Once an online module or course gets underway, and following the orientation session, there are a number of ways of building a face-to-face component into your classes.

While knowledge areas are well-handled online, face-to-face sessions are a good place to deal with attitudes and hands-on skills. For example, in Exemplar 4, the theory relating to medications and the legal side of injections is first covered online, and then there are face-to-face demonstrations of how to give an injection, along with student assessments.

One way of bringing students together is at a residential. In many cases, the students come on campus during the residential, but sometimes, residentials are held where the students are, with teachers travelling to work with them:

‘Face-to-face sessions have been built into the course each term. The students, mentors and I meet at a central location to reinforce the learning that has occurred online, and to conduct assessments. The first face-to-face session was held at Moree... For some of the students, this was their first trip outside their home towns, so it was very significant. They stayed overnight in a caravan park, and had the session with me the next day.’

Tutorials are another way that teachers supplement online learning with a face-toface component. Typically, a teacher will organise a time where students can come and see him or her, or arrange for students to work in a learning centre with assistance from a tutor.

Videoconferencing is yet another way of conducting face-to-face. Unfortunately, a number of factors are limiting the use of videoconferencing at the moment, including high cost, and lack of access and equipment in particular locations. However, the impact of factors like these is likely to diminish as transmission channels improve. Already, a number of the teachers interviewed in this project are assessing the use of videoconference or waiting for prices to drop.

In addition to residentials, tutorials, and videoconferencing, there are a number of other ways of building a face-to-face component into a course, including:

  • directing students to attend seminars run by the industry
  • arranging for workplace demonstrations by a certified mentor
  • requiring participation in formal courses such as Frontline Management
  • arranging for work in other industry sectors, or with suppliers or contractors. Finally, assessments are another way of building in face-to-face; for example:
  • assessments of practical skills in areas such as nursing [Exemplar 4]
  • assessments linked with legislative requirements in areas such as occupational health and safety [Exemplar 1].