Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE

Marketing

Donation aids learning for VCAL students

VCAL students at the Shepparton Technical Education Centre (TEC) will soon benefit from BigPond Wireless Broadband service kindly donated by Scott Kelly, Manager of the Shepparton Telstra Shop.

Students in Geoff Allemand's class are experiencing a new way of learning called Big Picture. This approach creates a learning environment around the needs and passions of each individual student. It's a personalised approach which will be used to deliver the VCAL Work Related Skills and Personal Development modules.

"With this personalised approach, I wanted to have the flexibility of mobile wireless internet so that my students had consistent access to the World Wide Web wherever they were and so they could still visit their favourite social networking sites, YouTube and other great Web 2.0 tools," said Mr Allemand.

"All I do is plug in the USB wireless modem into my laptop and I have instant internet usage. I have known Scott Kelly since I taught him in grade 6 many years ago and explained to him what I was wanting to do and he was more than happy to assist," he said.

"I was more than happy to support this initiative," said Mr Kelly. "The world of telecommunications keeps changing and provides many new and exciting ways of how we interact in our personal and business lives. Wireless internet is one such way and I hope this provides a valuable tool for Geoff and his students," said Mr Kelly.

TEC Manager, Vaughan Patullock, said "We are very excited to be adopting the Big Picture model of teaching at the Shepparton TEC in 2009. This model works particularly well with our VCAL class in that it addresses their specific learning needs in an extremely rewarding and practical way. I congratulate Geoff on adopting this approach and thank the Telstra Shop for their support."

A demonstration of the new Big Picture technology and the Personalised Learning approach will be availbale at a two day professional learning workshop at the Fryers Street Campus, Shepparton on 28 and 29 May.

For more information contact the Customer Service Centre on 1300 GOTAFE (1300 468 233).