A database of elements taken from the ICA05 training package.
Littering a dark and dreary road lie the relics of the old ICA99.
Today, we must clear the mind of past practices. Enlightenment has been achieved thanks to the tireless efforts of folk like ANTA, NTIS and the ISC .
The Bathurst TAFE BA&IT department invites you to relax and meditate on the important learning outcomes of the masters. Begin to see with clarity. Learn to use the (yet to be) time-honored ICA05. Become one with the training package.
There is clearly a need for ICA05 to be integrated into lesson plans and assessment tasks. Currently (June 2006) you can only get the training package as a PDF file . I asked NTIS for a better format, and got back the reply: "we're woking at it".
I don't have much time for searching through two 600 page PDF documents, cutting and pasting and re-formatting units, and wondered why this information wasn't availiable as a database or an XML file. Why should hundreds of teachers have to do this the hard way?
Well... I had a couple of spare days so I kludged together some code that read the original PDF documents and fed the results into a database. There are a few things that I want do with this. Creating syllabus documents with the minimum of fuss being the first on a growing list.
Why stop there? How about: auto-generating moodle module skeletons; programmatically creating tiddlyWiki's for each unit; building a database of activities that address specific learning outcomes, and automagically finding other units that these activities might also be used for - and thats after just 15 seconds of thought, I'm sure you could think of more.
Right now, we're in the test phase, I'm just a programmer/teacher (and not a very careful one at that) - so there's no guarantees that all the data is in the right places. I can verify that all 229 units were imported, that all the learning outcomes (elements) and performance criteria are there, and that all the other fields have some information in them, but I haven't read every unit in detail, so if you see an obvious error please contact me: peter.shanks@tafensw.edu.au and let me know.
I'm also keen to hear from you if you have any ideas for enhancing the user experience; adding to the data; or thoughts about applications that could build around the database - don't be shy, I haven't bitten anyone for weeks now.
Why participate? For recognition, inspiration, and a resource we can all refer to when making new course materials. One day this database will be a historical curiosity; but that day is not today.
All care, no responsibility...
The database was built from the current ICA05 training package document (note: it does not include the 86 units imported into ICA05 from other training packages)
ICA05 could, and probably will, be updated during its lifetime, so you'll need to check that any information you get from here is still current. Here's the version and release info on the document I used from the NTIS web site:
Published by:
Australian Training Products Ltd
Level 25/ 150 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
PO Box 12211 A’Beckett St Post Office
Melbourne VIC 8006
Telephone : +61 3 9655 0600
Facsimile: +61 3 9639 4684
E-mail: sales@atpl.net.au
Website: http://www.atpl.net.au
First published: November 2005
Stock Code Number: T03GTMK1
ISBN: 0 642 80392 7
Printed by: Mercury Printeam, Melbourne, Australia
AEShareNet Code: P
Print Version No: 1
Release Date: 30/11/2005