ACEVic
Conference

Mike Rolls is a leading voice in resilience, crisis and turnarounds. Mike has extensive lived experience through adversity – At the age of 18, Mike survived a deadly bout of Meningococcal Septicemia, enduring severe injuries and multiple amputations. Given just a 5% chance of survival, he defied the odds, spending six months in hospital and faced years of recovery. This life changing event signalled the beginning of an unlikely pathway towards helping individuals and organisations manage their own challenges with greater efficiency and effectiveness. In his work as a professional speaker and thought leader in his field, Mikes work combines two specific elements: valuable lessons derived from lived experience, and his obsession with learning and unpacking what makes people tick in the midst of crisis and beyond. His message, From “Why Me? To What’s Next?” Is a simple, yet effective philosophy that underpins the work he offers to organisations and individuals around Australia, where he challenges, educates, and inspires new ways of thinking, feeling and behaving

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How to Unlock Resilience

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Ditch the Dead Weight –

 

Mike will share powerful personal experience and anecdotes around the value of not settling for the status quo – particularly around the lag effects of the pandemic - demonstrating the importance of leaving behind those things that don’t serve us, and replacing them with things of greater value.

 

He will show us the immense power of simplifying life through adversity, and why small, short term incremental improvements can have massive long term positive impacts on us all.

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Co-Founder of Audit Express & Educonomy | Tertiary Education Professional & Policy Advisor

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Matthew is the co-founder of both Audit Express, an award-winning internal audit and advisory firm that specialises in the education, health and care sectors, and Educonomy, a consultancy firm that specialises in establishing education policy, workforce development strategies, learning design, digital content creation and ed- tech solutions for both industry and education providers. Matthew has a long history of work in the Australian vocational education sector, spanning almost 20 years. He has worked in a variety of roles as an educator, manager and executive accountable for education, quality and compliance, and also in the role of senior policy advisor to the Victorian state-based Minister for Skills and Higher Education.

 

Discover a world of accessible technology designed to enhance Adult Community Education (ACE) programs.

 

This session explores a range of free, affordable and easy to use digital tools that can revolutionise how engaging and effective your course content is, without stretching your resources.

Key Takeaways:

• Demystifying EdTech: Explore a range of free, affordable and easy to use edtech solutions that can enhance online learning experiences.

• Creative Content on a Budget: Learn how to leverage these tools to create innovative course materials, including the integration of basic virtual reality elements.

• Practical Demonstrations: Watch live demonstrations of how these technologies can be applied in an ACE setting, showcasing real-world applications.

• Community Collaboration: Discuss strategies for sharing resources and best practices within the ACE provider community to foster a collaborative approach to technology adoption.

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Director, Hunt and Rose

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Lee-Anne's passion is in helping others with their personal and professional growth. She loves creating her own vibrant and interactive learning and development workshops and her 20+ years of experience has been gained across the government, community and private sectors. With a strong focus on supporting leaders in a nurturing and safe environment, Lee-Anne helps to create a culture of positive relationships to drive business and personal success. Lee-Anne is accredited in Project and Change Management and excels at achieving outcomes through thorough planning, effective communication and building respectful relationships where everyone has the chance to be heard.

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Be the Spark: Inspire with Values and Trust

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Are you ready to take your leadership to the next level and ignite inspiration within your team? We invite you to join us for an exciting and interactive presentation on "Be the Spark: Inspire with Values and Trust."

 

In this fast-paced and fun session, you'll unlock secrets to becoming a leader who ignites inspiration and fosters trust within your team. Through a whirlwind of dynamic activities, captivating discussions, and hands-on tips, we’ll explore:

 

Bringing organizational values to life in your daily actions and decisions.

Common perception gaps and how to bridge them for a more inspiring leadership style.

Strengthening trust and collaboration within your team through small, impactful steps.

 

Whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting out on your leadership journey, this presentation promises to introduce you to some tools and inspiration you need to create a positive impact and drive success in your organization. Don't miss out on this opportunity to become the spark that ignites greatness in your team!

ISS Fellow with International Specialised Skills Institute

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Giselle is a 2021 Fellow with the International Specialised Skills Institute. She has a background in Anthropology and began working in community out of Cloverdale Community Centre in 2019. Giselle has been focussing on social and emotional research applied to community participation, education, and employment for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

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Making Wellbeing in the Classroom: Social and Emotional Learning in Adult Education 

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Giselle will present her findings from her fellowship with a focus on social enterprise models discovered overseas through the Fellowship journey. Participants will hear of real life examples applied at Cloverdale Community Centre, the benefits outside of just earning money, and tips to consider before starting your own social enterprise in the Australian context.

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Partner, People Risk, Howden

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Damien has 20 years’ experience assisting clients in understanding risks and opportunities associated with people risk, enterprise risk, corporate governance, compliance and technology. This is across a landscape of insurable and non-insurable risks and across a broad range of industries and sectors including; Education, Government, Mining, Construction, Energy, Manufacturing, Engineering, Automotive, Aerospace, Rail, Agriculture and Retail.

 

For the past 10 years, Damien has held senior management roles, regularly presented on risk management topics at major conferences, seminars and facilitated workshops. During his tenure at the Australian Industry Group, he actively contributed to State Government industry sector committees and the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) Board.

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Creating safe communities in the adult education sector: does this include your employees? A case study in applying practical strategies that address current and emerging workforce risks

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In this session, we will explore how safety for employees is an integral part of creating safe learning communities in the adult education sector. Using a case study within the adult learning industry, we will delve into the implementation of practical strategies that address:

 

·         Getting started: how to understand your workforce risk gaps using an integrated management system approach and other tools to get you started.

·         The types of risks faced by organisations and its employees in the adult education sector, including physical risks, psychological hazards, current and emerging risks;

·         The importance of a safety vision and a values-based approach in setting an effective safety culture

·         Leadership engagement and accountability: setting the tone and the standard.

·         Workforce engagement and buy-in: creating trust in the process.

·         How a proactive safety culture reduces risks in the education sector i.e. staff attraction/retention, psychosocial risk.

·         Measuring success, reward/recognition and creating a continuous improvement framework

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Senior Knowledge Coordinator, Amaze

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Danny Sun Baulch is the Senior Knowledge Coordinator at Amaze, an autism organisation driving positive change for Autistic people and their families. As a member of Amaze’s Evidence and Impact team, she has demonstrated experience in translating research and evidence and into practical resources and tools for professionals and community. With experience spanning education, health and community development, Danny has a strong passion for bring the lived experience perspective into the development and design of knowledge resources through co-design and participation.

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Supporting Autistic people to achieve positive outcomes in their learning journey: the environment and strategies

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This session will explore environmental elements that can support Autistic learners as well as practical tips on how best to engage Autistic people in learning to cater for their diverse needs.

• The Learning Environment – unpacking what a good learning space that supports Autistic learners looks like (both in-person and online), identifying what environmental factors encourage Autistic learners to be active and engaged participants, and understanding what potential barriers may exist in the learning environment that can negatively impact Autistic learners and how to minimise these.

• Practical Strategies – getting to know what approaches and tools you can use in your classes to best support Autistic learners to become and remain engaged.

Manager of the Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training (ADCET)

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Darlene McLennan is the Manager of the Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training (ADCET). ADCET provides national leadership, information and professional development for educators and support staff in the inclusion of people with disability in Australia's Higher Education and Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. Darlene completed her Master of Business with the University of Tasmania and has a post-graduate degree in Careers Education through RMIT. Darlene has nearly 35 years of experience working in the disability sector, of which 19 years are within the tertiary disability sector. Darlene has a Specific Learning Disability, which provides her with a personal insight into some of the challenges and opportunities faced by students with disability when accessing and succeeding in tertiary education.

 

Unlock the Power of Inclusive Learning: A Practical Guide to Universal Design for Learning

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Join Darlene McLennan in an interactive session where attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the principles of UDL and how to apply them in their educational settings. UDL is a framework that helps create flexible learning environments to accommodate diverse learners and their unique needs.

Key takeaways from the session include:

• An overview of the principles of UDL

• Practical strategies and tools for implementing UDL

• Case studies demonstrating the benefits of UDL for both learners and educators

• Guidance on how to get started with UDL and overcome common challenges

Attendees will leave this session equipped with the confidence to create more inclusive, accessible, and engaging learning experiences for all their students

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Chair, Interim CEO Small Business Mentoring Services

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Grant Snowden B.Com., C.A. (S.A.), MBA has spent most of his career as CEO of four companies, from small to large, operating internationally in mining, manufacturing, distribution and contracting. In Victoria more recently he has worked with many learn local and community organizations in the areas of strategy and marketing. He is currently Chair and Interim CEO of the NFP organization, SBMS, the Small Business Mentoring Service (www.sbms.org.au), and continues to mentor and partner with the owners, leaders and teams responsible for SMEs and NFPs.

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Strategic Planning - the Why, How and Help.

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Preparing a strategy is either a chore or an opportunity. Grant prefers to see it as the latter and his presentation will cover areas that he believes will assist those who are reviewing or working on their strategy. The content will include such topics as overall, why (what is our objective), alignment, how to start, attitude, help, gory details, benefits, questions and audience input, and finally conclusion. He hopes his presentation, discussion and audience participation will be enjoyable learning for both attendees and himself, and reduce the stress in preparing any next Strategy.

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Director, Hunt and Rose

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Tegan has been leading teams of her own and working with different levels of Management for over 20 years across the government, education, not for profit and private sector. Tegan has built up an extraordinary wealth of practical knowledge and experience and believes that consistent leadership and strong relationships are critical to building successful businesses. Tegan is passionate about creating safe and collaborative workplaces where everyone thrives and has the opportunity to shape the future, for themselves and the place they work.  Tegan is accredited in Change Management, Mental Health First Aid, and holds a Certificate in Creating Wellbeing in Small Businesses. Tegan is the Secretary of the Board of the Foothills Foundation, working to help those people most disadvantaged and marginalized in the community.

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Be the Spark: Inspire with Values and Trust

​

Are you ready to take your leadership to the next level and ignite inspiration within your team? We invite you to join us for an exciting and interactive presentation on "Be the Spark: Inspire with Values and Trust."

 

In this fast-paced and fun session, you'll unlock secrets to becoming a leader who ignites inspiration and fosters trust within your team. Through a whirlwind of dynamic activities, captivating discussions, and hands-on tips, we’ll explore:

 

Bringing organizational values to life in your daily actions and decisions.

Common perception gaps and how to bridge them for a more inspiring leadership style.

Strengthening trust and collaboration within your team through small, impactful steps.

 

Whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting out on your leadership journey, this presentation promises to introduce you to some tools and inspiration you need to create a positive impact and drive success in your organization. Don't miss out on this opportunity to become the spark that ignites greatness in your team!

CEO, Amaze

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Jim Mullan is the CEO of Amaze. Since June 2021, Jim has led the development and implementation of the organisation’s newest strategic plan (2022 – 2026) with a strong focus on social justice and human rights. In his role as CEO of Amaze, Jim is leading the organisation’s national growth in the areas of advocacy and service provision. He is heavily engaged in conversation with the autism community and knows there is a strong willingness from Autistic people to meaningfully participate in the world, especially in education, TAFE and training, higher learning, and employment. Trained in youth work with a career spanning community education, economic development, social care, food relief and more, Jim has over 17 years' experience in senior management roles within the for-purpose sector. 

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Celebrate Adult Community Education sector

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Jim will speak to the positive impact the Adult Community Education sector has provided to the community and learners. 

Jim is passionate about the benefits and positive change the ACE sector has made and wants to celebrate our achievements and impact on the community 

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Project Manager with CIRE Services

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Rob has over 30 years in the Education and Training Sector in a variety of roles as a Facilitator, Manager and Executive with extensive operational and strategic knowledge and expertise in Learning & Development, Business & Strategic Management, Project Management and Human Resources.

With a wide range of experience in industry sectors, including the Original SECV, Banking, Telecommunications, Civil Contracting, GTO’s and RTO’s, managing the development and delivery of educational, training & learning initiatives and solutions.

Rob is currently Project Managing the development of a new qualification in Early Childhood Education and Care for CIRE Services.  CIRE is an NFP, Community Based organisation supporting the Early Childhood sector, with Community Schools, Community Hubs, Early Learning Centres and RTO in the Northeast of Melbourne.. 

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Explore the use of technology to revolutionize the way students can learn and interact in an educational setting.

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This session will look at using technology as an immersive tool for learning in a new qualification being developed for the ECEC sector.  Developing a Pathway for students into ECEC.

Rob will give an insight into utilising state-of-the-art Virtual Reality (VR) equipment and Robot Babies simulating industry standards, work experience and focusing on employment outcomes.  Supporting students to be work ready with realistic industry expectations.

Students can explore virtual environments and use their creativity in ways not possible in traditional classrooms.

Is Virtual Reality (VR) the way of the future in education?

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Director of Pathways and Engagement, Swinburne University of Technology

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Ensuring young people access quality education and training – no matter where they live or the circumstances they face – has been the motivation behind Louisa Ellum’s highly successful career across Australia’s education, tertiary, and social sectors. In her numerous leadership roles, Louisa has been able to advocate for greater cohesiveness between education, vocational training, and other sectors, which has opened the door to collaborations and partnerships that benefit the support, learning and wellbeing of young people. Louisa has published multiple articles, research reports and book chapters on partnerships in education and led many national transformative education-based initiatives. She is the Director of Pathways and Engagement at Swinburne University of Technology in VET and is currently completing her doctorate at the University of Tasmania.

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Strengthen our impact through partnerships and collaborations

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Louisa’s interactive session will offer some new, sector drawn insights into how our adult and tertiary education and training eco-system, and specifically the Learn Local sector, can really demonstrate impact and strengthen its work through strategic partnerships and collaborations.

Louisa’s recent doctoral work explores the nature of partnerships in the work of flexible learning providers to inform a model of partnering and collaboration that can potentially transform future ways of working with impact and a focus on organisation and sector capability building. This session will allow participants the time to share their work, discuss challenges and opportunities and build a plan of attack through learning and understanding what the foundational enabling factors of impactful collaborations and partnerships are.

Key areas covered:

· Creating Learn Local impact through partnerships and collaborations

· The education eco-system approach – the power of place

· Exploration of the four foundation enablers of impactful partnering

· Practical examples of collaboration and partnership approaches to strengthen organisational and educational capacity and capabilities.

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