Principal TAFE teacher to online learning: Chris Murray talks eLearning
As the education system continues to evolve, we are starting to see online learning becoming a more prominent component of the way that we learn. Blended learning is now a common element in college and university institutions worldwide, and more teachers are starting to embrace the new technology. Chris Murray is one of these teachers.
After spending many years as Principal Teacher at a TAFE institution in Australia, Chris has now embraced online learning and uses his business, Jacaranda Lodge, to develop training materials in leadership and supervision for the hospitality industry, specializing in the use of exemplars.
Originally releasing 'Jacaranda's: A hospitality case study' in print format, Chris was looking to take his training online and the Go1 platform was the perfect solution for distributing his learning material.
Making the adjustment from being a classroom teacher to an online teacher, Chris says that the most notable adjustment that he has had to make is communicating with the students to understand how they are progressing, and learning how to guide and anticipate answers so he can provide help when needed.
One of the toughest things to design when it comes to online learning is creating engaging and meaningful assessments. Chris tells us that getting students out of the habit of the ‘Tick and Flick’ mentality can be a huge challenge.
“My favorite feature of the Go1 system is that immediate feedback is provided to students when they have sit their assessments. They given an instant result. ”
Chris tells us that one of the main reasons he started creating his print resources before they ended up online with Go1, was that I was teaching students from so many different language backgrounds. A strength of the resources he created is that they use exemplars, both good and bad, of decisions that need to be made in a supervisory situation, which creates a much higher engagement rate and results in a higher rate of retention for the learning material with the students.
“If a student can see the thinking and likely outcome of a decision it slows them down from rushing into a torrent of words in a written assignment which they do not understand. “
In the current Australian education system, online learning requires the teacher to be familiar with, and able to facilitate learning from the wealth of online materials appearing on the internet, which is a huge step forward from the traditional text book based programs of the past.
“I have received a number of enquiries from people who wish to set up a similar business to mine, and the online materials will enable me to point them in the direction of 'Leadership and Supervision for hospitality' which will enable them to get started.”
Chris is a great example of how to adapt traditional learning concepts to online courses, and we are very excited to hear about how he has been progressing his content based on the demand, and results of his course.
Read a case study that Chris has produced around exemplar learning
