Presentation to Qld Department of Education and Training 15Sept17

1. :
The Pracademics of TAFE Queensland
Dr Anna Daniel
TAFE Queensland RedSpace: @TQRedSpace
Queensland Department of Education and Training
Research Forum 15 September 2017
Unless otherwise noted this entire presentation is © TAFE Queensland 2017 and licensed CC BY

2. Agenda
• About TAFE Queensland
• RedSpace: and TAFE Queensland Research
• Research project – Future skills development
• Context
• 3 phases
• Findings
• Research rigour
• Discussion
We can’t keep educating
people based on the
same standards we used
in the past. The world is
moving too fast for that.
ING Direct
Quote: ING Direct in ACOLA Securing Australia’s future, p.78 http://acola.org.au/wp/PDF/SAF10/Full%20report.pdf

3. • Publicly owned VET & HE provider (NUHEP; & via
university partnerships)
• No HDR students
• 122,000 students
• 4,000 staff (FTE)
• 56 locations statewide
• 93% Employer satisfaction
• 87% Graduates employed or in further study
• 89% Competency completion rate
About TAFE Queensland

4. About RedSpace:
Commenced operation Dec.2015
Located in Office of the Chief Academic Officer
Key objective: Embed Scholarship of Learning and Teaching
Key research areas:
1. Critical Participatory Action Research
2. Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Services
3. Thought leadership

5. Critical Participatory Action Research
About RedSpace:
Images licensed CC0 Public domain
Cf. Kemmis, S., McTaggart, R. & Nixon, R. 2013, Action Research Planner. Singapore, Springer.

6. Projects join via
P2P Pods
Critical
Participatory
Action Research
About RedSpace:
Images licensed CC0 Public domain

7. Ripple and Underpin the
Scholarship of Learning and Teaching
Critical
Participatory
Action Research
About RedSpace:
Images licensed CC0 Public domain, Boxspring-corner Shifman.JPG Wikimedia CC BY-SA
Projects join via
P2P Pods

8. 2016 CPAR projects
1. Transforming VET Practices to improve student centred learning.
2. Integrated evaluation of pedagogic practices.
3. Transforming student capability with iTunesU: an action research
journey.
4. Working with industry partners to enhance the standards of
workplace learning for veterinary nursing students.
5. Flexible delivery for workplace teaching.
6. Intern, earn and learn: a proposed scholarship model for the
alleviation of student debt.
7. Improving student outcomes through the effective use of blended
learning.
8. How does addressing education for sustainability with pre-service
educators impact on the field of early childhood education and
care?
9. TELLing it and SEEing it via iTunes U. From substitution to
redefinition.
About RedSpace:

9. About RedSpace:
Applied Research

10. Company
or
industry
problem
Scientific
technical
study
Innovation
Applied
research
About RedSpace:
What is Applied Research?

11. Applied Research is about the problem and systematic
study relating to an employer
Company
or
industry
problem
Scientific
technical
study
Innovation
Applied
research
What is Applied Research?
About RedSpace:

12. TAFE’s have not traditionally conducted formal, pure
research but we do applied research in a teaching context.
Applied research is informal, fast and practical
About RedSpace:

13. Research project in 3 phases
• What are the current applied research experiences of educators,
learners and employers - ARIES Case studies 2016
• Is there a strong overlap between skills for applied research and
future skills? What is the nature of that overlap? – ‘Minding the Gap’
• What frameworks (andragogies, resources, roles and training,
guidance and processes) surround these collaborations, and how
might they be improved? – In progress
Research questions

14. our Educators are
Pracademics
Phase 1 results – name and claim it

15. Phase 1 results – name and claim it

16. Stronger Employers
Phase 2 results – Mind the gap

17. Nothing can go wrong, right?
CSIRO ScienceImage CC-BY-3.0
Frameworks and improvements

18. CSIRO ScienceImage CC-BY-3.0
Governance Learners
Academic Governance
Contracts
Research ethics and academic integrity for coursework
Duty of care
Risk mitigation
Intellectual property: inputs and outputs, commercial-in-confidence
Industrial relations
Insurance
Self directed teams
Future skills
Reflective practice
Employability
Systematic research study
Professional expectations
Practice the theory
Research methods
Employers Educators
Problem phrased positively = Diplomacy
Project timing
Educators who also work in Industry
SMEs are higher risk?
Learner – Employer communication
Applied Research is less encumbrance
More valuable outcomes
Volume of upfront work
Different skills
Different teaching approach
Assessment
Explicitly link theory and practice
Explicitly scaffold to a mentoring role
Explicit mid-project status checks
Explicitly conclude
Disseminate for peer review
Frameworks and improvements

19. Research Governance Structure

20. Stronger Employers
Research Ethics and Integrity
• Streamlined - submit at any time, response within two weeks
• Rigour – assessed against National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research and
Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research
Next steps: more research guidance and training for our Pracademics; transition to digital
processes; review of policy and procedures to align to our practice and compliance; culture of
scholarly practice.
Low risk research Animal research Above low risk research
TAFE Queensland Research Ethics Sub-Committee Qld DAF Animal Ethics Committee HREA

21. Pracademic example: Community Construction
Vaughan Wakefield: Carpentry
Example
3 interrelated problems:
The decline in mining jobs affected
confidence in the Mt Isa economy
with a knock-on decline in
construction activity.
Youth unemployment in outback
Queensland is 36 % pa. (QGSO 2016).
Some youth are training while also
working. They take time out from
their jobs to attend classes > local
construction delays

22. Study approach: Action Research
Solution: Integrated learning, training, employment and housing
solution for ATSI youth in remote Queensland areas.
Project members (businesses) support and fund TAFE Queensland
North learners who build housing for ATSI youth as coursework.
Benefits:
Led to change of teaching practices to deliver on-the-job in
community construction projects;
New community housing;
Observed pride and confidence in his learners.
Example
Pracademic example: Community Construction
Vaughan Wakefield: Carpentry

23. Applied Research example: Schoolies Week
Katie Coyle: Tourism and Hospitality
Example

24. Study approach: Interviews, Observation,
Literature review
Solution: Induction manual specifically for
Schoolies Week
Benefits: enhanced service; reassurance of risk
mitigation (parents, insurers); OH&S
Example
Applied Research example: Schoolies Week
Katie Coyle: Tourism and Hospitality

25. http://tafeqld.edu.au/about-us/redspace/
@TQRedSpace
thank you
Anna Daniel
RedSpace: Researcher
e: anna.daniel@tafeqld.edu.au
Unless otherwise noted this entire presentation is © TAFE Queensland 2017 and licensed CC BY