Point-Of-View goggles, GoPros, iPads, YouTube and Moodle  are just some of the tools used by the modern-day building and construction educator.

Brett McCroary, TAFE Illawarra building and construction teacher, is an expert when it comes to using online tradie tools. 

He shared his insights with more than 200 educators from the vocational education and training and tertiary education sectors at the 2015 MoodleMoot Australia Conference, from July 6-8.

Having played a key role in developing TAFE Illawarra’s first-ever online certificate IV in building and construction (building) course, Mr McCroary, 41, was approached by conference organisers to present on developing online trades training courses.

The  event was designed to help educators improve their teaching practices with online learning software tools.

As a former tradie, Mr McCroary said his industry experience provided the basis for developing a course suited to the busy lives of builders and small business owners who want to secure a building licence.

He said it had been great to display ‘‘a new way of teaching’’. 

“Understanding the schedule of a builder, I saw an opportunity to evolve our traditional two-year, face-to-face course into something that gives people a choice to study when and where they want.

“To do that, we created a blended delivery model, utilising the online learning platform Moodle and Adobe Connect.

“This means students can choose to study online only, or they can opt to attend classes for three nights per week over a 40-week period if they still prefer the face-to-face aspect of learning,’’ he said.

‘‘Moodle resources include the recorded classes, learning videos created by the teachers, self-marking practice and assessment quizzes, books and forums.

“The results so far have been encouraging. Enrolments were 300 per cent higher this year.”