Australian Students

Skills First Teacher, is a Trainer delivering and assessing Victorian students funded under the Skills First program

Trainer, is our Trainers whom may be delivering and assessing to non-funded students on any of our campuses. For the purposes of simplicity, the online service standard will refer to Skills First Teachers and Trainers as ‘Trainer(s)’.

LMS, is our Learning Management System

Online service, our online service may be on-campus or off-campus accessing the LMS

Academia’s LMS can be found at https://online.academia21.com/LMS/. The LMS is hosted in a secured data warehouse and has a 99% uptime service agreement.

Your data is secured using both the data warehouse firewall system and security measures, along with the built-in security features of the LMS.

Only Trainers responsible for your training and assessment, along with authorise administrative staff can access your data in the LMS.

Academia will provide the following support to its students studying any aspect of their course online:

Trainers:

1. Are available for questions about learning and assessment during the scheduled class times
2. Are available via messaging through the LMS and will endeavour to respond to messages outside of class time within 2 business days
3. Will make assessment decisions and provide feedback within 7 days of an assessment submission

Administrative support:

1. The Student Services team are available Monday to Friday 8.30AM to 6.00PM:
1. Melbourne 03 9671 4755 or MELStudentServices@academia21.com
2. Brisbane 07 3001 5300 or BNEStudentServices@academia21.com
2. The Student Services team will respond to email enquires on the same business day during normal office hours, or the next business day when out of hours

IT Support and Helpdesk for technical enquires:

1. The IT Helpdesk is available Monday to Friday 9:00AM to 5:00PM at ithelpdesk@academia21.com and on-campus in Melbourne (room 8.11)
2. Will respond to enquires during the same day if normal business hours, otherwise the next business day

Support services:

1. Counselling services are available by appointment between 10:00AM to 3:00PM Monday to Friday in person of via video or phone call.
2. Appoints can be made by email to swo@academia21.com or 03 9671 4755
3. International Student whom have visa-related enquires can email studentservices@academia21.com, please allow 24 hours for a visa-related response.

Academia conducts a pre training review for prospective students to determine whether a course is suitable and appropriate for their individual needs. This includes an assessment of your digital literacy by:

1. Asking you to complete an online Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) assessment
2. Discussing any outcomes of the assessment and whether the course is suitable for you and/or identifying any additional support where required

Minimum digital literacy skills required:

1. Able to turn on an off a device
2. Able to use a web browser to locate a URL
3. Able to navigate around a website using the built-in navigation features
4. Able to download and upload documents to a website
5. Able to use basic functions of a Word processing, Spreadsheet and Presentation package
6. Able to access email to send and receive email messages

Academia uses an LMS for online delivery and assessment.

You are required to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to access the LMS. The following is the minimal technology requirements for you to participate and access the LMS:

1. It is recommended that the device has a keyboard, suitable storage for schoolwork and it must have sufficient battery life for the school day (battery should last at least 8 hours under normal use).
2. The minimum system requirement for BYO device is an i3 processor with 4GB of memory, 10GB of free disk, and a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024, with wireless card that supports WPAEnterprise mode (i.e. 802.1X mode), and latest Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to access LMS, and latest operating system

Recommendations for specific platforms:

1. Windows: (Laptop/Tablet/Desktop) The minimum recommended device is an 3 processor with 4GB of memory, 10GB of free disk, and a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024, OS latest Windows 10.
2. iPad: The minimum recommended device is an iPad3/iPad mini retina running on iOS 7.1. You must use the Google Chrome browser to access the LMS.
   *Please note that while an iPad will work with the LMS, a device with a separate keyboard, such as a laptop will provide a better LMS user experience. At a minimum you should have an external keyboard for your iPad. Also, it is required that you have administrator permissions to allow cookies for some LMS content.
3. MabBook/iMAC: The minimum recommended device is an i5 processor with 4GB of memory, and 200GB of free disk, running on Apple Mac 10.9 (Maverick). Use the Google Chrome browser to access the LMS. Also, it is required that you have administrator permissions to allow cookies for some LMS content.
4. Android Tablets: The minimum recommended device is Galaxy Tablet 10″ running on Android OS 4.4 (Kit Kat). Only work on tablets that have a screen that is 10 inches or more.
5. Mobile phones: Any Mobile Phone device is not supported by the LMS, this includes Apple and Android devices

Other considerations when using a BYOD:

1. Students will be responsible for the care and maintenance of their device. Academia takes no responsibility for any damage or loss of a student’s device
2. Students need to have their device password protected so that no other student can access the device. It should not be left where other students can gain access to them.
3. Students must be respectful of other students’ property and privacy at all time not share usernames or passwords with anyone or use / interfere with another student’s device.
4. Students must regularly backup their data at home to another data storage device
5. Academia does not have insurance to cover the loss or damage to mobile devices so we strongly advise that you check your personal insurance coverage and ensure your insurance company covers this. If a device is lost or damaged at the campus it is your responsibility for it to be replaced or repaired.

Academia ensures that learning materials used in its online training are interactive and presented in a variety of formats:

1. Interactive lessons in real-time with your Trainer (Zoom classrooms, breakout rooms, Kahoots)
2. Video
3. Audio
4. Textbooks
5. Interactive and guided content

Where possible, Academia uses learning materials that meet the "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines" WCAG 2.0. standard (https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/)

Academia provides an online learning experience that is used both on and off campus. Academia ensures the experience is engaging and interactive, we monitor all student progress via the engagement with the LMS.

You can interact with your Trainer(s) and other students in class through:

1. Live, interactive lessons
2. Breakout rooms
3. Forums and message boards

Ongoing feedback will be provided through:

1. Interaction with Trainers during online sessions
2. In response to questions you may ask your Trainer
3. During assessment tasks

Academia will contact you if you have not accessed the LMS within the first 2 weeks of a term commencing.

You will be deemed to have withdrawn from the course if you:

1. Have not logged on within the first 2 weeks of term commencement; and
2. If after 2 attempts to contact you about your non-commencement, you do not engage with us we consider you withdrawn (this is known as an inactive withdrawal);
3. Academia will write to you if we intend to withdraw you

Academia will use at least 2 modes of assessment for each unit of competency/accredited module. Forms of assessment include:

1. Demonstration of practical skills
2. Written questions and quizzes
3. Projects/Assignments
4. Case studies
5. Role plays

All trainers and assessors delivering online courses at Academia are experienced in online delivery and have undertaken professional development in online delivery, which includes:

1. Formal qualifications in online training; or
2. Participating in staff professional development activities with other Trainers
3. Trainers with high-level online skills mentor other Trainers