Podcasts for Professional Development (PD)

As all trainers and assessors know well (or should know…) we must maintain the currency of our industry skills and our trainer/assessor competencies. This ensures that we give our learners a training and assessment experience that reflects both current practices in our industry area (whether that’s business management or boat building) and the latest developments in the knowledge and practice of vocational training, learning and assessment.

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Where to find out more?

The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) has a guide for individuals that sets out how trainers and assessors can demonstrate that they’re complying with this requirement, as well as a ‘Spotlight On’ resource for RTOs.

One of the acceptable forms of evidence is “personal development through the reading of journals”. Sometimes I find it easier to take in and retain information by listening to it rather than reading it, and so I’d like to share with you some of the podcasts I listen to in order to keep my knowledge of all things VET up to date.

Tip: If you can retain the information, listening at 1.5x speed or even faster is a great way to get more done in less time.

Recommended Podcasts

• Vocational Voices by NCVER (Spotify) - This podcast discusses current trends in vocational education and training. As it often discusses NCVER’s latest releases, it’s a great way to discover more potentially-relevant reading you can do for further PD and hear a summary of the content (so you can decide whether or not it’s worth your time).

• What now? What next? by Claire Field & Associates (BuzzSprout) - Hosted by education consultant Claire Field, this podcast hosts interviews with leaders and experts from across Australian VET and Higher Education, as well as global ed-tech figures. It’s not always directly relevant for trainers and assessors but it’s a great way to stay informed about what’s going on where VET policy is made.

• VEPodcast by SpecTraining (Website) - Hosted by Dan Hill of SpecTraining, this podcast hears from those at the ‘sharp end of the sector’. It’s an excellent listen for trainers and assessors as a lot of the episodes are very focused, covering a particular practical skill in under 10 minutes.

• The WorkED Podcast by ReadyTech (Spotify) - Produced by education technology company ReadyTech, this podcast is a great source of information about what’s happening on the cutting edge of education technology - things that if they’re not already relevant to your work as a trainer and assessor, soon will be.

These are by no means the only relevant podcasts out there - let us know your own favourites in the comments!

Documenting your listening

When and if you’re ever asked to prove you’ve been maintaining currency it’s not what you did (or listened to), but what you can prove you did that’s important. Therefore, make sure you keep a record of your activities. I like to note down the following details in the relevant section of my Trainer Profile (aka Competency Record aka Professional Development Log aka Trainer Matrix aka many other names!):

• The date of the activity

• The name and producer of the podcast

• A link to where I listened to it (Spotify, Youtube, iTunes etc.)

• How long I spent listening to and reflecting on the podcast

• Some brief notes answering these three questions:

  • What did I do? e.g. Listened to the episode “Online VET: a good course of action?” from the Vocational Voices podcast.

  • What did I learn? e.g. I learned about NCVER’s latest research into how effective online VET learning is compared with face-to-face instruction (roughly equal in terms of student outcomes and employer satisfaction); some of the issues currently affecting online delivery (e.g. higher withdrawal rates); and best practice tips for online VET facilitation (how communication should be structured).

  • How will I apply what I learned to my role? e.g. I will apply what I learned about the best way to communicate with online learners by incorporating a survey into my first contact with students, asking them to tell me when and how they would prefer to be contacted during their course.

Final Word

Listening to relevant podcasts can be a great way to partially meet the requirement to keep your knowledge of the practice of vocational training, learning and assessment up to date, especially for auditory learners. Just make sure you keep a record of your listening activities, including how you’re going to apply anything you learn!