Approval process

• Use a project management tool or a template with in-built checkpoint stages

Responsibility

• Responsibility for quality assurance of short courses may be assigned through the organisation but ultimately rests with senior managers in a Registered Training Organisation.

Staff qualifications

• All teachers/trainers/consultants should meet the requirements of the AQTF (minimum Certificate IV with relevant industry expertise)
• Ask new staff to demonstrate their training skills in a mock training session.

Risk planning and risk management

• Ensure that risk planning management for short courses occurs within the overall risk management strategy of the Registered Training Organisation by including short courses in the internal risk management audit plan.
• Prioritise risk planning for short courses relating to compliance and those with occupational health and safety issues associated with them.
• Undertake costing and timing threshold assessments to determine whether short courses are well subscribed and can proceed.

Development and design of short courses

• Short course development should occur through consultations with teaching departments, industry and specialist centres.
• Ensure short course designers are subject experts.
• A documented design or scoping process ensures that objectives, market, delivery modes etc are all addressed.
• In the case of short courses designed for industry, validate the design with the industry.
• Use an instructional design expert where possible.
• Use focus groups regularly to examine industries’ current and future training needs and emerging trends.
• Piloting short courses in the first instance can inform the course design.
• Consider aligning industry short courses to the AQF to facilitate future pathways.

Certification

• On a Certificate of Participation consider including both the course duration and the number of hours actually attended.
• Ensure all certificates have a date of issue and a year of completion.

Marketing

• An online short courses directory is effective
• Use direct marketing to individuals and organisations
• Clearly identify alignment of the short course to any nationally accredited training
• Use strategic mailings to particular organisations and industries
• Promote short course offerings through industry newsletters and industry events (eg: business breakfasts)
• Use the participant database to market upcoming/new courses to previous participants and alumni
• Short courses are aligned to nationally recognised competencies, and short courses are used as a pathway into traineeships and the Diploma. (RIST)
• Articulation pathways are clearly identified in the course directory where they apply
• Use the website to provide students with information on how courses relate to each other

Course Evaluation

• Obtain direct feedback from participants in a timely manner
• Obtain feedback from the Human Resources sections of respective organisations commissioning the training
• Obtain feedback from facilitators of short courses
• Use a template short course evaluation form so comparisons can be made over time and trends identified
• Translate data into graphs/charts and share with colleagues/clients
• Undertake a ‘student impact’ telephone survey 3-6 months after the short course to seek feedback on how the skills and knowledge gained have been applied, whether the training met expectations and other feedback
• Analyse data regarding enrolments, cancellations, completions and take action on positive and negative patterns emerging from the data
• Data from telephone surveys provides rich information including how the short courses have changed the employment and outcomes for the participants and leads to repeat business

Prerequisites

• Some short courses have prerequisites, and there are many that provide pathways to other courses
• For VET sector courses, the prerequisites are mainly possessing the relevant level of experience. Most courses are offered at the Certificate IV or Diploma level
• We use a pre-course and post-course evaluation survey. When an individual makes an enquiry about a course, they are sent a pre-course survey that requires them to document their previous experience against the competencies that will be covered in the course. We then make the decision about whether they possess the experience to undertake the course or not. If not, we try to direct them to a more appropriate course.
• Yes, these are documented in the short courses brochure. For example, the Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) course requires participants hold a First Aid Level 2.
• Prerequisites function as an entry requirement for the course if students want to be assessed. If they don’t have the prerequisite, they can still do the course, but cannot be assessed.

Recognition of informal learning/prior learning

• If the participant expresses an intention of going on to do a qualification under the AQF, recognition is implemented. Applicants are provided with a coach who leads them through an assessment process.
• If the course is accredited, then there is an obligation to recognise informal or prior learning. RPL outside accredited courses does occur, based on provision of certificates and evidence of relevant work.
• If the course is not nationally accredited, and the applicant has appropriate industry experience and has completed a course relevant to the skill set, then articulation may occur.
• Courses undertaken at other providers are recognised under AQTF arrangements, if they are nationally accredited. Otherwise, RPL applies.
• Certificates of Participation are not recognised, as they provide no evidence of achievement, only of attendance.
• Completion of short courses within a Registered Training Organisation has been used to obtain entry into accredited courses (eg OH&S, Floristry, Beauty, Food Safety)
• Recognition by other providers is not established in the Registered Training Organisations used in the case studies

Information about potential articulation

• Information is provided to potential students through the Corporate Development Program directory and by sales and marketing people prior to enrolment. The Corporate Development Program directory provides a discrete section at the front on pathways and building qualifications from short courses and each course provides information on pathways relevant to that short course.
• Students are informed of the possibility of articulation on the website and through the individual short course brochures.
• Students are provided with an ‘assessment kit’ in their course materials. This section alerts them to the possibility of units building towards a full qualification.