Photo 7: ‘Aspects that are interesting’:
This area has been constructed by CIT Carpentry students with the purpose of displaying practical skills regarding various competency’s. It is a frequently used outdoor area for the campus students. In the background is F Block, which is predominantly used by the Building and Environment students.
This is excellent for the campus students. Do you tear these constructions down after construction? Or how do you find spaces for the next year's students?
ReplyDeleteHow long is the campus program that the students attend?
Most of these Campus projects are built to stay and are funded by the Campus rather than directly out of our budget. We also have a good relationship with the 'Australian Federal Police' and we build various projects for them.
ReplyDeleteIn Stage 3 Carpentry we have 10 subjects, most of them only having 1-2 days practical instruction time attached to them. When taking on large projects you have to be careful that you do not take on more than you can deal with.
For every competency we have at least 2 projects that are aligned directly with competency outcomes so we are not reliant at all on external projects. We never look to make any profit but it is good if someone is prepared to cover the cost of materials.
The deck outdoor area really came up well and is a great asset for the campus students.
That's great with and opportunity of a good relationship. This is not uncommon here, but has become more and more regulated. When reading about your stages and subjects and competency outcomes- the Australian way of organizing studies is quite different from ours. I understand that the framework has to do with the fact that it shall be the same system over the differens states. We have three-year programs, every semester has 400 upper secondary education credits. Some courses are 100 credit courses, but many are 200. A basic subject that all have to take is Building and construction. This has two courses, B&C 1, B&C2. Both are 200 credits each. I think that the Swedish students might have more time to develop skills - or at least it seams that the courses are longer blocks than yours. However, I might be wrong and have misunderstood...
DeleteGreat that this was able to happen - where your students got to work on a project and the campus got to have some facilities that they otherwise wouldn't have had. During a project like this, how do you integrate theory and practice?
ReplyDeleteMost of our theory regarding underpinning knowledge we cover from industry regulations such as AS1684, the national timber construction code and the BCA which is the National Construction Code. A lot of the knowledge is Generic, meaning it applies to tasks in general. Regarding theory and practice we constantly design, draw, calculate construct and then review by assessing. This process is obviously best described as practising a constant circle of improvement and the changing subjects spiral information in and out. Confidence based on knowledge and ability develops.
DeleteI look for what learning I possibly can get out of the situation and then move on rather rapidly most of the time. I get the students to display skills in the form of constructing projects as much as possible.
I look at learning as predominantly an individual engagement and try whenever possible to keep teams as small as possible BUT the students are always allowed to help each other.