Prize Draw and Close

Location

Hall L

Location: Hall L

Category

Department of Education & Training

Location

C2.2 & C2.3

.

The Six Steps to Killing them from the Podium - Repeat

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

Parkside 2

Difficulty

Beginner

Would you like to develop skills in the arena of public speaking? Or do you teach students how to make and deliver presentations and would like some tips to pass on? If so, this session is a must-see for you. This presentation aims to equip people to:

Prepare a presentation
Prepare an effective PowerPoint presentation
Understand the audience’s requirements
Effectively deliver a presentation

Location: Parkside 2

Gerry Gannon

RTO/Compliance Manager Gannon Media Services

Gerry Gannon has been a journalist, broadcaster, MC and media trainer in Australia for the last 30 years and is now one of the best known speakers and facilitators in Australia. A specialist conference MC, facilitator and media expert, Gerry is renowned for his wit, passion, easy-going nature and commitment to those he works with. He has worked extensively in both Australia and overseas and provides media skills training to government, not-for-profit organisations and industry entities, as well as conducting speech and presentation training courses. Gerry’s real passion is people; whether it is helping them reach their potential through training and support, MC at an event or providing valuable perspective and advice, Gerry’s easy humour and experience provides a refreshing opportunity for growth and knowledge for everyone he meets.

Start with Why: Engagement, compliance and quality will follow

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

C4.1

Difficulty

Intermediate

Why do your employees choose to come to work for your each day? Why does your organisation exist? What's your why? With a collective why, organisations can achieve great things. While all organisations are complicated, RTOs face a litany of legislation and without a united vision and team the compliance can easily be seen a red tape gone awry. Through starting with why, organisations can provide clear context and simple structures so that staff can make the right decision almost every time.

This session is going to guide you in helping you to identify their why and give some basic rules for setting up simple structures that work for your business, your clients and your team. It will look at the science of why and how some of the most successful businesses, leaders and teams apply the why mentality including Tim Ferris, Tony Robbins, Richard Branson and Simon Sinek. Businesses are complicated but as education providers there are simple techniques we can use to educate ourselves and our team to make life easier and our business work better.

Location: C4.1

Lauren Hollows

CEO/RTO Owner Aniwaya Education Services

Lauren Hollows is a mentor, consultant, executive and passionate VET practitioner. Working across a range of RTOs including domestic, international and with nearly every state funding contract over the last ten years, Lauren understands the challenges facing RTOs. Having worked in compliance, sales, training and as an executive and business owner, her broad experience allows for a balanced approach to building business quality based on strong simple processes. While the compliance requirements continue to build, the real challenge is helping RTOs build strong businesses with strong cultures. Everything is possible with a united team and culture of lifelong learning. This is core to what Lauren seeks to develop and inspire with her team, colleagues and clients.

An Organic Look at Competency Progression

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Parkside 1

Difficulty

Intermediate

An interactive adventure that explores a different path to competency development. The topic will demonstrate that by looking at competency progression differently we can break the old training paradigms of training for training’s sake and instead deliver holistic training outcomes, driven by the student. The topic will be delivered in a virtual laboratory where we investigate the biology of a unit of competency.

In summary an RTO will come to appreciate the how is this possible, the why it will work, the what to use to make it happen and the benefits both in improving competency progression and improving the bottom line.

Location: Parkside 1

Graham Rodgers

eLearning Australia Pty Ltd

Graham Rodgers has owned and operated eLearning Australia since 2008, developing cutting edge digital solutions for the training sector, including Hutchinson Builders, Construction Skills Queensland, Industry Skills Councils as well as private & public training organisations.

With 10 years’ experience in the training industry, he has a thorough understanding of training packages and the vocational training industry in Australia and is passionate about facilitating the process of competency based training.

Graham comes from a trade background, with management experience including apprentice management for a large employer. His strengths are in analysing customer needs, strategising with them and developing innovative systems to deliver the desired outcomes.

The Road to VET Quality: Empowering students to embrace curiosity

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Darling Harbour Theatre

Difficulty

Intermediate

As a VET sector, we all want to educate, inspire and empower our students, however has the quality system focused on assessment and forgotten the importance of actually training the students. In this session, we will explore the missing link, that of empowering the students to be open to curiosity, to experiment, question and learn, be innovative and challenging, and most importantly embrace the learning with an “I get it” attitude. If Australia is to be a leader of vocational education, then we need to answer the hard questions.

Is training valued in Australia?
Is training being delivered – or are we focused on an assessment model only?
Can training be individualised and at what cost?
What is the value of curiosity in the VET sector?
What is the true cost of training?
How can we encourage the inquiring mind?
Is curiosity being embraced in other countries?
How do we empower students to ask the questions?
What comes first Training or Assessment?
And is it all about the credential?

As a sector, for many years, we have talked about lifelong learning, second chance learners, access to training for everyone, learning at your own pace, the multiple career pathways of our learners, and what the shape of employment will be in the future. I want to know - “are we really teaching our students how to learn”, “are we really teaching our students to access knowledge” and “are we really empowering our students to use this knowledge to be inquisitive, innovative and resourceful”?

Location: Darling Harbour Theatre

Jenny Field

Jenny Field is the General Manager of Training for MAX Solutions, a national RTO focusing on the needs of the most disadvantaged learners. Joining MAX in 2016 with over 25 years’ experience in the VET sector, Jenny’s passionate about building training systems that have the student at the core of the education model, and for many years has been an active contributor to the industry through involvement with ACPET, VETIG, and iVETA. Focusing on the practical aspects of delivery and believing that every student must have access to quality education keeps Jenny vocal and active in the sector. Jenny has presented both nationally and internationally on many VET topics including using data effectively to measure quality, the value of workplace learning, and growing effective VET practitioners.

Panel Session – Ask an auditor

Category

Regulator

Location

C4.4

This is an open Q&A session – bring your burring questions on all matters related to compliance with the VET Quality Framework

David Garner, General Manager Regulatory Operations
Gayatri Mahesh, Manager Regulatory Operations
Jane Connors, Principal Regulatory Officer
Margaret Foran, Principal Regulatory Officer
Nadine Khoury, Principal Regulatory Officer

Location: C4.4

David Garner, Gayatri Mahesh, Jane Connors, Margaret Foran & Nadine Khoury

Australian Skills Quality Authority

David Garner

David Garner is the Regional Manager Compliance in the Australian Skills Quality Authority, leading a Brisbane-based team that has responsibility for monitoring compliance of Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and intending RTOs with the VET Quality Framework, ESOS requirements and the ELICOS standards.

Prior to Queensland’s referral of powers that brought Queensland RTOs under ASQA’s jurisdiction, David was Director, Training Quality, in the Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment.

Prior to joining the Queensland department in 2005, David worked in and managed RTOs for many years. Since 2002, David has been a board member of the Queensland Fitness, Sport and Recreation Skills Alliance and has been an active volunteer in sports administration since 1982.

Gayatri Mahesh

As Manager Regulatory Operations with the Australian Skills Quality Authority, Gayatri is responsible for leading and managing the implementation of regulatory strategy, and risk mitigation projects in accordance with national standards. Gayatri leads and manages a team of regulatory operations officers in responding to a wide range of regulatory matters.

Gayatri has extensive experience in the education sector both in Vocational Education and Higher Education. Prior to joining ASQA, Gayatri worked in management roles with large scale RTO’s and Universities both in Sydney and in New York.

Jane Connors

As a Principal Regulatory Officer in the Sydney team of the Australian Skills Quality Authority, Jane ensures that the nationally approved standards are met through the application of a risk-intelligence focused approach to regulation. Jane leads complex and contentious regulatory matters as well as supervising a team of regulatory operations officers.

Prior to joining the ASQA Sydney office in June 2011, Jane worked as a Compliance Officer in NSW VETAB. Jane also had an extensive teaching career including working for TAFE NSW where she delivered training and managed teaching sections.

Margaret Foran

Margaret Foran is a Principal Regulatory Operations Officer in the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA). Margaret has worked with ASQA since its commencement on 1 July 2011. Margaret works on high profile, high risk matters and conducts complex and contentious audits for registered training organisations (RTOs) and CRICOS providers.

Prior to joining ASQA Margaret worked with the NSW state regulator, VETAB, and before that was, for many years, a manager of a large public RTO

Nadine Khoury

As Principal Regulatory Operations Officer in the Australian Skills Quality Authority, Nadine undertakes a variety of regulatory activities. This includes the conduct of complex audits to monitor compliance of Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) against the VET Quality Framework as well as the ESOS Framework, along with training and mentoring of audit staff.

Nadine has long-standing experience within the education and training sector, having commenced her career as a teacher, and then moving on to management and consultancy roles. Prior to joining ASQA in 2011, Nadine worked for the then state regulator, VETAB. Over the years she has developed and conducted a number of training programs to assist employers, RTOs and others in understanding competency-based training and assessment, as well as registration requirements, including for delivery of training to international students. Nadine brings a wealth of knowledge to auditing, having worked in similar roles within the aged care and finance industries.

Foundation Skills on the Front Lines: A practical guide to overcoming barriers to learning

Category

Foundation Skills

Location

C4.5

Difficulty

Intermediate

This practical session will investigate strategies for overcoming learning barriers and foundation skills development in your RTO. This session is aimed at trainers and assessors who have a basic understanding of what LLN and foundation skills are, or RTO managers looking to implement a practical approach to supporting learners from enrolment to graduation.

Location: C4.5

David Cunning

Other The Learning Resources Group

David Cunning is the General Manager of The Learning Resources Group. He has been in the VET sector for 12 years and has spent the best part of the last decade managing the creation of training and assessment resources for over 300 units of competency. He was the driving force behind the LLN Robot System of assessing and supporting vocational education students across the country.

Dave has invested himself in understanding the industry by attaining his Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and also a Diploma of Vocational Education and Training and a Diploma in Training Design and Development.

Prior to working in the VET sector, Dave was a psychology graduate and a graphic artist who ran his own independent publishing house.

Outside of TLRG office, Dave was voted the world's greatest dad by a 2/3 majority of his 3 sons. He is an amateur e-sports participator, avid motorcycle accumulator and aspires to be the single largest consumer of 2-minute noodles in the southern hemisphere.

Designing Compliant Online Assessment

Category

eLearning

Location

C4.8

Difficulty

Beginner

Delivering training online is increasingly popular in the VET sector. The challenge is designing engaging assessment that can be delivered online, whilst satisfying compliance requirements. This session will give you some examples and tips for designing and delivering assessment using online learning platforms such as Canvas and Moodle and highlight what to consider before you begin.

Location: C4.8

Tania Gomez

Trainer/Assessor Strawberry Solutions

Employing her passion for childcare, education and innovative technology throughout her career, Tania started out as an Early Childhood Educator around twelve years ago.

Utilising her knowledge to first teach, and then lead several private colleges, including some of Australia’s leading RTOs. Tania has assisted in passing on her passion for high quality education and compliance to thousands of students and managed large teams of staff across all facets of an RTOs’ business. From compliance, to marketing and business development and the ever-needed change managed skills to lead staff through shifting policy and funding frameworks. Tania has a tenacious and can do attitude that allows her to learn new skills quickly and use these skills to assist her clients.

Tania’s passion for innovation and technology has also led her to become heavily involved with the development and implementation of adaptive learning technologies and online learning and content development.

Tania is a passionate lifelong learner. Awarded with several qualifications, including a Bachelor of Early Childhood, Diploma of Training Delivery and Design and Graduate Certificate in Management (Learning), to name a few, Tania continues to develop her expertise in education and leadership as she is currently completing a Master of Education (Leadership) at Western Sydney University and a Diploma of Quality Auditing.

Afternoon Tea & Networking

Location

Hall L

Location: Hall L

Transformational Learning

Category

Department of Education & Training

Location

C2.2 & C2.3

Meet the 2016 Australian Training Awards’ Excellence in Language, Literacy and Numeracy Practice winner, Isabel Osuna-Gatty. Learn how a combination of methodologies, approaches and practices connect Indigenous learners from very remote communities with pathways to work and further education.

Location: C2.2 & C2.3

Isabel Osuna-Gatty

Isabel was initially involved in adult literacy provision in her native Venezuela and went on to teach in various language, literacy and numeracy programs shortly after arriving in Australia in 2001. After five years’ volunteering in remote Yuendumu in the Northern Territory, she accepted a teaching role with the Bachelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education and is now a Senior Lecturer in Foundation Skills. While she is on a mission for attitudinal and cultural change, Isabel also wants to use her award to heighten awareness and appreciation of the value of apprenticeships. “An apprenticeship is not a second choice, it’s an equal choice. A lot of people don’t appreciate that it’s taken four years of very hard work for their plumber or electrician to train and qualify. The Australian Training Awards showcase the benefits of doing an apprenticeship and it’s especially important for young people to know how inspiring and empowering a VET career can be.”

The 3 Ps - Preparation, Participant and Post-Audit

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

Parkside 2

Difficulty

Intermediate

This session is a guide for RTOs on how to prepare for and participate in a regulatory audit, as well as respond where non-compliances have been identified.

Location: Parkside 2

Jennine Cochrane

Consultant VET Logistics

Jennine Cochrane owns and operates VET Logistics. She has extensive experience in the requirements for the provision of education for both Government and private RTO sectors.

Jennine has worked as a Quality Consultant for NARA and Lead Auditor for the VRQA, providing both audit and consulting services in accordance with the AQTF (Initial and Ongoing) and CRICOS.

More recently she has been employed by the national regulator of VET, ASQA, as a Principal Compliance Auditor, conducting both VET and CRICOS audits.

Jennine has a thorough understanding of ongoing registration requirements to meet both the Standards for RTOs 2015 and the AQTF.

Her proven knowledge in quality assessment has assisted RTOs to develop quality assessment instruments to ensure the ongoing provision of quality training and assessment services to their clients.

VET Student Loans Ombudsman

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

C4.1

Location: C4.1

Lee Katauskas & Angela Notaras

The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman

The Masterful Craft of Manipulation

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Parkside 1

Difficulty

Intermediate

If you are a great Trainer and Assessor, then here’s a title to add to your resume. As a great Trainer you are, in effect, a ‘Master Manipulator’; because in Training, manipulation is the name of the game for the effective transfer of knowledge to occur. “Manipulator,” I hear you say, “not me!”

Well yes, it is you, and there can be light and fun on the dark side.

The Experience of Learning is more than just ‘consumption’ of information.

For real learning and transfer of skills to take place, there must be a connection created within the learners’ brains. Your role is to become a benevolent Manipulator in making this magic happen.

Learning is about connecting brain cells. We need to look at what we are offering students in our Training delivery.

Do we...

stimulate their brain’s curiosity?
touch their hearts ?
shift their headspace and thinking?
equip them with hands-on skills?
move their feet into action?

This session will both challenge you, and have you experience, what this means for you and your learning and delivery design. Be prepared to have fun and to shift mental mindsets. It will not be a talkfest but an experience where magic will happen and practical skills learnt.

Location: Parkside 1

Laurie Kelly

Private individual Laurie Kelly

Mindworks director, Laurie Kelly, speaks both nationally and internationally on current knowledge of how the mind works to maximize the Impact of Training, and to create an Openness Factor in our approach to Change and new Learning.

Laurie has been opening up the mysteries of the mind to audiences from all walks of life for over 30 years. He has a reputation for having an uncanny ability to communicate on a level that everyone can appreciate and is passionate about the importance of the information he shares.

Laurie Kelly’s experience also includes conference keynote & workshop sessions and public and in-house training programs, delivered in Australia and overseas. He has worked extensively within both the corporate sector in many organisations covering a wide scope of industries, and with many departments of the government sector, and within the areas of education, health, resources, council and corporate organizations. Laurie is one of the most sought-after presenters in his field.

The Six Steps to Killing them from the Podium

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Darling Harbour Theatre

Difficulty

Beginner

Location: Darling Harbour Theatre

Gerry Gannon

RTO/Compliance Manager Gannon Media Services

Gerry Gannon has been a journalist, broadcaster, MC and media trainer in Australia for the last 30 years and is now one of the best known speakers and facilitators in Australia. A specialist conference MC, facilitator and media expert, Gerry is renowned for his wit, passion, easy-going nature and commitment to those he works with. He has worked extensively in both Australia and overseas and provides media skills training to government, not-for-profit organisations and industry entities, as well as conducting speech and presentation training courses. Gerry’s real passion is people; whether it is helping them reach their potential through training and support, MC at an event or providing valuable perspective and advice, Gerry’s easy humour and experience provides a refreshing opportunity for growth and knowledge for everyone he meets.

Risk-Based Regulation – what does it really mean?

Category

Regulator

Location

C4.4

An in-depth look at how ASQA considers risk and uses intelligence to inform regulatory activities.

Location: C4.4

Gayatri Mahesh & Margaret Foran

As the national regulator for the vocational education and training (VET) sector, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) seeks to make sure that the sector's quality is maintained through the effective regulation of:

vocational education and training providers
accredited vocational education and training courses, and
Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) providers including those delivering English Language Intensive Courses to Overseas Students (ELICOS).

Australia is fortunate to have a world-leading vocational education and training system. This crucial sector provides training in the skills Australians need for employment, and injects billions of dollars of export income into the economy each year.

ASQA makes sure that the quality and reputation of Australia's VET system is maintained through effective national regulation.

Describing the Capabilities of Foundation Skills Practitioners

Category

Foundation Skills

Location

C4.5

Difficulty

Intermediate

The Foundation Skills Professional Standards Framework is a new tool to describe the capabilities of the diverse field of practitioners who provide foundation skills services in a variety of contexts. This session will introduce participants to the Framework and explore its potential for supporting practitioner capability building, workforce development, and quality and compliance.

Location: C4.5

Anita Roberts

Compliance Manager Anita Roberts

Anita Roberts has contributed to strategic projects focused on the importance of foundation skills in VET over the last 20 years. She has authored landmark reports and publications and co-ordinated significant LLN projects, including the development of the Foundation Skills Training Package and associated resources. Anita co-ordinated the National Foundation Skills Strategy Project and, in this role, facilitated a national community of practice focused on building the capacity of the VET and LLN workforces to address foundation skills. Through recent work under the National Foundation Skills Strategy project she has worked with Louise Wignall to develop a Foundation Skills Professional Standards Framework and associated implementation tools.

Knowledge Management and Social Learning for Newbies

Category

eLearning

Location

C4.8

Difficulty

Beginner

David Lang (OzConsult) will show you how to consolidate your database of learning resources, so you can share your knowledge and experience across a range of social media platforms, using simple, cheap and easy to use CRM and LMS systems.

Note: This is a "newbies crash course" in social media engagement that will require attendees to participate throughout the event using cloud based operating systems. Access to interactive resources and links will be available to attendees through the NVC app.

Location: C4.8

David Lang

CEO/RTO Owner ConsultOz

For over 30 years David has been involved in the Hospitality, Tourism & Training industries throughout Australia with experience consulting in Hong Kong, New Zealand and Europe.

His professional background is with 5 Star and fine dining / silver service based restaurants and he has experience in franchise development, vocational education & training, operational systems development and quality assurance / compliance auditing, audio and video production, online learning systems design.

Networking Lunch

Location

Hall L

Location: Hall L

The USI: Keeping national training collection records together

Category

Department of Education & Training

Location

C2.2 & C2.3

Join NCVER’s Alison Anlezark and the Acting Student Identifiers Registrar from the USI Office to get an in-depth look at the USI Transcript Service. Learn how the Transcript Service links AVETMISS data to the USI to generate a transcript. Plus, take the opportunity to learn about the USI Transcript Update Tool - which allows training providers to make corrections to a USI transcript. Presenters will be answering questions at this session so feel free to bring yours along.

Location: C2.2 & C2.3

Saloni Sharan & Alison Anlezark

Department of Education & Training, NCVER

Alison Anlezark is the National Standards Manager, at the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). In this role, she is responsible for ensuring NCVER’s products and services keep pace with the changing needs of the VET sector, having oversight of the statistical standards, NCVER’s data quality program and NCVER’s client support team. She has a strong academic background in research, and has a Masters in Public Administration (Policy) from Flinders University (SA).

Ensure your Marketing Material is Compliant

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

Parkside 2

Difficulty

Intermediate

Your marketing material is a reflection of your Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and your commitment to compliance. During this interactive session you will develop a sound understanding of the compliance requirements for marketing, including use of the NRT logo, common mistakes, review examples of marketing material and apply the information gained in the session and receive a copy of a marketing checklist to review the marketing material of your RTO.

Location: Parkside 2

Angela McGregor

RTO/Compliance Manager RTO Consulting

Angela McGregor is the owner and principal consultant of RTO Consulting who has been offering consulting services throughout Australia, providing guidance, coaching and assistance to businesses wanting to become a RTO, existing RTOs and businesses wanting to develop nationally accredited courses and those looking to establish systems and processes to ensure compliance.

As a practitioner dedicated to sharing knowledge, Angela has consulted through many forums pertaining to compliance issues and improvement strategies for training and assessment services. Angela is known for her current industry, knowledge and success in developing accredited courses and track record in setting up RTOs and assisting RTOs with compliance against the VET Quality Framework.

Australian VET Funding: How did we get here and where are we headed?

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

C4.1

Difficulty

Intermediate

Government funding and financing underpins and drives a large proportion of VET delivery in Australia. Understanding the intentions and directions of government and how it arrives at funding decisions is therefore a vital input into RTO strategy, risk management and positioning. This session will discuss the key trends in VET funding, the historical drivers of public investment, and policy outcomes that have been achieved to-date. Analysis of the implications of the emerging issues from the perspectives of government, RTOs and VET students as well as an up-to-date view on the outlook across funding streams will highlight the key strategic considerations for decision-makers in training organisations.

Location: C4.1

Jonathan Chew

Consultant Nous Group

Jonathan's expertise is in policy design, market analysis and evaluation with a focus on the VET and higher education sectors.

As Director at the Nous Group and Principal of The 5Rs Partnership, Jon works extensively with governments, universities and training organisations to understand and meet student, community and industry expectations, both in Australia and overseas. Jon has worked with a large number of tertiary education and training providers to investigate levels of unmet demand for education and training, benchmark delivery profiles, review market strategies, and identify opportunities for expansion and growth.

Jon’s particular area of expertise is in the design and economics of government funding and finance across the tertiary education sector. Jon has led the research, analysis, modelling and consultation components on a number of projects for government focussed on tertiary funding and financing, policy analysis and program design. Jon was recently a co-author of Funding an Expanded Tertiary System: Designing a coherent financing architecture, published in Visions for Australian Tertiary Education by the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne.

Jon is a director of Conservation Volunteers Australia.

Educator vs Trainer: Join a voyage of discovery with learning as the end game!

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Parkside 1

Difficulty

Intermediate

Is it really about compliance? Is it really about Assessment? Or should it be about learning!

Let’s go on a learning journey, on a Voyage of Discovery, where around 30 six year old primary school students taught Darrel to be an educator and not a trainer. His education happened while he was trying to coach soccer. The same lesson was repeated again when he coached children and adults of all ages to play soccer for fun or competition, the lesson learnt was always the same: students (players) never learnt anything by just training, unless they were educated through training and learning while having fun…It’s not just about the volume of learning, assessments or the amount of training, but the actual doing, practicality and creating that learning and engaging experience. Effective learning is a participative sport - we need to do it to learn it.

During this session Darrel hopes to share some of the secrets of education versus training and being an educator rather than a trainer.

Location: Parkside 1

Darrel Vecchio

CEO/RTO Owner Bizmatrix Pty Ltd

Darrel Vecchio has been self-employed for the past 35 years. During this period he has been the Managing Director of national multi-trade service company which completed over 110,000 service and installation jobs for commercial food equipment industries and energy sectors for gas and electrical. Clients across the globe were serviced with a 50 plus team. The slogan was not just good service but great service.

Darrel has a fear of working for a single boss or a corporate company and has a passion for seeing people learn from experience. He is qualified and licenced as an Electrician special class, Gas fitter Type A, Type B industrial gas, Gas approval authority, Gas certifier and a qualified educator. Darrel has several diplomas in Vocational Education and Training (VET) and a Graduate Diploma of Management (Learning) where he had a light bulb moment on professional development.

Having run a major service company for many years, the biggest challenge was the need for technical training and customer service training and education. In 2007, Darrel decided to focus on education and this started Bizmatrix and is currently the owner CEO of Bizmatrix Group which encompasses Bizmatrix Pty Ltd a small Queensland based RTO which specialises in high risk licence training, technical education and training for the energy sector mainly gas and electrical throughout Australia. Bizenergy Pty Ltd – Gas approvals and technical consultancy for Type A and Type B gas appliances.

Darrel is heavily engaged with the industry and the technical regulators where he assists both with breaking down the complexity of licencing outcomes and is the current President of the Queensland Gas Association Inc, Past President Catering Trade Fair Association QLD and National Association Foodservice Equipment Service Companies – NAFESCO.

Developing You: CPD for Standard 1.16

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Darling Harbour Theatre

Difficulty

Intermediate

VET Trainers and Assessors are required under RTO Standard 1.16 to undertake continuing professional development to equip them for their role and their career. It is too easy to spend time planning everyone else’s learning and neglect your own. This session will give a straightforward model for designing and evaluating purposeful, comprehensive professional development plans – plans that will strengthen your skills and knowledge for your industry and your role. You will learn the six key areas of a continuing professional development plan as well as practical strategies for development for your current role and future career plans. You will explore learning plans, knowledge management, learning networks and how to make these work for you. You will walk away with clear steps and activities to put informal, social and formal learning to work to sharpen your skills, build your knowledge and shape your career.

Location: Darling Harbour Theatre

Neil Von Heupt

Administrator AITD

With over 30 years’ experience in the Learning and Development profession, spanning the education, community, corporate and not-for-profit sectors, Neil Von Heupt brings both expertise and experience from the front lines to senior management. As current Programs Manager for the Australian Institute of Training and Development, Neil has oversight of professional development for the Training, Learning and Development community across Australia with face-to-face and online courses, mentoring programs, online Communities of Practice, the National Conversation, webinars and local events. An active social media presence and network via Twitter (@NeilVonHeupt) and LinkedIn keeps Neil at the forefront of current thought and best practice.

Delivery Strategies That Meet Learner Needs

Category

Regulator

Location

C4.4

Drawing on the outcomes from the TAE project work, this session will present delivery approaches that incorporate sound consideration of the amount of training taking the characteristics of learners into account.

Location: C4.4

Gayatri Mahesh & Nadine Khoury

Australian Skills Quality Authority

As Manager Regulatory Operations with the Australian Skills Quality Authority, Gayatri is responsible for leading and managing the implementation of regulatory strategy, and risk mitigation projects in accordance with national standards. Gayatri leads and manages a team of regulatory operations officers in responding to a wide range of regulatory matters.

Gayatri has extensive experience in the education sector both in Vocational Education and Higher Education. Prior to joining ASQA, Gayatri worked in management roles with large scale RTO’s and Universities both in Sydney and in New York.

What Do Foundation Skills Mean for the 'General' Trainer/Assessor

Category

Foundation Skills

Location

C4.5

Difficulty

Beginner

I'm not a specialist in Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN). I'm a general trainer/assessor working in my own industry. So what are foundation skills and what am I supposed to do with them?

Location: C4.5

John Dwyer

Consultant Velg Training Pty Ltd

John Dwyer is a national VQF/AQTF trainer/assessor and consultant with experience in education and training spanning more than 60 years. He brings extensive Registered Training Organisation (RTO) experience and has a comprehensive history in developing and delivering a range of workshops and webinars on assessment, compliance, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), moderation and validation processes relating to VQF/AQTF compliance.

The Webinar Formula to Extend Brand, Recruit Students and Support Learners

Category

eLearning

Location

C4.8

Difficulty

Intermediate

When done effectively, webinar training can rival live in-person courses in learner engagement, content retention and learning application. Webinar training has the added benefit of reaching large audiences in diverse locations at the same time. However, these programs need to be planned and delivered differently from face-to-face courses to have maximum impact. This session focuses on the six steps for success in creating dynamic, engaging and effective webinars aimed at improving the transfer of learning and thus business results. It will also provide a range of activities that participants can used immediately to create more engaging webinars for their participants.

Location: C4.8

Damian Noud

As a former Principal and Director of Studies at QLD and NSW RTOs, Damian joined MRWED Training and Assessment in 2003. For the past 13 years Damian has held a wide range of positions at MRWED and has won the MRWED Trainer of the Year Award twice. His current position as Team Leader of the Learner Success Team has Damian focusing upon the development of all of MRWED's resources and the support services to online, correspondence and RPL students. Recently, Damian also established damiannoud.com, his website devoted to helping people build their skills and confidence in online presenting. Focusing on webinars and other live stream technologies, Damian provides free weekly training to motivated educators and business professionals that want to develop their online presentation skills.

VET Student Loans

Category

Department of Education & Training

Location

C2.2 & C2.3

This session will give providers an overview and update on the operation of the VET Student Loans program.

Location: C2.2 & C2.3

David Fintan

David is the Branch Manager of the VET Student Loans Branch at the Department of Education and Training in Canberra. Before joining the department, David held various positions at the National Disability Insurance Agency including Chief Risk Officer, Corporate Counsel, and Corporate Secretary. Prior to his current life as a public servant David spent over 15‑years’ practicing public and administrative law including as a partner at DLA Piper.

Changes to Funding Contracts and What This Means for your Business

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

Parkside 2

Difficulty

Intermediate

Change is inevitable.

But sometimes the pace of change takes our breath away. This is very much the case with funded cohorts within VET. Over the past 5 years the way in which State Governments tender out funding contracts, what is included in them, and the way in which RTOs receive payment has changed in every jurisdiction. The compliance burden of keeping on top of these changes has increased, especially for RTOs who deliver across state borders.

This presentation will look at a number of questions:

Why do we want a funding contract?
How do we best prepare to have an EoI that is successful?
What do we do if we are unsuccessful?
How do we keep on top of the changes – with specific note to the expected changes for 2018

Location: Parkside 2

Nick McEwan-Hall & Marie Vassallo

Nick McEwan-Hall
Nick has been a longstanding and robust contributor to the Australian Vocational Education & Training (VET) sector for over 17 years. A qualified VET practitioner, DISC facilitator, trainer, workplace and business coach, his knowledge of the training and education system is highly acclaimed Australia wide.

Starting his career in Secondary Schools and transitioning to VET, his breadth of experience spans training & assessment, operations, strategic management, client relationship management, quality, data management and instructional design. He has a comprehensive knowledge of the Victorian Training Guarantee and has led small to multi-national RTOs and NPOs through external audits.

Nick has a unique ability to break down the ever changing complexities within the VET sector in a practical way which enables organisations to ‘simply get on with their core activities’ with confidence and efficiency.

A committed advocate for equality and vocational opportunities, Nick has worked with many RTOs in the Non For Profit sector including the Brotherhood of St Laurence. His focus and determination for helping others achieve and flourish has resulted in many NFPs not only remaining operable, but commercially sustainable in their provision of training for the unemployed and marginalised.

Volunteering for many years on the Board of Governance at the Fitzroy Learning Network, Nick was a key driver of new program initiatives and fundraising activities to alleviate major learning gaps and lack of opportunities to disadvantaged residents.

In 2012 Nick was a recipient of the ‘Whitelion Chairperson's Award for Employment’. He led his team across a joint partnership with Telstra to deliver programs to unemployed youth which resulted in an unprecedented number of permanent job offers within Telstra call centres.

Nick currently manages an independent RTO, ‘The Open Door Coaching Group’, along with steering his own consulting and coaching practices, ‘Latitude Coaching’ and ‘AVETMESS’. An active presenter at conferences around Australia, he runs training workshops & coaching sessions to a broad range of education and business groups. He speaks on a variety of subjects including change management, workplace values, team building and a wide scope of VET related topics.

When not working, you will find Nick indulging his fascination with Asian art and artefacts, exploring art exhibitions, enjoying an espresso coffee with friends over a joke or two and getting out of the city to wind down and relax.

A fun and straightforward presenter Nick has a knack for striking the elusive balance between theory, practicality, humour and meaningful activity. Participants of Nick’s sessions will leave feeling relaxed and empowered to make a real difference.

Marie Vassallo
Marie has been involved in the Vocational Education and Training Sector (VET) for over 15 years and worked in the Higher Education Sector for 4 years prior to that. She has strong experience in the developments of education programs and policy within a broad range of industries.

Marie held a contract with Skills Victoria (now known as Higher Education and Skills Group) from 2009-2011, undertaking Compliance audits in the area of Government Funded Training (GFTP and VTG), under both the User Choice and Victorian Training Guarantee policy frameworks. She has a strong consulting background working with a number of Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) throughout the country in the areas of business operations, compliance and policy development.

A commercially savvy business leader having held Executive Management posts within the VET sector, Marie is able to quickly identify drivers, markets and risks; a strong financial manager with budget responsibility up to $10M; robust strategic planning; experience in business improvement spans both cost reduction and increasing profitability through systems / process upgrades and effective external relationship management.

NCVER: AVETMISS & More...

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

C4.1

Difficulty

Advanced

Ever wondered what happens to your AVETMISS data once it is submitted to the National VET Collection? This presentation will provide you with an understanding of the National Centre for Vocational Education Research’s role in the national VET system; and how this not-for-profit organisation can not only help you with your AVETMISS reporting but also potentially add value to your business by acquainting you with some of its useful research and statistical resources.

Location: C4.1

Alison Anlezark

NCVER

Alison Anlezark is the National Standards Manager, at the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). In this role, she is responsible for ensuring NCVER’s products and services keep pace with the changing needs of the VET sector, having oversight of the statistical standards, NCVER’s data quality program and NCVER’s client support team. She has a strong academic background in research, and has a Masters in Public Administration (Policy) from Flinders University (SA).

Mapping for Quality Assurance

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Parkside 1

Difficulty

Intermediate

Ensuring your assessment covers the unit of competency it is assessing is a requirement of Clause 1.8 of the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015. The most straight forward way of ensuring and demonstrating this is through mapping the assessment against the unit.

This session will explore:

Reasons for undertaking mapping processes
Mapping templates
Unit formats - traditional and streamlined
Unit-by-unit example
Clustered assessment example

Location: Parkside 1

Kerri Buttery

Consultant VET Nexus

Digital Literacy Licence (DLL) is the brainchild of Kerri Buttery, who founded the company in 2021 after a rewarding, decades-long career in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector.

Kerri's first foray into education saw her delivering VET in Schools (VETiS) programs in Queensland as a qualified secondary school teacher. This evolved into working as an auditor in the VET sector, then as a consultant assisting RTOs in maintaining compliance and delivering quality eLearning solutions

Kerri is also the founder of VETNexus. An Organisation that works alongside education providers to strengthen the relationship between compliance, technology and innovation.

Mental Health & VET Students

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Darling Harbour Theatre

Difficulty

Advanced

Students hurry to class every day, but their backpacks are not just filled with books and electronic devices. It is implied that anxiety, stress and depression also hang on their shoulders.

Research suggests that one in four people are living with mental health issues. This means that there are likely to be students in most educational settings that have some type of mental health issue. It is a threefold issue – one for affected students, one for anyone directly working with students and one for managers who support their workforce.

Like their peers, most young people who experience mental health issues want to work and/or study. For a variety of reasons however, the outcome of meaningful paid employment, vocational training and/or higher education may not be achieved by a significant proportion.

Working with students who have mental health issues is very challenging when the information and skills needed to support are not available. Most common disturbances are sporadic attendance, difficulty in concentration and memory and participation in group work.

This presentation is designed to inform the audience about common mental health issues and strategies for managing them appropriately.

Topics covered:

Understanding the continuum of mental health
Understanding assumptions and stereotypes
Identifying common mental health issues/disorders
Strategies to manage mental health in VET - key skills and knowledge
Identifying resources and supports
Current research findings
Does reasonable adjustment of teaching approaches “water down” the curricula?
Duty of care? Blurred boundaries?
Support available for staff members
Recommendations

Location: Darling Harbour Theatre

Marina Tomasevic

CEO/RTO Owner Academia Australia

Over more than 20 years in the vocational and higher education environment Marina Tomasevic has successfully held numerous work positions including Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Head of Faculty, Directors’ roles and an Acting Executive Director’s post. Over that time, Marina has built her professional life by successfully combining training provision and a small psychotherapy practice. Marina obtained her Masters Degree in Social Psychiatry which has allowed her to research, analyse and implement best practice in all work domains.

Marina is a leader with fluid and transferable skills who is capable motivating and engaging students, industry and her clients.

ASQA Update

Category

Regulator

Location

C4.4

This session will provide an update on activities of the Australian Skills Quality Authority over the past year and regulatory priorities for the next 12-18 months.

Location: C4.4

David Garner

Consultant [consult dg]

As General Manager Regulatory Operations in the Australian Skills Quality Authority, David has responsibility for implementing ASQA’s regulatory strategy nationally, including monitoring compliance of training providers and intending providers with the VET Quality Framework as well as the standards relating to delivery of training to overseas students, including intensive English courses. Prior to the referral of powers that brought Queensland providers under ASQA’s jurisdiction, David was Director, Training Quality, in the Queensland Department of Education and Training.

Prior to joining the Queensland department in 2005, David worked in and managed training providers for many years. David has been active in sports administration for over 30 years and sat for many years on the board of the Queensland Fitness, Sport and Recreation Skills Alliance.

The FSK: Building foundation skills

Category

Foundation Skills

Location

C4.5

Difficulty

Advanced

PwC’s Skills for Australia is a Skills Service Organisation (SSO), appointed by the Federal Department of Education & Training. Our role is to review the vocational training and qualifications for various industries and better align these to the skills demanded now and in the future. Our remit includes the Foundation Skills Training Package (FSK). The initial feedback from industry representatives indicated that the Training Package required changes to address skills gaps, poor delivery and visibility and the need for clarity of learning outcomes. Following national consultations held in early 2017, changes to the Training Package are expected in late 2017. This session will present the results and outcomes from the review and the proposed changes to the Training Package. The presentation will discuss how the approved changes will affect RTOs, learners and VET Trainers of FSK and how it can help support and build learner’s and worker’s foundation skills.

Location: C4.5

Tim Rawlings & David Tout

Tim Rawlings
Tim Rawlings is the Head of Training Product Development at PwC's Skills for Australia. Tim's team is responsible for updating the Foundation Skills Training Package in 2017. Tim has 12 years' experience working in government and the private sector developing public policy, regulation and legislation including in VET, schools and early childhood.

David Tout
Dave is an experienced foundation skills educator who specialises in numeracy and mathematics education for adults and youth, and is well known for his hands on and practical workshops. He has worked in a range of programs in schools, TAFEs, community providers, universities, AMES and industry. He has written a number of teaching, VET training, curriculum, assessment and PD materials, and has presented on a wide range of topics related to foundation skills and assessment at numerous local, regional, national and international conferences and events. Dave was one of the writers of the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF). Over the last eighteen years Dave has been involved in the development and implementation of the numeracy components of international assessments of adults and youth including ALLS, PIAAC and PISA. Dave joined ACER in 2008 and has worked on a range of projects including the development of online literacy and numeracy assessments for both disengaged young people and adults, alongside other research, assessment and training related projects. Prior to joining ACER, Dave was the Manager, Education Quality and Compliance at the Centre for Adult Education (CAE), Melbourne.

Writing Quality eLearning Video Scripts

Category

eLearning

Location

C4.8

Difficulty

Advanced

There is a misconception that merely producing shorter videos equates to increased engagement and therefore better learning outcomes. Whilst, logically, it should be easier to hold the attention of learners in a one minute video than a five minute video, neglecting crucial aspects of scriptwriting craft will greatly diminish the effectiveness of the learning video regardless of brevity.

Furthermore, in the pursuit of brevity as the primary method of engagement, concepts may not be as fully developed nor as effectively conveyed as they could be. Assuming the learning content is present, accurate and clear, the eLearning video must still engage learner audiences and ‘stick’ with them once the eLearning video is done.

The primary focus of this session is the presentation and/or demonstration of several principles, methods and techniques that, when appropriately applied, boost engagement and ‘stick’ therefore significantly augmenting learning outcomes. To support these, the session will also include crucial scriptwriting principles that, when applied, significantly increase the capacity of organisations to produce quality eLearning video on even the most meagre of budgets.

The principles, methods and techniques presented in this session are applicable to any length of eLearning video and virtually all styles from dramatised scenarios through documentary style, interactive video and even ‘step-by-step’ or ‘how-to’ videos. What’s more, their application seldom results in increased costs and may, in many situations, actually decrease costs of producing quality eLearning video. Every learning video is an engagement problem needing to be solved. This must happen at the script level. This session equips the attendees to tackle this task.

Location: C4.8

Darren Gray

Darren A. Gray is an eLearning video consultant, writer, director, editor, producer, instructor and speaker. He has produced more than 1000 training and education videos most of which are in national and/or international distribution as components of print and eLearning packages or as stand-alone resources.

Around 80% of Darren’s productions have been competency-based covering subjects such as Business Services, Community Services, High Risk Work and Foundation Skills. Darren’s VET experience extends to Plain English resource writing as well as eLearning design and production.

Darren conducts eLearning video scripting and production workshops for companies and organisations. He also conducts webinars on a variety of video related topics and provides consultation assisting companies and organisations develop their eLearning video capacity.

As an eLearning video speaker in 2017, Darren appeared at the iDesignX Learning Summit and at the International Conference on eLearning in the Workplace held at Columbia University, New York, USA.

Morning Tea & Networking

Location

Hall L

Location: Hall L

The Honourable Karen Andrews MP

Location

Hall L

Location: Hall L

Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills

Elected in 2010, re-elected in 2013 and 2016 to represent the southern Gold Coast electorate of McPherson in the House of Representatives, Karen is a member of the Liberal National Party.

Karen is passionate about encouraging the study of maths and science in schools and promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics professions. As a member of the Women in Engineering Alumni Network at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), she promotes study in these crucial fields.

In 2016, The Hon. Karen Andrews MP was appointed as the Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills.
Karen now has a great opportunity to work closely with the Minister for Education and Training, Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham to create positive outcomes for Australians undertaking vocational education.

ASQA Update

Location

Hall L

Location: Hall L

Michael Lavarch, Commissioner Risk, Intelligence and Regulatory Support

Other ASQA

The Hon Michael Lavarch AO has extensive experience in Higher Education and the public policy process. He is a former Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Queensland University of Technology and Secretary-General of the Law Council of Australia. From 1987 to 1996, Mr Lavarch was a Member of the Australian Parliament, and he served as Attorney-General from 1993 to 1996. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2012 for his contribution to the law, education and human rights.

Michael Lavarch commenced as a Commissioner of ASQA on 16 April 2012.

How Industry Leadership is Strengthening the VET Sector

Location

Darling Habour Theatre

Location: Darling Harbour Theatre

Bill Galvin OAM, Australian Industry & Skills Committee

Other Australian Industry & Skills Committee

Mr Bill Galvin OAM is the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) New South Wales nominee. He has a strong background in the tourism and hospitality industry in Australia and internationally, and is Chief Executive of Tourism Training Australia and President of the Tourism, Hospitality and Catering Institute of Australia.

Bill commenced his career in Commercial Catering and Food and Beverage Management with Federal Hotels Australia before completing assignments to Canada, France and Holland. On his return to Australia he joined TAFE as a full time teacher. He was later promoted through a range of positions before being appointed in 1988 as Head of TAFE NSW, Tourism and Hospitality Training with headquarters at the Ryde College of Hotel Administration. He completed a Winston Churchill Fellowship in 1977 (USA and Europe) to study hospitality training, and TAFE (NSW) Fellowships in 1984 (Europe) and again in 1986 (China) to further his knowledge of the developing tourism industries in these diverse countries. During 1995-2000 he was a foundation member of the Sydney Olympic 2000 Bid and chaired Industry Groups in preparation and during the Games.

Bill is currently a member of the Tourism Taskforce, and former National Chair, Order of Australia Association.

Kerri Buttery, Velg Training

Location

Hall L

Location: Hall L

Kerri Buttery

Consultant VET Nexus

Digital Literacy Licence (DLL) is the brainchild of Kerri Buttery, who founded the company in 2021 after a rewarding, decades-long career in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector.

Kerri's first foray into education saw her delivering VET in Schools (VETiS) programs in Queensland as a qualified secondary school teacher. This evolved into working as an auditor in the VET sector, then as a consultant assisting RTOs in maintaining compliance and delivering quality eLearning solutions

Kerri is also the founder of VETNexus. An Organisation that works alongside education providers to strengthen the relationship between compliance, technology and innovation.

Catch up over coffee

Location

Hall L

Welcome Function

Location

Hall L

Location: Hall L

Speaking from the coal front! Hear from members of the national VET Alumni

Category

Department of Education & Training

Location

C2.2 & C2.3

Speaking from the coal front! Hear from members of the national VET Alumni

Engage in a discussion with VET graduates about how VET can be positioned as a more attractive pathway to employment

Attendees will be encouraged to engage in a discussion with VET graduates about how the Australian Government, together with state/territory governments, industry and VET stakeholders can raise the status of VET and make it a more attractive pathway to employment.

Also hear personal stories of success that led them to become members of the prestigious national VET Alumni and the internationally recognised Australian Apprenticeships Ambassadors Program.

Information from the session will be utilised by the Australian Government to build into strategies aiming to raise the status of VET.

Background: The VET Alumni Program (which includes the Australian Apprenticeships Ambassadors) aims to improve the status and appeal of VET and encourage participation in high quality training that meets the needs of industry and employers and gives all Australians the best opportunity to get a job. The VET Alumni Program appoints individuals, businesses, practitioners and registered training organisations as members to actively engage with and promote the VET sector through a range of channels. The Australian Apprenticeships Ambassadors program has been recognised by UNESCO having been added to a United Nations technical and vocational Promising Practices Database which showcases initiatives from around the world that are improving VET practices.

Location: C2.2 & C2.3

Daniel Kelty, Tyrone Pynor, Jessica Baczynski and Isabel Osuna-Gatty

Quality & Compliance: A formidable intertwined (or inseperable) team

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

Parkside 2

Difficulty

Advanced

Ever since the national standards for registered training organisations came into existence almost 20 years ago we’ve discussed the clash of quality and compliance and generally agreed ‘never the twain shall meet’!

In reality, and in fairness, the current Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015 represent a closer and more deliberate attempt to incorporate evaluation opportunities into regular registered training organisation events that will drive proactive continuous improvement outcomes to improve quality.

This session addresses the opportunity to overcome the situation that recognises that compliance to an externally regulated set of standards can be viewed as an extrinsic motivator; and at the same time encourage the opportunity that compliance provides to source data that can encourage and drive intrinsic motivation and quality business outcomes for all clients both internal and external.

We know in the RTO that we do lots of great things and if we focus on the data that indicates and appreciates specifically why we do these things well we can then use that data to improve many other aspects of the organisation.

Join us on the journey that shows Quality and Compliance are a formidable intertwined team that flies together!

Location: Parkside 2

John Price

Consultant John Price & Associates

John Price has been an educator and trainer for over 40 years and in that time has worked as a Head of Department at TAFE, mentor, facilitator of national workshops covering delivery and assessment, risk management, auditing, leadership and interpersonal skill development.

John has been a keynote speaker at conventions and conferences, and maintained a grass roots level approach to dealing with people at all levels of the organisation.

He has also assisted over 300 organisations in Australia to achieve quality certification to the range of National Training Standards including: Standards for NVR Registered Training Organisations (versions 2012 and 2015); Australian Quality Training Framework standards (AQTF from 2001 – 2010) Australian and International ISO9001 standards (AS/NZS and ISO from 1987 – 2008) and worked with these organisations in establishing continuous improvement systems and strategies.

David Sachse is a dedicated and professional learning and development specialist with a proven track record in managing curriculum and education programs. With a passion for improving the quality of the VET sector, David has previously managed the Australian Mental Health College and the Ramsay Training Institute and served as the curriculum manager for patient safety and quality improvement at Queensland Health. David is dedicated to providing best practice advice and implementing adult learning principles and pedagogical practices in a variety of learning mediums. David has used this experience to design learning programs for a diverse array of organisations including private and public health, not for profit organisations and the Queensland University of Technology. David has extensive experience in the education sector, having worked at Griffith University, James Cook University, Queensland University of Technology, the Ramsay Training Institute and Open Minds amongst others.

Quality Management Processes for Reviewing Assessment Practices

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

C4.1

Difficulty

Intermediate

It is so important that organisations still invest in workforce skills around assessment development and quality review, especially when using a commercial product or platform.

This session is aimed at managers or those responsible for assuring or making decisions about quality assessment processes and tools in/for their organisation and

will cover approaches to quality management for reviewing assessment processes associated with:

the use of commercial products;
online formats; and
integrated learning and assessment approaches (workbooks and online).

As well, the session will look at the manager’s role in assuring assessment practice including:

customisation and contextualisation; and
fit within the RTO’s assessment system.

Location: C4.1

Carol Hunter

Consultant RTO Services and Consulting

Carol Hunter has spent over twenty years working in both operational and strategic roles in VET. She is the Principal of RTO Services and Consulting. She has held positions as Director Training Quality and Regulation, Department of Education and Training ; Manager, Audit Services, Training Quality and Regulation, Department of Education and Training (Queensland); Manager, Training Secretariat to Training and Employment Recognition Council and Training Employment Board ; Faculty Director Logan TAFE and various other VET positions in apprenticeships, curriculum, teaching etc.

Carol has used her experience in assisting a range of stakeholders develop contextually appropriate best practice applications and solutions in a variety of VET domains. She has also worked in operational roles in both public and private RTOs, in policy and curriculum development; and as a secondary school teacher.

Achieving Quality and Efficiency in VET: Is it possible?

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Parkside 1

Difficulty

Intermediate

This session will explore the tension between achieving quality in training and assessment whilst still being competitively efficient. Some might say that the two concepts are opposed. Indeed the statement "high quality delivery" brings to mind visions of bricks and mortar colleges, high levels of student contact and expensive resourcing. The blending of adult learning principles with technology enabled delivery methods has resulted in quality and efficiency occupying the same space in training delivery particularly for our Y and Z Gen brothers and sisters. The session will present examples of delivery models where quality and efficiency is being achieved and why. This session is perfect for those who oversee course development, RTO owners, course developers, compliance managers or trainers/assessors.

Location: Parkside 1

Joe Newbery

CEO/RTO Owner Newbery Consulting

Joe Newbery served in the Australian Army for over 20 years. His time in Defence was influenced by his appointment in training roles including recruit training, trade training and finally in training design and compliance. Joe departed Defence and established Newbery Consulting in 2005. He has extensive experience and is recognised for his work in course design, job analysis and VET quality auditing. Over the period 2007 – 2014, Joe provided Lead Auditor services on behalf of the VET regulators including the National Audit and Registration Agency (NARA), the Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board (VETAB) and the Australian Skills Quality Authority. Today Joe leads a small team at Newbery Consulting to support his clients throughout Australia with a broad offering of VET products and services.

WorldSkills Australia Competitions – oh the places you will go!

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Darling Harbour Theatre

Difficulty

Beginner

WorldSkills Australia is a social enterprise that passionately believes that skills drives your future and Australia’s prosperity. Since 1981, our regional competitions, national championship and International challenges have highlighted the value of a skills excellence culture and raising the awareness of hundreds of thousands of young Australians, as well as their parents, industry and employers that our nation’s future depends on an effective skills training systems.

During this panel discussion hear from three passionate speakers who have all reached excellence in their trade-based careers thanks to the opportunities and pathways opened to them by their WorldSkills Australia journey and hear how you can help your students also be the best they can be through these pathways.

Moderator:

Brigitte Collins, WorldSkills Australia General Manager and Australian Technical Delegate WorldSkills International.

Panel:

Jarrad Langdon; Director Jala Design, and Gold Medallist from the WorldSkills International Competition in 2005 in Helsinki, 2005 in Web Design
Peter Steinweiss, NSW Major Accounts, ParexGroup Australia, and 2009 Skillaroo competing in Canada in Wall & Floor Tiling.
Emilia Montague; Gold Medallist in Restaurant Service at the 2016 Nationals and member of the 2017 Skillaroos who will travel to Abu Dhabi in October to represent Australia against the rest of the world at the 44th WorldSkills International competition.

Location: Darling Harbour Theatre

WorldSkills Australia

WorkldSkills Australia

WorldSkills Australia is a national, not-for-profit organisation that provides young Australians aged 23 and under the opportunity to gain new skills, compete against their peers in their chosen trade and fast track their skills and career development. Established in 1981, their purpose is to promote and build a skills respect culture by celebrating skills excellence, inspiring young people and providing them with an opportunity to showcase their trade and skill talent. This is achieved through competitions held on a regional, national and international level. WorldSkills Australia is a member of WorldSkills International – the global network of over 70 countries who participate in skills competitions.

Peter Steinweiss

Peter Steinweiss has experienced the thrills and excitement of being an international representative when he was a Skillaroo in 2009 competing in Canada. He’s also been a National Judge since 2010.

When he is not volunteering his time for WorldSkills and mentoring Skillaroo Brayden Gauci, Peter works for ParexGroup Australia Australia’s market leader in the development and manufacture of tile installation products where he gets to combine his skills as a Tiler with business.

Emilia Montague

Emilia was inspired by her Nonna to follow the restaurant path as she imbued her with a passion and appreciation of food and the restaurant industry.

Her win at the National Competition in 2016 was a highlight and she looks forward to continuing to build her skills and meeting new people through WorldSkills and in particular being a member of the 2017 Skillaroos.

In the future, Emilia would love to work in a chain of hotels in the USA, Italy, the UK or France.

Emilia is supported on her WorldSkills journey by Didasko Learning Resources.

Jarrad Langdon

After completing several TAFE courses Jarrad’s talents have resulted in success both locally and internationally. The pinnacle of this success was his gold medal in Website Design at the WorldSkills International Competition, Helsinki 2005.

In 2007, Jarrad established Jala Design Pty Ltd – an Australian design agency with a passion for website design / development, eCommerce and brand development. Jarrad is now passing on his talents to future web developers by teaching his skills at TAFE NSW.

Jarrad was the International Chief Expert for web design and trained the international bronze medallist in 2009, along with the silver medallist in 2015. He continues his involvement with WorldSkills Australia as a regional/national judge, regional/national project designer and current Board member.

Brigitte Collins

A passionate supporter of vocational education and training, Brigitte is a hospitality superstar whose dedication to nurturing the next generation of talent is apparent through almost two decades of involvement with WorldSkills Australia.

Having volunteered as a trainer and mentor for many years, she is now Technical Delegate for Australia which means she oversees International competitions, sharing ideas and experiences that can, in turn, be bought back and shared in the workplace.

Future Proof your RTO Through Educational Entrepreneurialism

Category

VET Shaper

Location

C4.4

Difficulty

Intermediate

Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) operating in the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) environment are in a constant flux of change due to on-going regulatory and funding changes, as well as changing training demands from industry. It is also a highly competitive environment where potential customers have many options to choose from, and where new training models can be easily replicated by other RTOs. This makes leading an RTO an extremely complex and challenging job which requires the right mindset, systems and processes to ensure its ongoing success and sustainability. It also requires ensuring that innovative ideas are not merely left on the table, but easily implemented through lean entrepreneurial actions and support, and which are difficult for competitors to copy.

Join this session to learn the how other RTOs are using educational entrepreneurialism approaches and innovative processes to future proof their organisations against these and future challenges. Based on real case studies, attendees will be given strategies to adopt these approaches within their own RTO.

Location: C4.4

Allison Miller

Consultant Digital Capability

Allison Miller has been a professional learning and business development leader for over 20 years. She is the Director and Lead Consultant of Digital Capability, an organisation which specialises in cutting edge e-learning and e-business solutions which help people succeed online. More recently, Allison has also been helping businesses work smarter in a digitally disrupted environment so they can implement innovative ideas using entrepreneurial approaches. Allison has a Master of Learning and Development (Organisational Development). She also leads the ePortfolios Australia professional network and the annual Australian ePortfolio Forum.

Making LLN Connections: Preparing workers for the 21st Century

Category

Foundation Skills

Location

C4.5

Difficulty

Advanced

This presentation will build on the previous session titled “Strong foundations: preparing workers for the 21st century”, but will focus on the skills needed to problem solve, and interact and engage numerically and mathematically.

Our 21st century workplaces are driven by technological advancement and continuous change. Today’s workers need broader, more complex, and more versatile skills than ever before. Employers look beyond a superficial notion of vocational competence—they want workers with the skills to continuously learn, adapt and contribute to the enterprise’s strategic direction. To build quality in VET, we must equip adult learners with the diverse technical and non-technical skills that 21st century workers need, and 21st century employers demand.

How does numeracy fit into this scenario – surely technology requires fewer numeracy and maths skills? This session will more explicitly address how numeracy and mathematics skills are also key, 21st century foundation skills and why and how numeracy connects with a range of other skills.

This session will:

share insights into current numeracy and mathematics skills, trends and research in the 21st century
make the connections with other foundation skills and effective vocational education and skill development
suggest tips to build the foundation skills that 21st century employers want.

Please note: there will be a brief overlap and review of the content from the previous session, but the majority of this session will be additional and complementary to that session.

Location: C4.5

David Tout

Consultant ACER

Dave is an experienced foundation skills educator who specialises in numeracy and mathematics education for adults and youth, and is well known for his hands on and practical workshops. He has worked in a range of programs in schools, TAFEs, community providers, universities, AMES and industry. He has written a number of teaching, VET training, curriculum, assessment and PD materials, and has presented on a wide range of topics related to foundation skills and assessment at numerous local, regional, national and international conferences and events. Dave was one of the writers of the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF). Over the last eighteen years Dave has been involved in the development and implementation of the numeracy components of international assessments of adults and youth including ALLS, PIAAC and PISA. Dave joined ACER in 2008 and has worked on a range of projects including the development of online literacy and numeracy assessments for both disengaged young people and adults, alongside other research, assessment and training related projects. Prior to joining ACER, Dave was the Manager, Education Quality and Compliance at the Centre for Adult Education (CAE), Melbourne.

Immersive, Social, and Personal Approaches to Online Student Experiences

Category

eLearning

Location

C4.8

Difficulty

Intermediate

Online learning is becoming a more common choice for those who want to maintain a work life balance while development their careers. However, students are often left feeling that the personal and social elements of study are traded off for the convenience of an online delivery model.

It can be difficult to replicate that warm and fuzzy feeling a student experiences from being in the classroom, but there is a way to ensure a student experiences from being in the classroom, but there is a way to ensure your students can experience social, personal, and immersive experiences just like they would on campus.

This session will explore these three considerations for a successful online course, and some of the ways they can be effectively implemented. This will include a look at micro learning, active communities and simulations to enhance a student's experience, as well as strategies for planning and facilitating these approaches to maintain engagement.

Location: C4.8

Sarah Phillips

Consultant Pop Education

Sarah Phillips is the Director of Learning and Development at Pop Education. She also works as the Professional Development Coordinator at Swinburne University of Technology PAVE.

Sarah has had 12 years of experience in the VET sector with 11 of those years in Technology Education. In this time, Sarah has held positions in a range of settings across private, Learn Local and TAFE in the fields of eLearning and VET Assessment, including 3 years working as the Victorian eLearning Coordinator and Content Services Advisor for the National VET E-learning Strategy.

Sarah has worked with dozens of industry clients, and mentored several training organisations in her role as an ACFE eMentor. Sarah has also played a key internal role in 3 startup departments for online learning and specialises in the areas of assessment compliance, blended learning strategies, content development and pedagogical design.

Afternoon Tea & Networking

Location

Hall L

Location: Hall L

School to Work Transitions

Category

Department of Education & Training

Location

C2.2 & C2.3

Preparing secondary students to successfully transition to further education, training and employment.

Location: C2.2 & C2.3

Ian Barr

Director - Vocational Pathways Team

Helping Business Drive Accelerated Yet Sustainable Growth

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

Parkside 2

Difficulty

Intermediate

Helping business drive accelerated yet sustainable growth

Accelerated growth? Sustainable growth? A common challenge facing all organisations today – how to grow quickly whilst retaining talent, fostering innovation and responding to and preparing for market volatility. As leaders in high-growth entrepreneurship with more than three decades working alongside the world's fastest growing companies, EY knows all about accelerating growth. More than any other organisation, we have the experience, authority and know-how to help companies accelerate growth. We have distilled our experience and authority into the EY 7 Drivers of Growth (e.g. People, Behaviours and Culture), which can be disruptive in your company and the market.

This session will consider ways for RTOs to think beyond the typical approaches to growth. It will describe how organisations can gain a greater understanding of how each of their functions can contribute to customer value and accelerated growth. Shane will discuss approaches organisations can use to identify opportunities for growth and plot the next steps on their journey to market leadership.

Location: Parkside 2

Shane Palmada

Other Ernst & Young

Shane is a currently a Manager in EY’s People Advisory Services practice. Shane is market focused, and has demonstrated experience working in multidisciplinary teams, providing insights and recommendations to deliver performance improvements.

He has extensive knowledge of education frameworks and regulations, with over 19 years of front line and executive experience providing education services to a variety of stakeholders. Shane previously founded and managed an EdTech company providing customised SaaS solutions for a global open source Learning Management System.

He has worked as COO for a national training company (which was also an RTO), delivering services to the Banking, FMCG, Education, Telecommunications, Hospitality, Retail and Government sectors, focussing on organisational strategy, performance improvement, leadership development and capability uplift. Shane has held a strategic role in a well-known VET consulting firm, and has also worked across QLD primary/ secondary schools as a teacher, Head of Department and Director.

Shane holds a number of qualifications in addition to his TAE certification, including a Master of Business Administration, Master of Learning Innovation and Post Graduate Diploma in Education.

Digital Learning Environments: A strategic approach for RTO operations

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

C4.1

Difficulty

Intermediate

The session will cover the emerging area of digital learning environments, personnel and student engagement strategies, online verification & assessment and the future of digital environments in supporting all RTO activities.

Location: C4.1

Phill Bevan

Consultant RTO Management Services

As an experienced VET advisor, Phill offers a wealth of practical understanding, knowledge and expertise across key RTO business operating requirements.

As a HRM, systems and technologies professional, Phill has extensive experience in a diverse range of start-up, high growth and established companies across the small business, corporate and not-for-profit sectors and holds various professional recognitions including as a Fellow of the Australian Human Resources Institute and Certified Management Consultant with Exemplar Global.

Training and Assessment Q&A

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Parkside 1

Difficulty

Intermediate

This Guru Panel session will focus on training and assessment, providing participants with the opportunity to ask a range of questions including compliance with the Standards for RTOs 2015, AQF, assessment design, mapping, RPL, checklists and more. The session content is determined by the participants.

The panel of 'Gurus' includes:

John Price (facilitator)
Carol Hunter
John Dwyer
Kerrie-Anne Sommerfeld

Location: Parkside 1

John Price, Carol Hunter, John Dwyer & Kerrie-Anne Sommerfeld

John Price (Facilitator)
John has been an educator and trainer for over 37 years and in that time has worked as a Head of Department at TAFE, mentor, facilitator of national workshops covering delivery and assessment, risk management, auditing, leadership and interpersonal skill development.

John has been a keynote speaker at conventions and conferences, and maintained a grass roots level approach to dealing with people at all levels of the organisation.

He has also assisted over 300 organisations in Australia to achieve quality certification to the range of National Training Standards including: Standards for RTOs 2015, Standards for Registered Training Organisations; Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF from 2001 – 2010) Australian and International ISO9001 standards (AS/NZS and ISO from 1987 – 2008) and worked with them in establishing continuous improvement systems and strategies for both human and physical resource development.

Carol Hunter
Carol is the Principal of RTO Services and Consulting. Her experience in management in the VET sector includes Director, Training Quality and Regulation; Manager, Audit Services; and Manager, Training Secretariat to Training and Employment Recognition Council and Training Employment Board (Queensland) within the Department of Education and Training (Queensland).

Carol has worked in operational roles in both public and private RTOs, in policy and curriculum development, and as a secondary teacher.

John Dwyer
John is a national AQTF/VET Quality Framework trainer and consultant with experience in education spanning more than 50 years. He brings extensive Registered Training Organisation (RTO) experience, having a comprehensive history in developing and delivering a range of workshops on assessment tools, recognition of prior learning (RPL), moderation and validation processes relating to RTO compliance.

John is currently working at Velg Training as a trainer/consultant for the VET sector. Previously, he was the Manager of the Competency Assessment and Development Services of the Global Institute for Learning and Development (gild). John has been a pre-qualified AQTF consultant registered with Queensland’s Department of Education and Training (DET), and has also been employed on a contract basis through DET as the TAA/TAE Technical Advisor for Audits.

Kerrie-Anne Sommerfeld
Kerrie-Anne is a training, assessment and curriculum specialist for the VET sector. With a firm belief that growth follows quality, Kerrie-Anne works with organisations to enhance their training and assessment practices.

This includes working with trainers/teachers to develop quality assessments and learning programs to providing high level advice to RTO management and leaders. She is passionate about helping training organisations be the best they can be.

Having helped hundreds of teachers plan, develop and validate their assessments, Kerrie-Anne brings a working knowledge and practical approach to her work.

From Child to Adult; A theatrical experience

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Darling Harbour Theatre

Difficulty

Beginner

Lights, Camera, Action! Carol Hautot and her band of professional actors, will be on stage to educate and entertain in their own unique style.

This session will use the PAC (Parent, Adult, Child) model to explore leadership styles and how to improve team dynamics.

By working with actors, Carol Hautot can engage people in an insightful and entertaining conversation on improving workplace relationships. Professional actors have spent their career learning how to externalise the complex world of relationships and emotional engagement. The audience sees the behaviour, and immediately recognises the moment of upset. Then, skilled facilitator, Carol Hautot, will explain the PAC model and link it to the case study presented on stage.

This transformational way of presenting information will have you laughing and ‘guffawing’ with recognition as you see the dysfunctional behaviour played out on stage. This is a fun and high energy session that guarantees to give you valuable tips you can use in the workplace the very next day.

Location: Darling Harbour Theatre

Carol Hautot

CEO/RTO Owner Dynamic Conversations

Carol worked in Hotel Management before moving into the world of vocational training. She has since had over 20 years’ experience as a workplace trainer for industry, and private, government and non-profit RTOs. Carol joined ActionCoach and was a business coach for 10 years and won an excellence award in 2012 for client results. In 2013 she established her own company, Dynamic Conversations, where she could utilise the talents of professional actors to educate and entertain, especially in the area of EQ and interpersonal skills. This allows Carol to offer powerful ah-ha moments that have a big impact on the audience. She is currently working as a Compliance Manager for a Queensland RTO whilst building online courses and developing her exciting live events.

The Pendulum of Learner Experience vs Assessment Outcomes

Category

VET Shaper

Location

C4.4

Difficulty

Intermediate

In our roles it is easy to get bogged down in the collection of evidence and focus our energy on meeting compliance responsibilities, but what about the learning? It is more important than ever for us to find a balance between delivering great learner experiences and the collection of quality evidence. Research tells us time and time again that students who enjoy the learning experience retain more information and are able to apply the skills and knowledge learnt more effectively, and therefore have greater success in demonstrating their competency.

Join Jason in this 60 min workshop to explore seven ways to enhance the experience of the learners, which in turn will improve their retention and set them up for assessment success!

Location: C4.4

Jason Ash

RTO/Compliance Manager MRWED Training and Assessment

Jason Ash was the winner of the Platinum Award for “Best Young Learning Leader” at the 2011 LearnX Asia-Pacific Awards and was named a young trainer to watch by US Training Magazine in 2012. In addition to his dynamic face-to-face facilitation, Jason has built skills in developing effective online training programs and has been heavily involved in the customisation of training material to meet unique client needs. In his two years as a Store Manager for Fone Zone he played an integral part in the growth and development of his team members and transformed his store into one of the country’s most profitable. Jason is a two-time MRWED Trainer of the year and is one of only three trainers in Australia to be certified in Bob Pike’s Train-the-Trainer Boot Camp, the world’s most well respected trainer training program. A strong advocate for the participant centred approach to training, Jason has spoken on the topic of Creative Training Techniques at conferences all over Australia and at multiple events in the United States. Jason was named as the top presenter at the Annual Creative Training Techniques conference in Minneapolis (2015) for a second consecutive year.

Strong Foundations: Preparing workers for the 21st Century

Category

Foundation Skills

Location

C4.5

Difficulty

Advanced

Our 21st century workplaces are driven by technological advancement and continuous change. Today’s workers need broader, more complex, and more versatile skills than ever before. Employers look beyond a superficial notion of vocational competence—they want workers with the skills to continuously learn, adapt and contribute to the enterprise’s strategic direction.

To build quality in VET, we must equip adult learners with the diverse technical and non-technical skills that 21st century workers need, and 21st century employers demand.

This is one of two sessions that will encourage you to take a fresh look at foundation skills. We will:

share current trends and research that pinpoint foundation skills as a critical starting point for effective vocational education and skill development
suggest tips to build the foundation skills that 21st century employers want.

We’ll give you time to reflect and discuss implications for your own training and assessment activities, and aim to help you identify some key ‘takeaway’ concepts and strategies you can use to help your adult learners meet 21st century competency outcomes.

Location: C4.5

Chemène Sinson & Ann Leske

Chemène Sinson
Chemène Sinson is a learning and development consultant. She designs, develops, delivers and assesses TAE and various other non-accredited programs for private, community, government and industry-based clients. More than 100 RTOs have purchased training and assessment materials designed by Chemène.

Ann Leske
Ann Leske is an LLN teacher and consultant with a passion for enabling learners to successfully build foundation skills. Ann shares insight and strategies through consultation and presentations with the VET and LLN sector, to enable workplaces, RTOs, and trainers to obtain LLN insight to confidently approach LLN delivery.

Ann and Chemène united to form the LLN and VET meeting place, a website to support LLN and VET trainers to meet, ask questions, pose challenges, and share ideas aimed at effectively supporting LLN skill development through vocational education and training.

Google Apps for Interactive Learning

Category

eLearning

Location

C4.8

Difficulty

Intermediate

Participants will play with a range of Google Apps for Education products that can apply to their classes. This is a hands on session however supplementary material will be provided to teachers so they reference the learning materials (videos and activities) after the class. Do you hate marking? Google Apps can mark papers for you. Are you slow at typing? No worries, Google Apps Voice recognition means you speak and it will type for you. Google Apps for your learners means they have access to all the learning materials and communication for the course you are teaching. They are familiar with Google and they love using it. Use all the apps or a few to improve communication and learning for your students. Feedback is critical to our students and Google Apps provides many ways to give feedback through tracking student learning and peer feedback that is constructive and reflective. Google Apps allows for a range of creative, connected, imaginative and reflective learning environments for our learners. Google’s Technology playground allows teachers to interact with other learning networks. It will help create learning opportunities with industry specialists to enhance the learner experience and develop their problems solving and critical thinking skills. Teachers will be provided with strategies for blended learning particularly when there is a range of abilities and disabilities in the class.

Note: Participants will need to bring their own device and have a Google account prior to coming to this very interactive session.

Location: C4.8

Kathryn McGilvray

CEO/RTO Owner Kathryn McGilvray

Kathryn is an instructional designer as well as being a blended learning specialist and Google certified, Google Apps for Education Trainer. She is a technology coach and mentor to Central Coast teachers and the founder of Central Coast TeachMeet. Kathryn is currently working as Instructional Designer for TAFE in Building and Construction developing online blended learning including Google Apps and Virtual Reality. She loves working with teachers and students to develop blended learning that is engaging for students yet still needs the needs of industry for audit and training. Knowledge networking is crucial to develop sound andragogy practice and sometimes the most valuable things you get from your network isn’t an idea but the inspiration and courage to try something new. (George Couros)

I love to blog and share my love of learning with others. Favourite twitter chats #edchat, #edtech #aussieED. Founder #ChippychatED

Networking Lunch

Location

Hall L

Location: Hall L

Skilling Australians Fund

Category

Department of Education & Training

Location

C2.2 & C2.3

Information session outlining Commonwealth’s 2017-18 budget measure to boost the number of people who choose and succeed in an apprenticeship or traineeship.

Location: C2.2 & C2.3

Alexis Diamond

Department of Education & Training

Governance That's Built to Last: Innovative techniques to manage an RTO effectively

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

Parkside 2

Difficulty

Intermediate

According to the Standards for RTOs 2015, RTOs are required to have effective governance and administration arrangements in place. This will enhance business viability which will be critical to the ongoing sustainability of an RTO and the investment it makes in its services. If RTOs are not viable, then this negatively impacts on the quality of their training and assessment outcomes and on learners.

In this dynamic session, attendees will be provided with a range of innovative techniques to manage the RTO effectively within a compliance-driven environment. This includes a review of processes, systems and technologies that can be used to aid in governance and administration. Finally, participants will be provided with some practical tips to integrate into their RTO settings and advice on how to build more productive and profitable organisations.

Location : Parkside 2

Marc Ratcliffe

CEO/RTO Owner MRWED Training and Assessment

Marc Ratcliffe is a multi-award-winning trainer, author and education entrepreneur. He is the CEO and founder of MRWED Training and Assessment, a private RTO that specialises in Trainer Training. He is a strong advocate for "edu-tainment" and believes that learner involvement and fun are integral to student success. He has delivered over 300 training and assessment courses since 2000 and continues to be an in-demand conference speaker and workshop facilitator, having presented at more than 50 conferences in a dozen countries in the past decade and was recently named as the winner of the “Best Training and Development Leadership” Award for 2017 at the World Training and Development Congress in Mumbai.

To Grow or Not to Grow: That is the question

Category

RTO Management & Compliance

Location

C4.1

Difficulty

Advanced

Many RTOs grow very quickly – be it turnover, staff or clients – without developing and implementing the necessary strategy and essential systems for success.

So is it any wonder staff are overwhelmed and burnt out, mistakes keep happening, deadlines are missed, compliance is a four letter word, and referrals are hard to find?

Growing your RTO business should be a planned strategy rather than it happening by default or ‘good luck’.

So if you are thinking of growing your RTO or in the midst of growth, this straight talking presentation is for you.

You will discover:

Seven decisions to consider before growing your RTO
When is the best time to grow
Why growing is not always the best strategy
What simple systems you need to profitably grow your RTO
How to manage your RTO whilst growing rapidly

Location: C4.1

Tamara Simon

Business Owner – not an RTO Take Another Look

Tamara Simon is the Simple Systems Specialist known as The BSi who’s all about solving problems with simple systems.

A very popular Speaker, Author and Troubleshooter who calls it like it is; Tamara specialises in helping RTOs get CLEAR on their Business, People and Systems so the business is simple, profitable and one everyone actually loves.

With over 20 years’ experience in VET and business management including FITAB CEO, Tamara’s mantra to RTOs is “if you don’t like compliance and don’t like change, then don’t work for an RTO or be one”.

Tamara has written the first business book specifically for RTOs: The Five Little RTO Pigs and also launched Australia’s first 12 Week RTO Business Accelerator Program.

Tamara’s leadership and management expertise was recognised as a Finalist in the Queensland Telstra Business Women’s Awards and AIM’s Excellence Awards; and receiving QITC’s ‘Leadership in VET’ Award.

Storytelling in the VET Classroom

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Parkside 1

Difficulty

Beginner

Storytelling has been used to inform, educate and entertain people throughout the ages. Given the diverse demographics of our students today, it is important that we continue to inspire their education through a different method of delivery, rather than the traditional way of information downloading. Stories can be an effective tool to inspire and entertain even the most difficult students, if the trainer is able to incorporate storytelling into the classroom activities.

This session introduces the concept behind using storytelling as a pedagogy tool in the VET classroom environment. It covers segments such as:

Storytelling as a pedagogical tool
Linking stories to VET frameworks
Using stories to engage and inspire students
Simple activities to activate the schema
Using stories to role play
Stories as a problem solving tool

Location: Parkside 1

Danny Loh

Mr Danny Loh is an accomplished trainer that specializes in Leadership and Communication. Being a certified Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) coach, Danny has over 8 years of coaching and training experience within the education industry. He has delivered workshops that focused on using storytelling as a communication tool for teachers in Singapore and in Australia. He currently trains people in Information Technology and Digital Media as a VET trainer in Sydney. Danny’s passion for training and public speaking has led him to win awards in Toastmasters Speech Craft Competitions in Singapore and in Australia.

Activating Brand You: Building the confidence and tools to build your influences as a VET leader

Category

Training & Assessing

Location

Darling Harbour Theatre

Difficulty

Advanced

Rapid change and increasing competition means VET leaders need to step up if they are to succeed. They must increase their influence and profile – both inside and outside the organisation. It’s time to ACTIVATE BRAND YOU.

In this interactive and engaging session we will explore:

Why evolving roles mean VET professionals must build their brand
Unlocking your confidence - why you are good enough to shine
How to really engage customers, staff and decision-makers
How to establish a strong professional presence by Activating Brand You
The broader business benefits of promoting thought leadership.

Location: Darling Harbour Theatre

Mark Hodgson

Consultant Mark Hodgson

Mark Hodgson comes from a successful corporate background and has held senior leadership roles in Australasia, UK, Central Europe and Russia. Mark draws on a powerful track record backed by a depth of learning across multiple disciplines. He has inspired large teams across a range of commercial and not-for-profit businesses. He is a leader of the About My Brain Institute, which puts neuroscience at the heart of effective personal leadership development. Mark is also a faculty member for the Thought Leaders Business School, helping experts positioning themselves as leading influencers. He is an expert in leading change and holds an MBA level qualification from the AGSM. Mark is the creator of the Blog or Die! Content creation program and authors the acclaimed business blog, Pinch of Thought. His book, ‘Time to Shine: Adapting who you are and what you know to succeed in the ideas economy’ expands on this thinking.

Take the 'Play' out of Role-Play

Category

VET Shaper

Location

C4.4

Difficulty

Intermediate

Role-play is often used as a support mechanism for training where students are asked to enact a role so that other students may practice their newfound skills. These scenarios are often loosely developed with the students controlling the outcome. Now let’s take the ‘play’ out of the equation and add ‘job’ at the beginning and we have ‘job-role’, which is what we are all about in the VET sector, preparing people for a particular job-role.

A controlled role-play scenario can provide valuable training and assessment opportunities that can closely resemble the workplace, thus meeting the requirements of a simulated environment for a specific job-role. But to do this we need to get serious about role-play, controlling it to some degree so that it hits the key markers set for us by the workplace and the Training Package.

This session will look at how role-play scenarios can be developed so that they will help the students develop their skills and demonstrate their competence. This will then be extended to show that a carefully constructed role-play scenario can involve multiple students, each demonstrating skills for different units of competency within the one role-play environment. This will be an interactive presentation with attendees participating in role-plays to get a full understanding of how this very effective tool can be used in the VET training room.

Location: C4.4

Geoff Oliver

Consultant GM&IK Oliver

Geoff has over 40 years’ experience in the Film & TV Industry and over 16 years in training and the VET sector.

Since 1987 Geoff has operated his own production companies both in Australia and in Singapore, filming throughout Australia, Southeast Asia and other parts of the globe. This experience brings a fresh approach to training, assessing and compliance.

Geoff is also currently a member of the board for Montessori World Educational Institute (Australia), an independent higher education provider, training Montessori Teachers.

Geoff was instrumental in the development of the Certificate III through to Advanced Diploma course in Film and Television in Perth and has assisted in the development of other accredited courses. Geoff is a qualified lead auditor and provides audit and consultancy services to RTOs. Geoff combines his experience in film and TV with his auditing skills to provide a practical approach to all facets of RTO operations.

O RLY? Using GIFs & Memes in the LLN Classroom

Category

Foundation Skills

Location

C4.5

Difficulty

Beginner

The explosion of emerging technology holds huge linguistic implications for language and literacy practitioners, who must simultaneously ‘keep up’ with learners and assist them in navigating the vastness of the online space in practical and relevant ways. Central to the online experience is the emergence of GIFs and memes - simple graphic and video images used to educate, amuse and politicise.

This session will showcase the usefulness of GIFs and memes as flexible resources which embed both traditional and technological literacy into a language program at any proficiency level, in an entertaining and interactive way. It will include practical ideas to assist language practitioners in integrating GIFs and memes into a lesson, as well as a providing a hands-on demonstration of how to make a GIF and meme from scratch.

Location: C4.5

Mary Brooke

Trainer/Assessor Mary Brooke

Mary Brooke’s career in education spans a decade and a half. She has extensive experience as a classroom teacher, researcher and project manager in the private and public adult and tertiary education sectors, and her career includes eight years spent as an LLN practitioner in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, as well as two years teaching English in Kyoto, Japan. Mary holds degrees in Adult Education, English, Linguistics and Educational Leadership, and she is currently a migrant English specialist at Max Solutions in Launceston, where she has a particular interest in promoting learner engagement through the use of emerging technologies.

Is eLearning Right for my RTO? or How I learn't the true value of Technology

Category

eLearning

Location

C4.8

Difficulty

Intermediate

We are hearing more and more about the importance of online learning for the RTO space but WHY is this area so critical? How do we decide the tools to use? Do we truly understand the need?

This session will try to look past the buzzwords and hyperbole to address why RTOs should be investing in digital learning systems. More importantly, how to look past vendors fancy marketing and slide decks to better understand exactly what the problems are that we are trying to solve and how to effectively pick a system that best suits your organisation's needs.

Location: C4.8

Julian Ridden

RTO Owner Canvas by Instructure

Julian is an avid technologist, and is passionate about open source, open education and methodologies to create more dynamic learning environments. An expert in engaging content design, he firmly believes in innovation and ensuring that technology is implemented in a way that supports teaching and learning while also making teachers’ lives easier.

Julian works closely with academic staff at a large number of educational institutions across Asia Pacific, constantly helping them to get the most of their Learning Management System. Currently working at Instructure, creating great things within Canvas LMS, Julian has over 15 years’ experience in education (specifically in online eLearning), with a wide range of both corporate clients and educational institutions as well as experience in project management, systems implementation, networking, support and training.

Morning Tea & Networking

Location

Hall L

Global Futurist

Location

Hall L

Location: Hall L

Chris Riddell

Other Grey Mitt - Global Futurist

Chris Riddell is a Global Futurist, having spoken to well over 1800,000 delegates around the planet, bringing unparalleled insights into the big trends that are impacting us at work and home.

Chris is a trusted and regular commentator in mainstream media with over 150 appearances on television covering topics such as future of work, elections, consumer technology, and real-time trends on news.

You can view Chris’s YouTube channel with a few of his recent segments here http://www.chrisriddell.com/youtube

Chris’s keynotes are meticulously designed to take delegates on an immersive journey through the crafted art of storytelling. With an extraordinary blend of video and bespoke graphic animations, Chris’s sessions are renowned for their ability to inspire and inform audiences of all sizes, shapes and backgrounds.

Housekeeping

Location

Darling Habour Theatre

Location: Darling Harbour Theatre

Dimity Redcliffe

Dimity Redcliffe is the Marketing, Conference and Events Manager at Velg Training. Dimity has worked for Velg Training since December 2008 and has recently completed her Bachelor of Business Management (Human Resources & Marketing). Dimity is responsible for overseeing the five Social Media channels at Velg Training; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Wordpress. Dimity is a keen ‘Twitterbird’ and lives and breathes Social Media in her working and personal life. Dimity is also the Treasurer of the Vocational Education & Training Industry Group (VETIG).

VET Landscape

Location

Darling Habour Theatre

Location: Darling Harbour Theatre

Kerri Buttery

Consultant VET Nexus

Digital Literacy Licence (DLL) is the brainchild of Kerri Buttery, who founded the company in 2021 after a rewarding, decades-long career in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector.

Kerri's first foray into education saw her delivering VET in Schools (VETiS) programs in Queensland as a qualified secondary school teacher. This evolved into working as an auditor in the VET sector, then as a consultant assisting RTOs in maintaining compliance and delivering quality eLearning solutions

Kerri is also the founder of VETNexus. An Organisation that works alongside education providers to strengthen the relationship between compliance, technology and innovation.

Welcome to Country

Location

Hall L

Location: Hall L

Uncle Allan Madden

Respected Gadigal Elder, Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council

Registration, Tea & Coffee

Location

-

Reigniting your VET Career

Category

Master Class

Location

C4.5

Are you a frustrated, mid-career, mid-life VET leader looking for change? Are you worried that you're at a dead end, risk redundancy or simply fed up with going through the motions? If so, it's time to discover reignite your VET career.

Many of us are anxious, unfulfilled and dissatisfied with ourselves, our companies and our work. We know we want to and need to change, but don’t know how.

In this enjoyable and challenging workshop, transformation expert Mark Hodgson will help you to understand where you want to get to, identify what's holding you back, bust some common roadblocks and help set a process to fall in love with work again.

Mark Hodgson

Consultant Mark Hodgson

Mark Hodgson comes from a successful corporate background and has held senior leadership roles in Australasia, UK, Central Europe and Russia. Mark draws on a powerful track record backed by a depth of learning across multiple disciplines. He has inspired large teams across a range of commercial and not-for-profit businesses. He is a leader of the About My Brain Institute, which puts neuroscience at the heart of effective personal leadership development. Mark is also a faculty member for the Thought Leaders Business School, helping experts positioning themselves as leading influencers. He is an expert in leading change and holds an MBA level qualification from the AGSM. Mark is the creator of the Blog or Die! Content creation program and authors the acclaimed business blog, Pinch of Thought. His book, ‘Time to Shine: Adapting who you are and what you know to succeed in the ideas economy’ expands on this thinking.

A Guide for RTO Managers: Planning for quality training and assessment

Category

Master Class

Location

C4.8

This Master Class will share key strategies and practical advice for managing an RTO dedicated to quality training and assessment. It focuses on how to meet the requirements for Standard 1 of the Standards for RTOs 2015. This is the Standard that the majority of RTOs have trouble meeting. A planning guide will be provided for participants to work with during the session. The topics covered include:

How to develop a good Training and Assessment Strategy
How to review your Training and Assessment Strategies
What's involved in developing quality training and assessment resources - time/resources/effort/support
Having a Professional Learning Program for staff
Having an annual RTO plan for quality training and assessment activities
The processes and templates to help meet Standard 1.

Kerrie-Anne Sommerfeld

Consultant Rubric Training Solutions

Kerrie-Anne Sommerfeld is a training, assessment and curriculum specialist for the VET sector. With a firm belief that growth follows quality, Kerrie-Anne works with organisations to enhance their training and assessment practices.

This includes working with trainers/teachers to develop quality assessments and learning programs to providing high level advice to RTO management and leaders. She is passionate about helping training organisations be the best they can be.

Having helped hundreds of teachers plan, develop and validate their assessments, Kerrie-Anne brings a working knowledge and practical approach to her work.

Registration

Location

Hall L

Quality Engagement and Generation C

Category

Master Class

Location

C4.5

‘Quality’ has always, and will continue to be, defined by the customer and motivated by their needs – not ours.

No matter what a customer wants they expect their personal minimum requirements to be met. And, it’s no different when it comes to engaging them in learning.

This Master Class will focus on answering the following questions:

What do learners want when it comes to learning?
What’s essential to ‘quality engagement’ from their point of view and the ‘generations’ they represent?
How do we define ‘success’ in a learning environment; and
How will we achieve this?

This Master Class will discuss the above points by including demonstrations of practical and proven examples from VET professionals motivated to provide their learners with the best opportunities to succeed.

It will then explore the on-going opportunities they provide for us to continue to engage in a meaningful, motivational and effective manner to breach the generational gap and understand each generation's idiosyncrasies and how we, as professionals, need to adapt.

‘Quality engagement’ is core to managing the exponential change in the way we communicate, the technology we use, and the social and cultural environment we operate in. Join with us as we demonstrate some ways that this can happen.

NOTE: Some components of this Master Class will require participation with technology. Attendees are requested to bring their own fully charged device (tablet, smart phone or laptop) to the session.

John Price, Kerri Buttery, Robert Lowe & Raymond Simpson

John Price
John has been an educator and trainer for over 37 years and in that time has worked as a Head of Department at TAFE, mentor, facilitator of national workshops covering delivery and assessment, risk management, auditing, leadership and interpersonal skill development.

John has been a keynote speaker at conventions and conferences, and maintained a grass roots level approach to dealing with people at all levels of the organisation.
He has also assisted over 300 organisations in Australia to achieve quality certification to the range of National Training Standards including: Standards for RTOs 2015, Standards for Registered Training Organisations; Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF from 2001 – 2010) Australian and International ISO9001 standards (AS/NZS and ISO from 1987 – 2008) and worked with them in establishing continuous improvement systems and strategies for both human and physical resource development.

Kerri Buttery
Kerri Buttery has worked in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector for almost two decades as a Trainer/Assessor, RTO Manager and also as a Senior Lead Auditor. Kerri has worked as a consultant for a range of organisations in the areas of establishing Registered Training Organisations (RTOs), conducting internal audits, consulting on VQF compliance, developing a number of accredited courses, convening state and national conferences, developing training and assessment materials, conducting professional development workshops and conducting Certificate IV in Training and Assessment workshops. She has authored several textbooks and has experience lecturing and tutoring at university. Kerri is currently employed by Velg Training as the Director of VET Content Development.

Robert Lowe
Robert Lowe is a trade qualification electrician and has gone on to complete a Diploma in Industrial Electronics. His industry experience includes being manager within a leading sign company with clients such as Shell, BP, Mobil. Robert trained apprentices in the workplace as well as with the Army Reserve Royal Australian Artillery (8 years’ service).

Later, Rob changed careers into programing web applications and developing databases as National Information Technology Manager in a leading pharmaceutical publishing company before starting his own IT company developing bespoke web applications for paperless business systems.

After many years in IT Robert has returned to the electrical trade and now teaches at Charles Darwin University while studying a Bachelor of Engineering Honours at CDU.

Raymond Simpson
Ray Simpson has a varied and an extensive business background where he has been the proprietor/licensee of three plumbing businesses in Victoria, NSW and Queensland respectively, as well as owning a project marketing company (14 years). Ray has been a lecturer/workplace assessor in Plumbing at the Casuarina Campus at Charles Darwin University (CDU) since August 2008. He has taught up to Diploma level, including TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

Ray in on two Northern Territory Government Boards; the “Plumbers Drainers Licensing Board” and the “Transitional Advisory Board” to the Minister. Ray is keen to focus efforts into promoting and developing his fellow VET employees to their true, full potential through innovative, fun development programs that will assist in engaging the learners.

The Sharp Edge of Compliance - Sometimes!

Category

Master Class

Location

C4.8

This workshop will explore the concept of understanding the difference between compliance and non-compliance against the Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015, and where sometimes, this is blurry and subjective. It will include an analysis of the common Standards that are examined in a Renewal of Registration Audit, and will use a series of scenario-based discussion activities to encourage participant engagement and deepen understanding of the topic. Which side of the sharp edge are you on? This workshop is perfect for RTO owners, compliance managers or aspiring auditors.

Joe Newbery

CEO/RTO Owner Newbery Consulting

Joe Newbery served in the Australian Army for over 20 years. His time in Defence was influenced by his appointment in training roles including recruit training, trade training and finally in training design and compliance. Joe departed Defence and established Newbery Consulting in 2005. He has extensive experience and is recognised for his work in course design, job analysis and VET quality auditing. Over the period 2007 – 2014, Joe provided Lead Auditor services on behalf of the VET regulators including the National Audit and Registration Agency (NARA), the Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board (VETAB) and the Australian Skills Quality Authority. Today Joe leads a small team at Newbery Consulting to support his clients throughout Australia with a broad offering of VET products and services.

Registration

Location

Registration West

8.30am - 9.00am	Registration
	Master Class
9.00am - 12.00pm	Quality Engagement and Generation C John Price, Kerri Buttery, Robert Lowe & Raymond Simpson	The Sharp Edge of Compliance - Sometimes! Joe Newbery
12.30pm - 1.00pm	Registration
	Master Class
1.00pm - 4.00pm	Reigniting your VET Career Mark Hodgson	A Guide for RTO Managers: Planning for quality training and assessment Kerrie-Anne Sommerfeld

Program

Wednesday, 13 September 2017

Thursday, 14 September 2017

Friday, 15 September 2017

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Program

Wednesday, 13 September 2017

Thursday, 14 September 2017

Friday, 15 September 2017

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Prize Draw and Close

Location

Location: Hall L

Category

Location

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The Six Steps to Killing them from the Podium - Repeat

Category

Location

Difficulty

Location: Parkside 2

Gerry Gannon

RTO/Compliance Manager Gannon Media Services

Start with Why: Engagement, compliance and quality will follow

Category

Location

Difficulty

Location: C4.1

Lauren Hollows

CEO/RTO Owner Aniwaya Education Services

An Organic Look at Competency Progression

Category

Location

Difficulty

Location: Parkside 1

Graham Rodgers

eLearning Australia Pty Ltd

The Road to VET Quality: Empowering students to embrace curiosity

Category

Location

Difficulty

Location: Darling Harbour Theatre

Jenny Field

Panel Session – Ask an auditor

Category

Location

Location: C4.4

David Garner, Gayatri Mahesh, Jane Connors, Margaret Foran & Nadine Khoury

Australian Skills Quality Authority

Foundation Skills on the Front Lines: A practical guide to overcoming barriers to learning

Category

Location

Difficulty

Location: C4.5

David Cunning

Other The Learning Resources Group

Designing Compliant Online Assessment

Category

Location

Difficulty

Location: C4.8

Tania Gomez

Trainer/Assessor Strawberry Solutions

Afternoon Tea & Networking

Location

Location: Hall L

Transformational Learning

Category

Location

Location: C2.2 & C2.3

Isabel Osuna-Gatty

The 3 Ps - Preparation, Participant and Post-Audit

Category

Location

Difficulty

Location: Parkside 2

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