/trainers and trainees. Poll indicates many participants' institutions as not being ready (as expected!!). Proposed the use of Gen AI as search engine, buddy, co-designer or personal tutor. Gen AI may assist the process of helping learners think and understand information effectively. The value chain approach to integrating Gen AI shared - support, sustainability, scalability, relevance, responsiveness and results (the 3 Rs and 3 Ss value chain approach). However, important also to be aware of ethical implications - integrity, regulation, privacy concerns, accessibility and commercialisation. Important to work through the macro (policy makers etc), meso (institution and stakeholders) and micro (educators). 

Dr. Suneeti and Jacqui present on 'the future of now - crafting an institutional AI policy and action plan in a dynamic educational landscape. Overviewed TAFE NSW - a large network including 400k learners and 13k staff. shared the AI governance process - develop knowledge and skills, policy and guidelines guide responsible and ethical use, appropriate staff members ot support reflection. Steps to create Gen AI educational policy include purpose, stakeholders, legal etc obligations, AI capability development, awareness of responsible use and communication. Action plan has key principles - ethical engagement, transparency, risk assessment and mitigation, data privacy and collaboration and interdisclinary approach to ensure goals reached - learner experience, learning resources, course design, educator developmenet, academic integrity, monitoring and review and corporate monitoring and AI governance.

Shared various resources and communication used to support the action plan.Included the rationale for how these were designed. Also shared examples of innovation in classrooms and the emphasis on exploring AI tools being integrated into teaching and learning through an ethical and responsible lens.

Ferg shares 'learning still matters in an age of AI'. Stressed the importance of understanding how Gen AI can support learning. Learners need to do the work and learn as it is not always feasible to depend on AI all the time. Knowledge builds on knowledge, experts have assimilated elements that have been learnt over time and effort. Using AI may not allow learners the space/time to undertake the actual learning. There are no short cuts for 'doing the learning'. 

Tony provides a consolidation of the various speakers' contributions. Acknowledged that we are the beginning of a long journey to understand and leverage AI to support learning and teaching. Important to have the governance/policies etc. in place to provide direction. Technology and AI and teaching/learning should all be interwoven across so that each supports the other. 

Q & A followed across a range of issues, with presenters responding as required. 

A good opportunity to see and hear what is happening in Australia and how they are working through the challenges posed by the advent of Gen Ai and how they are integrating it into their VET curriculum.

Handbook of the fundamentals of modern vocational education - book overview

This is a large -over 1000 pages - (and expensive) book, Handbook of the Fundamentals of Modern Vocational Education: Shaping the World of Work, consolidating the life work of Professor Felix Rauner who was the head of the German Vocational Training Research Group based at the University of Bremen for many years. 

The book was written in German and translated into English, using AI. It has over 50 chapters, organised into 6 sections and a last 'outlook' section with a chapter on the future of vocational education.

The sections provide background/overviews of the German vocational education system followed by several chapters, drawing from extensive work undertaken over several decades, on the pedagogy and curriculum design principles as applied to the German VET context.

The German 'dual system' of vocational education, with learners spending time in the workplace and school/college has many chapters detailing its past, present and future iterations, along with suggestions for a way forward into the future. 

VET research including the study of 'work process knowledge' is covered in several chapters in section six. 

The book is required reading for VET researchers interested in the VET systems across German-speaking European countries. However, as prefaced the the last chapter, there is a need for reform of the system to meet the needs of the future of work. Thus, all countries face the challenge of ensuring there is investment and support for skills-based training but one in which there is flexibility for shifting occupations agilely, given the rapid changes being foisted on all societies, as technology 'progresses' and challenges the way work is being defined.