February 2017

K Company: V Training Australia Name: Veronica Reilly Email: [email protected] Web Address: www. vtrainingaustralia.edu.au Address: Level 14, 167 Eagle St Brisbane QLD 4000 Telephone: 1300 130 942 The Future of Technology in Education g Australia, our colleagues in the education industry, AUSTRADE, Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ), Queensland Department of Education, Ministry of Education, China and ASQA to stay abreast of the latest research and predictions for the Asia Pacific Region, with an emphasis on online education. “We have needed to overcome numerous legislative and cultural barriers to assist with entering the vocational market in China. From issues with technology speeds and access to Australian websites to working with locally based institutions to legally import our textbooks into the country to support the Diploma programs. We continue to work tirelessly to establish a reputation in China, where we are new.” The internal culture at V Training goes a long way to ensuring that staff are equipped with the necessary skills to provide the best possible service to its clients. “We have a very collaborative culture where trainers, designers and senior staff members are provided with the freedom to be creative in their problem solving. This encourages accountability and responsibility to assist the business to succeed, which is always related to student and client support services. “Other staff are provided with work from home options and are encouraged to use technology to communicate and report on work progress. This builds a culture of trust and accomplishment, as they are not assessed on the time they work but by what is produced by the end of the week. “It doesn’t work for everyone, which is great! We only want people that can work within our unique culture to be part of the family. It just works for us.” With regards to recruitment, Veronica likes to keep it all in-house. “We do not use third party providers to recruit any of our team members,” she says. “We do it all ourselves as only we can communicate the passion and unique culture we have! We often have potential candidates complete tasks to demonstrate competency and rely on referee checks and previous work outputs to determine suitability. However, we find that we’ll hire someone with a great attitude with fewer skills and knowledge than someone that is not team orientated but meets the job brief. “We are a training company, so we thrive on building not only our client’s and student’s skills and knowledge but also our team members.” Veronica has great aspirations for the future of V Training and the industry itself as a whole. “I would like V Training Australia not only to be the best supplier of online education products to China but also have students from India, Singapore and Japan by 2022. “We look forward to speaking with parents and potential students throughout the Asia Pacific Region about our exceptional online Diploma program and how we can provide an alternative pathway to enter university in Australia. “With regards to the industry, all the research today points to online learning being the future of education. With the latest technology now allowing educators to develop programs that facilitate video chat between trainer and students, the rapid development of interactive e-learning content, add instant messaging with group discussion forums to promote social learning and students having access to the theory 24/7 means that online learning is not just online. “To be successful, it needs to combine offline activities such as practice activities that involve other students and volunteers, access to trainer using various communication channels and have structured live webinars and 1-on-1 coaching sessions to support the student throughout the program. This is the formulae to success, and our programs were designed and developed with this in mind.”