FINAL PROJECT REPORT

Final Report LINK (pdf)
The Final Report is provided in PDF format. If you have any difficulty opening the file, please post a comment here to let me know.

Abstract
This report examines the proposed influence that the NBN will have on the delivery of distance education within the vocational, education and training sectors. The NBN will provide FTTP for an estimated 90 percent of the Australian population with speeds of 100 Mbps and will provide a major advancement in broadband enabled learning through enabling complex interactive learning content to be delivered to distance education students. It may well revolutionise the manner in which distance education is both portrayed and delivered in Australia.

To determine the role that NBN could make to distance education and broadband enabled learning, a review of the literature was conducted to evaluate past studies and the general consensus of what was the current relationship between these two delivery methods. To examine a more localised effect of the NBN, an interview was conducted with the Learning Technology manager of TAFE Tasmania to obtain an assessment of how the NBN would affect their distance education course delivery.

From the literature it was ascertained that within the VET sector broadband bandwidth was a major inhibitor to providing complex interactive multimedia learning content and retarded synchronous communication between student to student and student to teacher communication in real time.

It was also identified from recent research that broadband enabled learning provided an opportunity for distance education students to enjoy interaction that had not previously been available to them and thereby improved their learning experience. Overall the results indicate that:

1. The NBN should be able to provide high capacity bandwidth for the delivery of complex interactive multimedia learning content to distance education students located in Australia. However, distance education students located in regional locations may still be disadvantage in bandwidth with lower capacity available through satellite and wireless delivery of the NBN.
2. The NBN should be able to improve learning experience for distance education students by enabling greater interaction between student to student and student to teacher interactivity via communication technologies that support synchronous communication in real time.

1st November
I am still putting the final touches to the project report. It has been both interesting and challenging, especially when setting a timetable to work to and not becoming too involved; at least not to the point of swimming in all the research you can collect. But all in all it has been a worthwhile exercise.

In many ways it would have been useful to take it on further. The project was limited to one TAFE institute. It would have interesting to have found out about the other TAFE institutes in other states and to find out if students would utilise distance education if there was greater interactivity and social networking, or as the literature has indicated that the vast majority of distance education students are mature and are looking to further their careers or career changes if they would prefer the isolation, self taught, self directed approach to education delivery. Or the consideration that with greater development and use of ICTs such as NBN whether distance education is actual distance anymore, as more on campus students take courses online and are not required to attend classroom gatherings or lectures.

Only time will tell.

28th October
Looks like there could be more trouble over the Tasmania Tomorrow reforms. As mentioned earlier the Tasmania Tomorrow legislation involved the split of TAFE Tasmania into the Tasmanian Polytechnic and Skills Institute and the Colleges into the Academy. Well the teachers are moving against it threatening strike action which may include TAFE teachers, even down to kindergarten level. It looks like a considerable upheaval in the Tasmanian education system. We will have to wait and see what pans out.

27th October
Not much to report. Still working on the discussion and review of the introduction. Also continuing research into areas that have cropped up and require further clarification.

15th October
Continuing to develop the discussion topics and relate them back to the themes identified in the literature review.

I have found the interview the most interesting part of the project. It is interesting to get first-hand knowledge from a person involved in what you are researching on rather than by a secondary source. To hear the conflicts, barriers and disappoints that occur as well as the achievements and pride in the successes such as the development of the QTImPlayer, as it won an award in Spain.