If you thought you could just update your old paper-based learning resources to deliver the new CPC40120 Certificate IV in Building and Construction, or CPC50220 Diploma in Building and Construction, you might be in for a rude shock.
Not only are the units completely rewritten, but they also require students to have access to digital resources as part of the assessment conditions.
For example, the new unit CPCCBC4002 Manage work health and safety in the building and construction workplace (which is a core unit in both Certificate IV and Diploma of Building and Construction) states the following in the Assessment Conditions:
“Assessment can be undertaken in the workplace or in a simulated workplace environment.
A simulated environment is one that realistically replicates workplace conditions, materials and equipment, interactions with others and workplace irregularities, and which meets industry standards for safety and environmental practices.
Candidates must have access to:
- business equipment to collect and record data, and produce reports
- digital devices, applications and software to research, transmit and receive information electronically.“
This is because the way this competency is carried out in the real world, in the construction industry, has fundamentally changed. Tradies and builders now use laptops, tablets and PCs to collect and record data, and produce reports, and sophisticated software and spreadsheets to research, transmit and receive information electronically. They also rely on cloud-based systems, and the internet.
So RTOs who still think it’s ok to give their students a printed textbook with some printed PDF learner guides and paper-based assessment are really doing their students a disservice. In fact, it could be argued that those kinds of resources do not meet the requirements of assessment.
Relying on paper-based resources and assessment simply is not a realistic simulation of the construction workplace in 2021.
Another example is found in CPCCBC4005 Produce labour and material schedules for ordering. This unit has Foundation Skills, which state:
“As well as the foundation skills explicit in the performance criteria of this unit, candidates require:
technology skills to:
use digital devices to communicate and collaborate effectively with suppliers, contractors and others
use equipment and programs to prepare and access electronic call forward sheets and files.
The Assessment Conditions for this unit state:
Candidates must have access to:
digital devices, applications and software to set up electronic call forward sheets, compile site files and create channels of communication with internal and external stakeholders.“
Once again, it would be impossible to create a simulated work environment for this unit without using digital devices, applications and software. In addition, in the modern construction industry workers regularly access legislation, building codes, safety bulletins and local council regulations using the internet.
These requirements appear in almost every unit in CPC40120 Certificate IV in Building and Construction, and CPC50220 Diploma in Building and Construction.
So, how can RTOs meet the Assessment Conditions, and provide a realistic simulated work environment to students studying these qualifications?
The solution is to use a cloud-based Learning Management System, that integrates all of the features required for compliant training and assessment for the CPC Training Package. Students should have access to electronic software, spreadsheets, applications for construction, and digital files such as specifications, plans, standards and electronic templates. The resources not only need to include these, but they should also be integrated into the assessment as well.
Here at Edubytes we sometimes get asked if we supply paper-based learning and assessment resources for construction training. The answer is ‘no’, because doing so would not only be a poor learning experience, it would also be non-compliant, and an invalid form of assessment. Some people have actually claimed that RTOs must provide paper-based resources. This is clearly false, and would not meet the requirements of the new training package.
Instead, we use Australia’s most sophisticated Learning Management System to provide our RTO clients with the largest technical library for construction training, and custom-built scenarios for the richest, most authentic workplace simulations and assessment. Students have up-to-date standards, workplace documents, templates and software at their finger-tips, to help them learn and demonstrate the skills they need in real-life. Our award-winning content writers and instructional designers are qualified tradies themselves, who know exactly what it takes to work in and operate businesses in the building industry in 2021.
So if you are looking to update your learning resources to the new CPC training package, let us help you bring your training into the 21st century. Your students and trainers will love you for it, and so will your compliance manager.
Talk to us about our state-of-the-art learning and assessment resources for the construction training package
