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MAVIS BIRD
Education Specialist, (Technical and
Vocational Education and Training)
The Commonwealth of Learning
#1700 -
777 Dunsmuir Street
Vancouver, BC V7Y 1K4 |
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Ms. Bird is responsible for developing plans for the
Commonwealth of Learning's (COL) Technical and Vocational Education and
Training (TVET) initiatives, co- ordinating, managing and monitoring their
implementation and providing leadership and guidance in the development of
flexible delivery systems to meet the particular needs of TVET projects within
the identified goals and priorities of COL. Ms. Bird's experience in this field
was obtained in Australia where she worked for seventeen years in technical and
trade areas as an instructional designer and as head of an instructional design
department within a Technical and Further Education (TAPE) College. While in
this capacity, she was a prime force in the design, development and
implementation of the first competency-based, self-paced apprenticeship program
in Australia. This concept became very viable for industry and led to Ms. Bird
acting as a consultant to industry to develop training systems in technical
fields. Prior to her appointment to COL, she was Manager, Educational Services,
TAPE Off-Campus, the distance education organization of the college system in
Victoria state. |
Educator's Perspective on the Quality of the Educational
Experience
The statement "Technology is a solution looking for a problem"
is perhaps more true in the educational sense than in other spheres of
technology usage. The implications of this have a marked impact on the quality
of the educational experience from the viewpoint of the teacher or instructor.
Effective educational use of technologies has traditionally lagged well behind
the availability, primarily because educators have not immediately been able to
determine their applicability. This phenomenon has been repeated with
remarkable predictability over the years as the technologies have emerged. But
once a "problem" has been found that the technologies may satisfactorily
address, it moves swiftly to become the panacea of all instructional dilemmas.
The struggles that are evident in the education sector now as the World Wide
Web and it's implications for education become evident, are colored by some of
the same perceptions as when video tape entered our schools. But the new
dimension today is the increased commercialization and the resulting quality
this competitiveness can bring to our educational offerings. |