Slide 1

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 2

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 3

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 4

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 5

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 6

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 7

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 8

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 9

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 10

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 11

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 12

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 13

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 14

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 15

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 16

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 17

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 18

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 19

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 20

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 21

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 22

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 23

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 24

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 25

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 26

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 27

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 28

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 29

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 30

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 31

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 32

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 33

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 34

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 35

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 36

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 37

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 38

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 39

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 40

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 41

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 42

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 43

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 44

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 45

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 46

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 47

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 48

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 49

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 50

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 51

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 52

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 53

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 54

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)


Slide 55

VET learning and teaching:
A collage of
recent research findings

Professor Larry Smith
University of New England
[email protected]
0428232410

Key research findings/ issues regarding:
- What employers are seeking from VET
graduates seeking to enter employment?
- How VET students learn best?
- Approaches to assessment
- Competencies for the future

A word or two about the pre-eminence of IT
1. IT has the capacity to add considerable value
to the processes of VET learning and
assessment if it is used appropriately

2. IT is a tool, not a process, and certainly not THE
process – the focus must be quality learning and
effective teaching
3. IT should not be the starting point for
determining VET pedagogy

4. The starting question should be:
“What do we need to do to maximise learning for
each student?”
The question that follows is then:
“In what ways and to what extent, if any, can IT
assist to deliver that outcome?”
Unfortunately, the starting question far too
often is:
“We have this new ‘you-beaut’ technology – how can
we maximise its use?”
Or even worse:
“IT will save us money – how can we increase its
use?”

5. There is strong evidence that the drivers for
much of the use of IT are not educational
6. There is strong evidence that an overemphasis on IT can in fact undermine the
quality of learning and learning outcomes
7. Much of the ‘evidence’ cited in support of
the increased use of IT in VET learning is
actually based on ‘happiness data’, not
clearly identified improvements in learning

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.
Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –
in just 8 minutes!”
(Steven Wright)

What employers seek
from
VET graduates:
The Top 15
Based on recent research studies
in Australia and UK

1. ‘Work ethic’: a desire and commitment to
work hard and to produce products or provide
services of the highest quality
2. Punctuality: starting and finishing on time;
being where you are meant to be when you
are meant to be there
3. A desire and capacity to learn and improve
4. Good team member: “There is no ‘I’ in the
word team”
5. Get on well with colleagues

6.Communicate well with customers and
management: written, verbal, IT
7. Self-confidence and Self-esteem: How we
view ourselves. How we think others view us.
Feeling of self-worth.
8. Problem-solving skills. Opportunity solving.
Ambiguity or uncertainty?
9. High standards of dress and personal
hygiene
10.“Commonsense”

11. Ability to manage own work and
performance
12. Honesty and trustworthiness
13. Loyalty
14. Openness to constructive criticism
15. Relevant high level knowledge and skill

Note that technical skills and knowledge, while
considered important, is not considered as
important at the point of employment as a
wide range of ‘personal’ skills.
Why not?

What are the implications of this list for IT
delivery modes for VET?

Principles underpinning effective
learning for VET students

There is a lack of conceptually sound and
methodologically rigorous research into the
processes that actually promote effective
learning for VET students
Much of what we think and do in developing
and implementing programs for VET
students is based on intuition or personal
experience and belief

Eight key principles for VET learners

1: VET students have a need to know why
they need to learn something before
undertaking to learn it

Implication: Learning goals, objectives and
values should be clearly communicated as
an initial component of the learning
program.

2. VET students have a disposition
for self-directed learning
Particularly students coming directly or recently out of
school are pre-conditioned as dependent learners.
They need to be guided through the transition from
dependent to independent learners (Biggs, 2003)

Implication: As far as possible, VET
programs should be designed to allow
students to take responsibility for their
own learning

3: VET students have a wide range of
individual differences in their
backgrounds, learning styles,
motivation needs, interests and goals

Implication: VET programs should provide
options for individualised approaches and
strategies for the learning paths of
individual students

4: VET students benefit from interaction
with others undertaking the same
learning experience
Because of the volume, quality and diversity of experience
possessed by VET students, they themselves often
represent the richest resources for many kinds of
learning

Implication: The design and development of
learning products should place an overt
emphasis on experiential learning over
knowledge transmission techniques, and
place an emphasis on peer-helping
techniques

5: VET students expect their
perspectives and backgrounds to be
valued in the learning process
Experience is a major contributor to the self-identity of VET
students. Conversely, if the learning experience ignores
or devalues the students’ experiences, “they perceive
this as not rejecting just their experience, but rejecting
them as persons” (Knowles,1990)

Implication: Learning products should be
designed so as to emphasise the value
and utility of the learner’s experience when
undertaking the learning process

6: VET students are more ‘ready to learn’
when the learning event has direct
relevance to their real-life situations

Implication: Programs should be designed
so as to emphasise to the learners that the
learning event has direct relevance to their
real-life situations

7: Student learning is motivated and
enhanced through the processes of
‘reflection’
• Reflection is about understanding and evaluating the
meaning and relevance of the learning event in terms of
the experiences and life situations of the learner (Schon,
1983)
• Reflection generates an integration of Mode 1 and Mode
2 knowledge (Gibbons, 1994)

Implication: Reflective opportunities and
challenges should be an integral design
feature of the learning product

8: ‘Internal motivators’ are the most
potent for VET students
• Internal motivators include self-esteem, recognition, better
quality of life, increased job satisfaction, greater selfconfidence, and self-actualisation (Maslow,1970)
• External motivators include better jobs, promotions, and
higher salaries

Implication: Programs should be designed so as
to integrate strategies and activities that will
enhance ‘internal’ motivators to learn, such as
ensuring that the learner is exposed to success
and is provided with positive feedback during
the learning event.

The pyramid of learning difficulty
Judgment: the ability to
make decisions and
support views; requires
understanding of values

Evaluation
Combining information to
form a unique product;
requires creativity and
originality

Use of information to
solve problems;
transfer of abstract
or theoretical ideas
to practical situations

Restatement in your
own words; paraphrase;
summarize

Synthesis
Analysis

Identification of component
parts; determination of
arrangement, logic,
semantics

Application
Interpretation

Identification of
connections and
relationships

Translation
Recall

Verbatim information;
memorization with no
evidence of understanding

Learning retention
5%
Lecture

(Source: National Training
Laboratories, Bethel, ME)

10%
Reading
20%
Audio-Visual
30%
Demonstration
50%
Discussion Group
75%
Practice by Doing
90%
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning

Some research findings about assessment

For most students, assessment literally defines
the curriculum they learn and do what they believe will be
needed to meet the requirements of their
assessment or examinations.
The questions that define the curriculum for
most students are:
1. How am I going to be assessed?
2. What do I need to know or be able to do in
order to meet the assessment?
3. How can I best learn what I need in order to
do well on the assessment?

Assessment is a way of confirming
standards, but it is also a very
important process for teaching and
enhancing the quality of student
learning.

1. Assessment should be an integral part of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. Assessment is a major motivator of student
learning
3. There should be a clear alignment between
assessment, program/ course objectives,
and what is taught and learnt.
4. Assessment should test higher order
thinking skills (analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) – not just recall of information
or replication of practical skills

6. A variety of assessment methods should be
used to compensate for the limitations of
any one method
7. Assessment tasks should test generic skills,
not just knowledge and skills related to the
particular topic
8. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding as you move through an
assessment instrument.
9. Assessment should become more challenging
and demanding the further the student
moves through a course or program of study.

10.Assessment tasks and times should take
teacher and student workloads into
account
11. Over assessment should be avoided as time
taken up by assessment is time lost to
teaching and learning. (Avoid the belief
that the best way to fatten the pig is to
weigh it more often)
12. The process for awarding marks and grades
should be made very clear at the start of
the course or program.

13. Students should receive feedback that they
can use to improve – not just a mark or
grade.
14. Quality of assessment is one of the most
used criteria for determining the quality of
a program and an Institute.
15. Ultimately, assessment standards are
directly related to the capacity of staff to
make sound judgments about student
progress and performance.

16.Assessing large classes poses some major
challenges:
How to cope with the volume of
marking?
How to provide individual feedback
to so many students?
How to avoid assessment that
focuses on shallow rather than deep
learning, given the time needed to
assess deep learning tasks?
How to keep a close check for
plagiarism?

17.Group work is a powerful approach to
learning, but how do we assess group
work?
In particular, how do we assess the relative
contribution and performance and
learning outcomes relating to individual
students?
The research fails to identify any
satisfactory answers to this question –
approaches that do not generate as many
problems as they solve

In summary, assessment should be:
Valid – measures what it is supposed to
measure
Reliable – will give students of similar abilities
similar grades or assessment outcomes
Fair – is not biased for or against any students
Appropriate – is reasonable to be answered by
the students given their backgrounds and the
learning they have undertaken
Useful – it is of benefit to students, employers,
public, and of course, the lecturers

Thriving On Complexity:
Cognitive Imperatives For The Future
Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”
Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by
remaining what we are”
Max Du Pree

The future is about change:
• Fundamental
• Pervasive
• Continuous

Change is not a linear process
Transistor
VHS
Silicon chip

IT cul-de-sac

Mode 1
(theory)
Knowledge
Mode 2
(‘real world’
Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and
fundamental impact, mean our notions of
epistemology and pedagogy should also be
subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems
and education institutions are rooted firmly in
the past.

In the past and present, the focus of education and
training has been on the attainment of knowledge,
skills and understanding
In the future, the focus of education and training will
be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic
competencies do not address cognitive
abilities, but it is to argue that they do not
necessarily address all the cognitive abilities
that will be necessary for employees of the
future, and it is certainly to argue that we will
need to look at different ways of packaging or
understanding those cognitive capacities”.
Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Howard Gardner
Five Minds for the Future
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Available through the Australian Institute of
Management Bookshop in Sydney and
Brisbane, or on-line
aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary
Synthesising

Minds for
the future

Creating

Respectful
Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to
develop in others

Minds we need to
develop in ourselves

In the future:
We need to be equipped to deal with the expected
We also need to be equipped to deal with the
unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a profession
Synthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a
coherent whole
Creating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative
product and answers to challenges
Respectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for
differences among people
Ethical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving
accordingly
Reflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

We must start with a vision of the kind of
individuals we want to emerge from the
vocational education and training system
and then think about the knowledge and
skills that are needed, not the other way
around.
Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

We acknowledge globalisation and the
rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then
prepare a vocational curriculum that
reflects what we ourselves experienced
and understood in the past. It is not the
basis for an effective curriculum that
prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to
remember the importance of continuing to
act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t
develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to
succeed in any demanding workplace of the future
Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed
by the amount of information
Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the
problems of today and grasp the opportunities of
tomorrow
Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in
the workplaces of the future
Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of
workplace and community trust and integrity
Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our
successes or our failures

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)