Exciting news for ForestLearning and WoodSolutions, a number of new educational developments have occurred this year across the secondary and tertiary sectors, with a look towards 2018.
ForestLearning has released new agriculture resources for year 11 and 12 students, with others in development specifically for teachers. The resources for year 11s include topics on forest production, pests and diseases, carbon sequestration, technology and subsystems. Teacher resources are being developed in line with the 2018 national curriculum roll out, with a focus on environment and earth science for senior students visiting forests.
Ensuring the STEM related resources are ready for release in 2018 is integral, providing ForestLearning the opportunity to form the foundation of the subjects.
In tertiary news, the WoodSolutions timber education program has generated a number of positive outcomes. Three major universities, that have not previously offered timber engineering subjects, have introduced new programs:
- Deakin University (Geelong, Vic) School of Engineering has now changed its course curricula and is offering a new subject Steel and Timber Structures.
- The University of New South Wales School of Civil and Environmental Engineering has introduced a 10-week Fourth Year / Postgraduate Elective on Sustainable Timber Engineering Design.
- The University of Queensland’s School of Civil Engineering is also now delivering an advanced elective, Design of Timber Structures.
Lecturers in these subjects are accessing and utilising the WoodSolutions educational resources available.
The emerging mid-rise timber construction opportunities are a key priority area – and interest in this area is increasing at both universities and TAFEs
A number of TAFEs have introduced timber engineering including:
- Box Hill TAFE – running a specific CLT apartment building project for its final year students for the second year running. One of its students in 2016 was the first winner of our WoodSolutions new Dangerous Designs competition with an apartment building.
- Holmesglen TAFE Institute – implemented a timber construction project for its final year Advanced Building Studies (Architecture) students.
FWPA is conducting presentations across the university and TAFE sectors on the merging mid-rise timber construction opportunities. A case study resource is being developed for architectural and building courses, introducing and explaining the design and construction process of an eight-storey timber apartment building.
The vocational education and training (VET) sector is currently undergoing review. This education stream has undergone a number of changes in recent years; there is now less training delivered through TAFE institutes and more through Registered Training Organisations. Our aim is to identify the major organisations nationally and to ensure they are aware of the WoodSolutions education program and resources.
