Australian education portal
http://online.nmit.vic.edu.au/about.htm
The NMIT Online Team carries out research, develops and delivers professional development in Online education, are WWW developers and facilitate Online delivery.
The NET Online Team at Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE is an innovative 'virtual team', that is, the team manages projects, creates online courses and communicates mainly online.
The team live all over Australia and New Zealand, and have infrequent face to face meetings and workshops. The main business is done online using a communications product called 'FirstClass'.
"Over the past dozen years, I've seen many organisations use group collaboration tools to support remote, virtual teams. But I have never seen anything to compare with the expertise that NMIT has developed in using FirstClass (TM) conferencing in its online teaching team.
They've cracked the code on using this collaboration tool so that team members, scattered across Australia and beyond, can both work together apart and feel together apart. Their processes for maintaining social bonds between distant team members are particularly insightful, innovative and effective. This is an example of world class best practice."
The Online Team is part of a consortium which has developed five modules in professional development for educators, trainers and administrative assistants in managing and delivering online courses with the TAFE Virtual Campus. This project has been highly innovative and has included online training in the TAFEVC, a web site, a set of printed resources, communications and marketing plan and delivery of the training across the state of Victoria. It continues in 2001 across the state.
The modules are:
Orientation to TAFEVC
Learning with the TAFEVC
Teaching with the TAFEVC
Teaching Online Managing the TAFEVC