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Challenger TAFE's Visage Training Centre has been allocated funding from WA Department of Training and Education (WADET) for:


 * 1) **Professional Development Support Program (PDSP)** - The aim of this project is to enhance the ability of their lecturers to use PDAs for the delivery of content and workplace assessment in the Beauty/Hairdressing/Retail area for their School-based Apprenticeship Link (SAL) program.
 * 2) **Embedding mobile learning (m-learn) in WA Program** - the aim of this project is to enhance the ability of their lecturers to use PDAs for training and workplace assessment for 3rd year hairdressing apprenticeships.

This wiki has been set up to document the progress of these project so that they can share they experiences and learning with others.

Background of the Project
In Semester 2, 2005 Julie Manning (Program Manager, Visage Training Centre) attended a workshop by Marcus Ragus of TAFE Tasmania on the application of handheld devices in TAFE. At this workshop she realised that PDAs had the potential to significantly reduce the quantity of “paper-based” documents generated by staff and hence lessen their workload. Normally when a lecturer assesses a student in the workplace they visit several students on the same day and carry numerous documents for each students. So she decided that it made more sense that staff carry a PDA (slightly larger than a mobile phone) which gets “synced” at the end of the day to transfer the documents electronically to their computer instead of a crate of paperwork.

Last year Julie Manning purchased a set of HP IPAQ 2490 for her lecturers and they all attended a PD workshop where they learnt the basics of how to use their PDAs. At the same time Challenger TAFE funded a College Special Initiatives on mobile technologies together with WADET PD for PDAs for lecturers from other areas across the College to engage in professional development activities for mobile devices. As part of this project Challenger TAFE piloted a workplace assessment database in the logistics area and developed a skills recognition database. Instead of a crate of the documents a workplace assessor normally would need to carry they use a PDA that has a database which contains all their student details and assessment checklist. At the end of the day they “sync” the PDA to the database on their PC. This sync process transfers the student records to their computer and all students’ records will be stored electronically instead of paper based form.

The idea of these PDSP project will be to build and transfer the knowledge/skills gained from Challenger TAFE’s mobile technology project to lecturers from the Visage Training Centre to enhance their use of PDAS with School Apprenticeship Link (SAL) students and trainees and hairdressing apprentices.

SAL is an opportunity for young people still attending school and enrolled in the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) to be one step ahead of other young people who want to take up an apprenticeship. It provides an opportunity for students to get a real taste of what the workplace is all about.
 * About SAL (School Apprenticeship Link)**

In W.A. the term of indenture for the Hairdressing trade was reduced from four to a nominal duration of three years and competency based instead of time served. Off-the-job training delivery was changed from six semesters to four semesters with the 3rd year for on-the-job consolidation. A New Training Package has also been introduced in 2007, which meant major changes in Hairdressing delivery and assessment.
 * About Hairdressing Apprenticeships**

For the participants the aims are as follows: -
 * Aims of these Projects**
 * To improve their use of PDAs as a management tool.
 * To gain the skills required to develop resources for PDAs
 * To learn how to use PDAs for workplace assessing

These project will support and enable staff to undertake training and assessing in the workplace which is mobile, flexible, and focused on the needs of employers, students, apprentices and trainees.

Click on a link on the side navigation to find out more about our project.

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