TAFESTART+IVEC+1+Case+Study+2

= TAFEStart Program = = IVEC 1 Writing – Blogs = = Lecturer - Tess Vincent = = Mentor - Karen Middleton =

Tess Vincent is an experienced lecturer across many TAFEStart programs including Women’s Education, IVEC 1 and the Disability Program and she is currently the co-ordinator of all three of these programs. Tess uses a wide range of methodologies in the delivery of her classes but had not really had the time or the opportunity to develop her skills in using e-learning tools. Tess and I looked at some possibilities for each of her classes and decided that as a starting project she would implement the use of blogs with her IVEC 1 writing class. The IVEC 1 program has been delivered at Tea Tree Gully for many years but at the end of 2009 it was moved to the Elizabeth campus. Term 4 was a difficult period for many staff in the program and it seemed that it was about the worst possible time to try to be innovative, although the launching of the program at another campus actually made it the perfect time to be doing something new. We agreed to commit to the idea of blogs but to leave bulk of the work until the beginning of Term 1 when the students were enrolled and classes were established.
 * Stage 1 - Identifying the e-learning tools**

Tess felt very uncertain about the setting up stage of this process. The beginning of a semester is messy for everyone in the TAFE//Start// program for many reasons, but particularly because many of the students are having their fees paid for by external agencies whose bureaucratic processes don’t run to the same timeline as TAFESA semester dates. If student fees haven’t been paid and they don’t have a student ID number, then they can’t access the TAFE network. They need a functioning email to set up a Google account, which then enables them to set up a blogger account, and then they need to email their blog address to Tess so that she can view their work and comment on it. The logistics of this were going to prevent Tess from going ahead with the project so we agreed that I would come into her classes for as long as it was necessary to get the students set up with all of their accounts and confidently accessing and posting to their blogs.
 * Stage 2 – Developing Technical Expertise**

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 * Stage 3 – Going Live with Blogs in IVEC 1 - Photostory**