12 days to go ... & so many things to say ‘goodbye’ to ..

Wow. Not only is the 1/7/11 the beginning of a new era but the 30/6/11 is also the ending (and the beginning of the ending ) of so many things that have been a part of our VET landscape for so long.

Hopefully it will be end of ...the crazy differences between state borders which lead to the discussions (read arguments) on who said what because of a post code!

While we are looking forward to the new VET era, it is also pertinent to take a moment and reflect on some goodbyes.

SixtySeconds, the enewsletter from Education Services Australia announced that this June newsletter is their final one “following a decision to consolidate Education Services Australia’s communication services” They go on to say ...

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support and contributions over the many years. In bringing SixtySeconds to you we hope we have been able to keep you informed about research and trends in education as we, together, embraced ICT in education and in our daily lives.”

I am sad to this newsletter go as I have always found something of interest in it and I have loved the way it always has had such a broad scope of national and international news and information.

Then in the next breadth they say edna is to be decommissioned commencing 30 June 2011

While I may not have been a visually active member of edna I have been a frequent lurker and often spent many hours on this site. Launched in my home town of Brisbane in 1997, she has been a big part of my personal learning and development over the years. “

Direct from the website is ...

edna news, events and resources

The edna website and most associated services will cease, including:

news headlines, newsletters, news RSS feeds (AND I have heaps of these)

resources, theme pages, search and browse functions and associated RSS feeds

event listings, schools calendar, event RSS feeds

Content currently on the site will be accessible until 30 September 2011

The me.edu.au professional networking service will cease on 30 September 2011

OzProjects (http://www.ozprojects.edu.au) .. funded as part of the edna suite of services and therefore will cease on 31 December 2011.

They do say ...

Every effort will be made to assist users to extract their own content where this applies. Please email your enquiries to support@edna.edu.au

And some good news is edna Groups (http://www.groups.edna.edu.au) and edna Lists (http://www.lists.edna.edu.au) will continue and they note

“It is expected that this service will be more community-based with help information provided on the site and through user forums”

Finally, in what feels like (well to me anyway..) a sad farewell they note ..

An edna Feedback Forum has been set up for anyone who would like to provide comments or take a journey through the history of edna.

Goodbye Edna, I for one will really miss you and I will make an entry in the feedback forum and finally turn from a lurker into a contributor. (I hope my lack of visual participation, combined with I’m sure so many others isn’t the reason for this demise)

And at least she will sort of continue albeit in another form.

And then there is the IBSA Wiki.  Yup Gone as well. Now I did contribute on this a fair bit and it is true that it was always getting spammed and there just wasn’t the critical mass of constant contributions to make it really vibrant.

I am pleased to note from both IBSA Website and in replay to an email I sent to them that they  ...”  are in the process of moving to other social networking opportunities in the near future, and will be in contact with you when this has occurred.” 

One thing is though that in the past I had used some of my comments as evidence of my currency and engaging in industry consultations.  Now all of that is gone I guess! (Another good reason to keep up my blogging and get my own Wiki up and running!)

Who Else? ... Yes that is right ...

TVET Australia is being ‘wound up’ and despite comments on the 25/3/11 in an open letter from the chairman Mr John Dawkins that there would be  ... “A detailed transition plan ....   with implementation in the second part of 2011”  and noting back then  “we would expect to provide advice in a number of weeks” ...

I haven’t heard anymore... Have you?  I could easily have missed it with everything going on, So if there has been further information I’d really like to know what it is please.

And of course TVET also has Training Products Australia (TPA). I am assuming ‘this’ is staying but as well know Training Packages as we currently know them are changing too with the first lot of new and improved versions due to be released sometime mid July.

Personally I am quite excited about this! ... I just can’t wait to see them.  I just wish I knew which ones were going to be unveiled FIRST!

Another part of the reason I am so interested in TVET is because it supports (or did support) such things as: the Flexible Learning Advisory Group (an incredibly GREAT organisation / program) as well as AEShareNet, and the Learning Objects Repository Network (LORN).

I’m just wondering what their future is in this changing landscape.

The other part of TVET’s other core business includes the management of the National Audit and Registration Agency (NARA), we were actually having a good discussion on this on Linked In but it seems like it has been ‘archived’ and I don’t seem to be able to access it anymore.

Anyway, one of my points was ... I was always impressed by what appeared to be the ‘set up’ of NARA (I know some people felt differently) but the only thing that stoped me going over was the difference in fees.  NOW it seems like we are going to have an increase in fees anyway with no indication that concepts like a relationship manager will be incorporated.

But who knows what the fees will be!  And with only 12 days to go ... I wonder how those RTOs are feeling who know in less than 2 weeks they have a new regulator but no idea of how much they will be paying for the privilege. 

Actually, through some other discussions I do have some idea about how some of them feel!

Which leads me into my last comment on ‘goodbyes’. I don’t want to be dramatic or overly pessimistic but I can’t help wondering and even being a bit fearful that the rest of 2011 and 2012 will see us saying ‘goodbye’ to a number of our brother and sister RTOs.  

I’m not talking about the few bad eggs or the coupe of cowboys every industry has. To them I say ‘good riddance’.  But rather I am thinking about the small niche RTOs and maybe even a few of the not so small RTOs. The RTOs who have been and continue to do a great job with and for their clients.

The ones who do care so much, who do provide such excellent, quality services and have glowing testimonials to prove it.  

I am fearful for them (and to be honest even a little for L&M) that the speed and degree of change, combined with almost an undercurrent of suspicion and distrust and then topped off with (perhaps) a substantial increase in fees ... will just mean that the ‘good guys’ just throw up their hands and say

“Seriously! It is just not worth it!”

Our VET landscape will be poorer, less diverse and most importantly our collective clients will be worse off, if that was to happen.

All of US ...surfing the swells

http://articlevolcano.net/surfing-the-swells-on-a-lanzarote-holiday.html

So from L&M’s point of view, we are riding the wave.

We know we have a strong board and the skills to match

 Layne or even Occy

(back in his day .. and now I’m showing my age!).

There is only 12 days till the first breakers of

this new dawn...

and in the meantime ...

‘Surf’s Up’ and the ride is exhilarating isn’t it!

PS If there is anything or anyone else we should ‘say goodbye’ to please let me know or just leave a comment below