E-learning helps address cabling skills shortage

An additional 15,000 skilled telecommunications workers are estimated to be required to implement the National Broadband Network (NBN) and those already in the electrotechnology industry will need retraining, according to Innovation and Business Skills Australia. The shortage of skilled cablers and digital installers due to the rollout of the NBN is being met through e-learning.

In Western Australia, line and cable workers have been placed as top priority on the WA State Priority Occupations List.

Integracom Management Group, a Western Australia-based training organisation, has turned to e-learning as a solution for delivering training in this critical skills shortage area. In 2009, the company received funding and support from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (AFLF) for developing a moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) site for online training and course assessment.

Moodle is a free e-learning software platform. E-learning provided an ideal training solution as many of Integracom’s learners were mature-aged workers who were time poor, geographically isolated and unable to attend traditional classroom training, Project Manager Brad Knox said.

As Australia embarks on several important communications infrastructure projects, such as the NBN, it was vital that training was made available to people across Australia, including rural areas, to ensure there were people with the specialist skills required to complete these projects, Knox said.

Integracom secured additional Framework funding in 2010 to develop a virtual IP network simulator training and assessment tool which allowed remote learners to practice skills for the Certificate III in Telecommunications. The company’s e-learning projects were funded and supported by AFLF's e-learning innovations business activity, which integrates and embeds e-learning into the national training system by supporting and enabling innovation in training design and delivery.

The AFLF is an e-learning strategy for the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. It was launched as a strategy in 2000, responding to information and communications technology (ICT) developments in workplaces and society. The Australian Government and all states and territories agreed to work together nationally to advance the use of e-learning in VET.