Digitally Enabling 'Learning by Doing' in Vocational Education

Dr Selena Chan is an educational developer at Ara Institute of Canterbury Ltd.(formerly Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology – CPIT). Selena began her working life as a pastry cook, and taught baking for 25 years before shifting into a staff development role. As an educational developer, she undertakes curriculum and learning design and the implementation of technology-enhanced learning projects across a range of vocational education discipline areas. Selena has led a range of vocational educational pedagogical based studies to improve the learning for trades students and vocational learners. Many of these projects were funded by Ako Aotearoa, the New Zealand Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence, and these studies often included the building of research capability with vocational educators. Projects include studies of the perspectives of trade practitioners who become trade teachers, the perspectives of apprentices on how they go about learning a trade, the importance and support of peer learning in vocational learning, the design, development and implementation of a range of technology towards enhancing vocational learning including mobile phones, tablets and social networking platforms, and the role of e-assessments for learning to support learners towards completing New Zealand graduate profile based qualifications. Selena has also published extensively in vocational education journals and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Vocational Education and Training and co-editor for the International Journal of Training Research.