Online Service Standards

Student Entry Requirements and Induction

TAFE Gippsland conducts a comprehensive Pre-Training Review for all prospective students to determine whether a course is suitable and appropriate for their individual needs including your level of digital literacy.

We analyse and evaluate your:

• Employment and volunteer work experience
• Software access and capability levels
• Knowledge and skills achieved through previous courses undertaken and completed; and
• Responses to other important PTR questions considering whether additional support is required.

TAFE Gippsland uses a learning management system (LMS) ‘TAFE Gippsland’ Moodle for online course delivery. The following information technology requirements are recommended to enable optimal access to the LMS:  

Operating system:

• A device with a minimum of 8GB memory and 1.5Ghz processor
• Microsoft Windows 8 and above or Mac OS version 10 and above.

Mobile devices have limited support with Moodle Mobile. Limited means some media may not be viewable and some features are not available.

Internet speed:

Use a broadband connection 256 Kbit/sec or faster. This will ensure that you can view videos and online presentations through USB wireless modem, ADSL, T1/T2, fibre optic or cable.

Internet browsers:

Compatible browsers include:

• Google Chrome 32 bit version 38 or later (recommended for optimal compatibility, this has been thoroughly tested on Windows) Preferred browser for Webinars, specifically Collaborate
• Safari 8 or later (recommended for optimal compatibility, this has been thoroughly tested on Mac)
• Mozilla Firefox 35.0 or later
• Internet Explorer 9 or later is recommended.

Note that add-ons and toolbars can affect any browser's performance.

Browser Settings:

We recommend that the following be enabled:

• Cookies
• Pop-ups (in both Internet browser and security software)
• JavaScript.

Plug-ins:

We recommend that you use the latest version of:

• Adobe Flash Player
• Adobe Acrobat Reader

A number of resources on Moodle, require you to have Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) or an equivalent (e.g. Open Office, Viewer) installed or you could use Office 365 which is available to all students.

Security:

With all firewalls, ensure that you enable uploading of files.

Learning Materials

TAFE Gippsland ensures that learning materials used in online training are relevant, descriptive, user-friendly, interactive and are presented in a variety of formats, including:

• Guided content
• Graphics
• Video
• Audio
• Interaction through discussion forums, chats, and webinars.

TAFE Gippsland is committed to improving the user experience and ensuring that our online content is available to the widest possible audience, including readers using assistive technology. Our online learning website aims to meet Level AA conformance of W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

Student Engagement

TAFE Gippsland provides an online learning experience that is engaging and interactive. We will monitor your participation and ensure that you continue to progress through your course. Collaborative learning opportunities will be provided so that you can interact with peers, through:

• Discussion forums
• Webinars
• Online chat.

Ongoing feedback will be provided as you study, via:

• Interaction with trainers/assessors in informal discussion forums
• Response to individual queries
• Response to assessment tasks, formative activities including quizzes you complete.

TAFE Gippsland wants to assure students that we do understand and care about your learning progress and engagement with your teachers and learning material.  For this reason, students who have not logged on within 5 days of the course commencement date will be contacted by teachers as a courtesy.  It is important for teachers to maintain a connection with you so they can listen to your ideas, thoughts and concerns regarding your study, assessment or other learning queries and provide you with sound advice, coaching and guidance where it is most needed.

Mode and Method of Assessment

There are a range of assessment methods that can be used for each unit of competency. Forms of assessment could include the following:

• short answer questions
• portfolio of evidence
• formal report, summary report or assignment
• case study
• oral presentation
• role play
• project
• demonstration of practical skills.

Where students are asked to demonstrate competency in practical skills then Skype, ZOOM, web conferencing, mobile phone recording, webinar or other video recording technology will be arranged or created.

Skills First Teachers

All trainers and assessors delivering online courses at TAFE Gippsland have experience in online delivery through one or more of the following:

• Professional development in online training (short courses)
• Formal qualifications in online training
• Participation in an online Community of Practice (i.e. Membership of Moodle.org)

Participation in staff reference group of online trainers and assessors, who meet and share ideas for improvement.

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