Kerry

Hi My name is Kerry Wright. I am employed as the Training Manager with the YWCA NSW South East Region Office. We are based in Nowra but work across the Shoalhaven offering accredited training and work for the dole programs.

Accredited Training

We currently have trainers delivering: Cert II in Hospitality Operations - Housekeeping and Food and Beverage. In 2007 we have run one Housekeeping course in the Bay & Basin area (Jervis Bay) and are currently running a Food and Beverage course in Ulladulla. We plan to offer another Housekeeping course later in the year in Nowra. Cert II in Conservation & Land Management - A course has just started with a local Aboriginal community called Jerrinja out at Orient Point. This is a full course and goes for 24 weeks. We plan to run a short pre-vocational training course in CLM later in the year in Ulladulla. Cert II in IT - A course is running at Jervis Bay School with teacher's aides. This is a fee for service course. Business Skills - A eBay for Business course is being run in June. Our SCRAP Shop also runs business training in Research Business Opportunities and Sell Online.

Work for the Dole Programs - 2007

The Shoalhaven Creative Re-use Action Project (SCRAP) has a retail outlet called the SCRAP Shop in Bomaderry. This is a reverse garbage centre which accepts donations of clean recyclable materials from local businesses and sells these on to the public. Participants in the SCRAP Shop are either work for the dole participants or volunteers. They receive training in OH&S, Retail and IT skills. They are also involved in a range of creative projects which are self-directed and have the opportunity to sell on eBay.

Sustainable Living Project is working with local Department of Housing tenants who are assisting the YWCA to write a resource about living on a low income as well as a theatre production to be performed at the launch of the book. The theatre production will be used as a tool to express the issues that arise in the lives of people that live on a low income. This project will be end in August 2007. The resource book is the 4th in a series of resources the YWCA has published after working with groups of residents: 2004 - What's cookin, Good lookin' - budget cookbook written by a group of young mums 2005 - Mum Dad Baby - parenting life skills book written by a group of young parents 2006 - It's All About Me - return to work resource book written by a group of parents

Elearning This is the second year that I have been involved with a YWCA Learnscope Project. Last year we learnt about the range of tools available to RTO's to facilitate learning using elearning. As we live in a rural area where many jobseekers are isolated due to a lack of affordable or reliable public transport we are interested in how elearning can increase their opportunities to participate in further education.

In 2007 I am going to work with the YWCA Webtrain Site to deliver Cert II in Hospitality to students who have already partially completed the certificate with us and only need 2-3 units to complete a full certificate. The aim is to determine the actual hours required on our side and their's to complete these units. Whether the materials provided on Webtrain are sufficient or whether additional learning materials are required. Also the sufficiency of assessment using Webtrain and a combination of observation by YWCA trainer's.

I am also going to explore the option of setting up a wikispace or team blog to assist with learning and assessment for a short course we are running with Aboriginal workers in the Cert IV Alcohol and Other Drugs Certificate.

I'll keep you posted. Kerry (18 June 2007)

26 October 2007 I have really enjoyed being involved in this YWCA Learnscope Project. I am continually impressed with the skills of my co-workers, Scott, Sandra and Alice as to what they research and know about elearning. In my own position as Training Manager I do not find I have a lot of time to devote to this issue and realise that we really need to keep the staff who do have the time and interest skilled up to act as a resource for the whole RTO side of our organisation. Infrastructure is another key issue the YWCA is working through - to be able to support elearning.

My original plans re using elearning to assist with delivery of the Hospitality package didn't come into fruitiion. Mainly because the Webtrain materials did not meet our needs. I'm thinking there are some key issues that need to be explored further by the YWCA around the training packages we deliver which are very much practical based - aged care, home and community care, hospitality, conservation & land management. This courses still require face to face training for learners to fully understand the tasks. A combination of face to face and elearning may be an option to allow learners to do theory in their own time. However I'm particularly concerned about ensuring the integrity of assessments delivered through elearning - how do we know it is their own work? I'm interested in how some training providers are using Second Life to create workplace situations for learners to 'work in'. Rather than re-inventing the wheel it would be great to know about these sites and be able to access them - not sure how such issues are being addressed by Learnscope. Could there be some link on NTIS to such resources?

I also didn't manage to set up a team blog with our Indigenous Cert IV in AOD course. The participants have very limited IT skills (nil) and in fact have asked that we organise an IT training course for them in 2008.

As a result of our most recent meeting I have been thinking more about using elearning to access and provide access to learning to people isolated in the Shoalhaven. Ideally I would like to champion the building of a learning culture throughout our own community and this will mean a variety of strategies to engage people who do not think they have the skills to learn. There are many people living in the Shoalhaven who have had negative experiences with education and left school very early. I can see the potential of elearning to reengage these people. I am interested in working with our local public library system to think how we can get people onto computers in their local area to participate in elearning opportunities set up by the YWCA. We will be exploring this further. Also the use of mobile phone technology to engage learners as we know everyone has one! I still have a lot to learn and elearning is obviously constantly evolving but I really appreciate the opportunity Learnscope has provided to the YWCA as a small RTO to explore and work on elearning as an option for our training delivery. Thanks also to our great facilitator - Anne. Kerry Wright