About Training O₂

At its simplest level Training O₂ is a web application that allows you to submit and review links to training resources.

On another level Training O₂ can be played as an emergent, serious gaming, social media driven learning activity. In this case you will choose, or have assigned, a set of units from Australian training packages. Tasks will be set based on the performance criteria listed in the package, with the complexity and depth of your tasks determined by the key competency performance levels set out in the units. You'll need to complete a series of actions (e.g. resource selection, voting, tagging, commenting, adding quiz questions and content creation) for each task. These actions will be peer reviewed through the social software interface and progress through the 'game' will depend on a positive review from a number of other players. Once a unit or group of units has been completed the game is over, and you'll be ready for recognition or assessment for a statement of attainment, certificate or qualification.

License

User generated content will be made available under a Creative Commons attribution license, allowing other players to take existing resources and add to them (rip, mix & burn) so that material can evolve and grow.

Who's it for?

Trainees, students, teachers and HR professionals working with the Australian Quality Training Framework - or anyone else interested in picking up some real-world vocational skills in a collaborative social media environment.

Some Possible Scenarios

Teachers and Trainers

Meet Peter, he teaches at TAFE. After working through the lessons at to2.wikispaces.com with his Certificate III I.T. class, he started using Training O₂ to...

• have students find, rate and comment on resources after working through a lesson
• get students to search for resources on a subject before a lesson, and then rate and comment on them after the lesson in the light of what they'd learned
• set 'reading lists' of resources for students to explore and then rate for homework so as to find the 'best' resource for that subject
• allow students to create a multi-choice questions for a resource, before attempting and rating each other's questions
• have students create content and then link to it for their peers to vote on

His whole class have added each other to their 'friends' lists, and keep track of the class' postings using an RSS feed aggregator.

Self Directed Learners

This is Mick, he wanted to find work in the coal industry and heard about Training O₂ from a friend. Searching for the word 'coal', he discovered several pre-made courses. He subscribed to the one called 'Surface Coal Operations' and his unit list was populated with some tasks.

He started out with one called: 'Communicate information' To finish the task he was asked to look for web pages that addressed the 'performance criteria' (PCs) for the unit. When he found some information on the net he posted a link and a short review on the Training O₂ site. He also had to leave comments on the resouces that other people had found for the unit. Whenever he located a resource, or left a comment, or reviewed a site, his stats were updated; and after picking up enough 'cred' he was awarded a citation on his Training O₂ profile and progressed to the next part of the course: 'Handle raw coal'.

This next task required him to create some web pages (on a wiki) which explained the handling process. He also took photos of the coal handling operations around Lithgow and posted them on flickr; and got some feedback from other players on the Training O₂ site who were attempting the same task. Finally, he read through and commented on material other players had created; and used some of it on his wiki page. During this time he met up with several other players running the same quest, and found out that some of them were attending the local TAFE course in Coal Operations, He's thinking about taking the material he created through Training O₂ to the TAFE to see if he can get recognition for his efforts.

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