VOCEDplus

VOCEDplus is a free international research database about tertiary education, maintained and developed by staff at the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) in Adelaide, South Australia. The focus of the database content is the relation of post-compulsory education and training to workforce needs, skills development, and social inclusion.

Structure

The content of the VOCEDplus database encompasses vocational education and training (VET), higher education, lifelong learning, informal learning, VET in schools, adult and community education, apprenticeships/traineeships, international education, providers of education and training, and workforce development. It is international in scope and contains over 84,000 English language records, many with links to full text documents.

VOCEDplus contains extensive Australian materials and includes a wide range of international information, covering outcomes of tertiary education in the shape of published research, practice, policy, and statistics.[1]

Entries are included for the following types of publications: reports; annual reports; papers; discussion papers; occasional papers; working papers; books; book chapters; conference papers; conference proceedings; journals; journal articles; policy documents; published statistics; theses; podcasts; and teaching and training materials.

Each database entry contains standard bibliographic information and an abstract.[1] Many entries include full text access via the publisher's website or a digitised copy.

History

1989-1997

In the early years VOCEDplus was known as VOCED. The original database was produced by a network of clearinghouses across Australia with the aim of sharing activities in the technical and further education (TAFE) sector. VOCED was produced in hardcopy and an electronic version was distributed on diskette.[2]

1997-2001

1997 - the first web version of VOCED was made available from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) organisational website

1998 - a major project to upgrade the database and expand its international coverage commenced [3]

2001 - creation of VOCED's own website

2001 - VOCED endorsed as the UNESCO international database for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) research information [4]

2001-2009

Many changes to the database and website occurred during this period with a focus on continuous improvement to meet the needs of users and utilise emerging technologies.

2006 - materials produced for two adult literacy and learning programs funded by the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) - the Workplace English Language and Learning (WELL) Programme and the Adult Literacy National Project (ALNP) included in VOCED

2007 - the Australian clearinghouse network transferred most of the hardcopy collections to NCVER, to form a centralised repository of resources

2009 - materials produced by Reframing the Future (RTF) a vocational education and training workforce development initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments included in VOCED

2009-2014

A major rebuild of the database and website was undertaken during this period to take advantage of the potential of new technologies to provide improved services and incorporate Web 2.0 technologies (RSS feeds, and share and bookmark tools).

2009 - scope expanded to more fully encompass the higher education sector

2011 - launch of VOCEDplus [5] with the name change representing the enhanced features and extended focus

2012 - a major retrospective digitisation project commenced and by the end of the 2012-2013 financial year a total of 9,328 publications (593,534 pages/microfiche frames) had been digitised, ensuring these publications are available electronically for free [6]

2014-2019

A number of significant curated content products were released during this period.

2015 - release of a refreshed look to adopt the new NCVER branding plus a number of search enhancements (Guided search, Expert search, and Glossary search) were added

2015 - first in the series of 'Focus on...' pages released

2016 - launch of the 'Pod Network', a convenient and efficient platform that allows instant access to research and a multitude of resources on a range of subjects [7]

2017 - completion of the 'Pod Network', consisting of 20 Pods (on broad subjects including Apprenticeships and traineeships, Foundation skills, Teaching and learning, Career development, and Students) and 74 Podlets (on narrow topics including Online learning, Social media, VET in schools, STEM skills, and Adult literacy)

2018 - launch of the 'Timeline of Australian VET Policy Initiatives' and the 'VET Knowledge Bank' which contains a suite of products capturing Australia's diverse, complex and ever-changing VET system [8]

2019 - after an internal review, a refreshed, streamlined version of the 'Pod Network' was released, consisting of 13 Pods and 20 Podlets [9]

2019 - launch of the 'VET Practitioner Resource' which contains a range of information to support VET practitioners in their work and is organised into three sections: (1) Teaching, training and assessment: standards, guidance, research and good practice resources to inform daily work; (2) Practitioners as researchers: information for undertaking practitioner-led research; and (3) The VET workforce: information about VET teachers and trainers, and the professional development needs of the VET workforce [10]

2019 - VOCEDplus celebrated 30 years of providing information to the tertiary education sector [11] and the homepage was refreshed to make it more modern and easier to use

References
  1. "Academic and Teaching Staff: Databases & Journals". Federation University Australia.
  2. Shields, Donna (November 1994). "VOCED - Vocational Education and Training Database". Training agenda: a journal of vocational education and training. 2 (4): 25.
  3. Hayman, Sarah (2000). IVETA conference 2000: vocational education and training for life long learning in the information era: conference proceedings. International Vocational Education and Training Association (IVETA). pp. 4–6.
  4. Naidu, Radhika (2005). "VOCED". Revista Mexicana de investigacion educativa. X (25): 510.
  5. Gamlin, Tracy (October 2011). "Vocational education research gets a makeover" (PDF). Incite. Australian Library and Information Association. 32, 10: 19. ISSN 0158-0876.
  6. 2012-2013 annual report. National Centre for Vocational Education Research. 2013. p. 12.
  7. National Centre for Vocational Education Research. "NCVER News #373". www.ncver.edu.au.
  8. National Centre for Vocational Education Research. "New timeline provides snapshot of VET policy reform". www.ncver.edu.au.
  9. National Centre for Vocational Education Research. "NCVER News #451". www.ncver.edu.au.
  10. National Centre for Vocational Education Research. "NCVER News #460". www.ncver.edu.au.
  11. National Centre for Vocational Education Research. "NCVER News #464". www.ncver.edu.au.
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