TAS TAFE ICT teaching department in Hobart

Great meeting today with the TAS TAFE ICT teaching department in Hobart. They are a very progressive department with a good choice of courses that are obviously setting their students up well for jobs. Like us they are getting students "head hunted" into jobs before they can even finish their courses!

It was funny, I was really jetlagged and managed to cut myself shaving just before the meeting. I turned up with a Norman Gunstan styled repair job. Kerryn and her team were very understanding and at least my clumsiness led to a few good jokes and I ensured that I am memorable.  :-)

Kerryn Meredith-Sotiris, Education Manager, ICT State-wide TasTAFE
75 Campbell street, Hobart | GPO Box 2015, Hobart TAS 7001 
kerryn.meredith-soti@TasTAFE.tas.edu.au

Kerryn gave me a tour to show me facilities and a chance to talk to her team and some of the students.
eLearning, project based assessment, clustered project based delivery, web conferencing, TAFE Uni pathways, contact with local employers....I'm really impressed

They are running a great cross section of courses with a mix of generalist and networking specialist courses. I worry at times that my own department is becoming too specialised around networking and we are not covering a diverse enough range of skills eg Support, Programming, DBA, Helpdesk.

• ICT60515 Advanced Diploma of Computer Systems Technology
• ICTSS00033 Basic Computer Hardware and System Troubleshooting Skill Set
• ICT20115 Certificate II in Information, Digital Media and Technology
• ICT30115 Certificate III in Information, Digital Media and Technology
• ICT41015 Certificate IV in Computer Systems Technology
• ICT40115 Certificate IV in Information Technology
• ICT40415 Certificate IV in Information Technology Networking
• ICT40215 Certificate IV in Information Technology Support
• ICT50415 Diploma of Information Technology Networking

http://www.tastafe.tas.edu.au/courses/industry/business-and-ict/

I was really impressed to see them running a joint program with their electrotechnology department. The students are also learning hands on skills with tools as well as IT and telecommunications skills. I met some of the students and this was very popular with them.

They have similar concerns to RI with worries about the future viability of Cert II courses aimed at digital literacy, Cert II courses in IT don't really have a job outcome. We discussed alternate options with running skillsets for digital literacy instead of full Cert II courses, the issue is the wide mix of digital literacy skills for incoming students, some have great skills from their school courses, other students have had very little training in digital literacy.

I saw a webconferenced class being run with a teacher connecting to a classroom of students via Blackboard collaborate. Like RI they are experimenting with a range of eLearning techniques and tools, I think over the next couple of years we will develop some really solid delivery models but we need to work through these trials to identify the best mix.

We talked about Business chambers in Europe and how we can connect to local businesses to ensure we can meet their IT needs. Kerryn told me about the role of  TASICT and what they have achieved for the Tasmanian IT industry.
http://www.tasict.com/about/

TASICT continues to focus on its vision for a large, dynamic and innovative Tasmanian ICT industry, recognised for its significant contribution to the economic and social wealth of all Tasmanians.

We discussed a range of future collaborations for our 2 departments: Assessment validations, resource sharing, comparing delivery models.

I think the IT department is doing a great job, the delivery models and tools really are world class, I think the challenge for all of us is to improve our administrative systems and processes to give our teachers a fair chance to apply those skills to support their students.

I'm looking forward to working with this department in the future. Very impressive!