What Sarah doesn’t know about the VET sector and blended online learning isn’t worth knowing.

In contrast to her youthful appearance (we continue to search for her hidden fountain of youth), Sarah has had a long and illustrious career in the sector. Like the proverbial onion, keep peeling away the layers and you’ll be blown away by her vast knowledge, skills and random interests.

Sarah manages and consults to a range of VET and Higher Education projects, specialising in blended and online training and assessment. She is known for her no-nonsense approach to compliance. She has the innate ability to think outside the box and an incredibly heart-driven, professional approach. 

Sarah has brought together an enviable team of education and digital specialists and leads them towards her vision of creating high-quality digital learning experiences.

Sarah has been working in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) industry since 2005 across many different positions within TAFE, private and Learn Local training organisations. She has also been involved with many reputable Higher Education institutions.

Sarah manages and consults to a range of VET and Higher Education projects, specialising in blended and online training and assessment. She is known for her no-nonsense approach to compliance. She has the innate ability to think outside the box with an incredibly heart-driven, professional approach.

Along with spearheading some truly innovative projects with various government departments, Sarah spent 3 years working as the Victorian eLearning Coordinator and Content Services Advisor for the National VET eLearning Strategy (previously the Australian Flexible Learning Framework) where she consulted on digital resource customisation and strategic development across many industries and with a range of VET organisations.

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It makes perfect sense that a multimedia and interactive media specialist such as Alex would also be such an avid gamer. First-person, space-based is his penchant – the final frontier.

Alex holds qualifications in interactive media, web development, business planning and operations and has spent the past 5 years flexing his digital learning material development skills.

Alex’s speciality areas include sound production, 2D and 3D animation, film production and editing, coding and scripting. Coming from a customer service background he has a solution-based approach and has a deep understanding of behavioural assessment which comes in handy when producing digital content for the service-based industries.

Alex is the creative force that binds Pop Education together with his technological ‘know how’ and positive attitude to problem solve and find innovative ways to make magic.

When not working, Alex can be found behind the driving wheel of his PS4 pretending to be Colin McRae or exploring unknown worlds in his vast space fleet.

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Melissa’s enjoyment of assessment is only matched by her enjoyment of sitting before a roaring fire on a freezing cold Winter’s day (with or without marshmallows).

She likens unpacking units of competency to completing giant jigsaw puzzles, waiting to be picked apart and put back together again.

With 15 years in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector, Melissa has experienced all sides including design, development, teaching and assessing. Her experience spans both TAFE and private training organisations.

Melissa’s toolbox includes high level assessment and content design, project management, quality assurance and coaching/mentoring.

Self-confessed creative geek, Melissa brings fun, focus and the ability to think outside what is commonly referred to as ‘normal’ regarding assessments. Her passion and knowledge around ensuring compliance is second to none.

More recently, Melissa can be recognised from having delivered some engaging, fabulous webinars for the VET Development Centre (VDC).

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Raylene coordinates more than Pop’s finance. As an experienced obedience dog trainer, Raylene has the whole Pop team sitting, dropping and rolling over when it comes to making sure we keep to budget.

Raylene has over 25 years’ experience in finance and office management around the Bendigo region – home to Pop Education. Raylene is the financial guru of the organisation, handling payroll, superannuation, BAS and taxation liabilities. She processes all accounts receivable and payable, WorkCover and keeps the office turning over and the team sane (no easy task).

Raylene has a full appreciation for the delivery of quality education. She contributes to our mission to provide innovative and bespoke learning solutions by providing budget planning and reporting support across all our projects.

If Raylene didn’t spend her days feeding the team puppy treats when we do something right, she’d be on an extended holiday and travelling the world. You might find her in one of her favourite places – Croatia or, more likely, Venice!

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Shauna has one diverse background. As a restaurant owner on more than one occasion, more recently, Shauna took the plunge to become a Marriage Celebrant. Shauna really loves a good social gathering, and her cooking skills keep you coming back for more.  

Shauna’s foundation was as a Trainer and Assessor with over 11 years experience. She began her career in Vocational Education and Training (VET) as a hospitality trainer and assessor in Yarrawonga where she was required to create assessment tools in readiness to add to scope and facilitate.

Shauna has experienced working with a wide range of learners across all AQF levels and has chaired validation sessions, conducted internal and external audits and has a keen eye for detail.

Shauna is a strength to have on board regarding high-level course design and in creating quality and compliant assessments.

More recently, Shauna facilitated professional development for a well-known Melbourne-based TAFE around determining competency and providing assessment feedback.

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Caitlyn is a qualified, certified, confirmed maths nerd with an amazing mathematically wired brain that loves obscure strategy board games as a form of relaxation. Caitlyn is also an unqualified, but very keen, bird watcher and hiker, who has trekked to Annapurna Base Camp and done a lap around Mont Blanc.

Caitlyn has a cross-sectional education and technology background. She has taught Technologies for pre-service primary teachers at Deakin University, created educational videos for a global audience, and worked on cutting-edge educational games and apps, including designing for AR.

Caitlyn’s strengths are in the higher education and corporate sectors. She has a Bachelor of Science majoring in Mathematics from Monash University and is completing a Masters of Education at the University of Melbourne in 2020. She has specialist experience in producing tertiary courses focussing on data analytics and bringing gamification to learning products. She is specialised in producing tertiary courses that focus on data analytics.

Caitlyn’s calm demeanour and analytical yet innovative approach to education design attracts kudos from academics far and wide. As an all-rounder, Caitlyn can provide end-to-end design and development in a range of platforms with excellent outcomes.

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Liz proudly embraces her geekdom and is always on the lookout for ways to integrate her love for tech, pop culture, gaming, films, music and crochet into designing more engaging learner journeys. She’s yet to find a credible crochet angle – but it is only a matter of time!

Liz brings 18 years of experience in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) industry to her role as Education Designer. Her vast knowledge and skills were honed through working within a variety of TAFE, private and non-profit training organisations.

Liz’s toolbox includes assessment and content design, exploring ways to work smarter and more proactively, problem solving and using creative storytelling to emotionally engage learners.

We know this is a bit of an oxymoron, but Liz is a creative who loves compliance (weird right?). She thrives in the restrictive environment with her problem-solving and storytelling skills. Her superpower is ensuring online learning is compliant, while being engaging for the students.

So strong is Liz’s passion to the learning journey, that she is drawn to the process of being a student herself. Liz is eagerly (and somewhat obsessively) working through a Bachelor of Adult and Vocational Education to support her cutting edge practice.

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With almost twenty years under her belt in the corporate training and VET sector, Melissa brings to Pop a unique combination of creativity and compliance. Want to know what drives her nuts? The thought that compliant training also equals boring and bland! (There are of course many other things that drive her nuts, but we don’t have room for those here.)

Having worked with students aged between 15-70 has given her a good idea of what works, and definitely what doesn’t, for each cohort and her exposure to a vast range of training packages means she can speak the language of a construction worker, make a mean espresso worthy of her Italian heritage, (and gosh, she drinks a lot of it!) and the next minute – be discussing the latest farming trends in agriculture!

She’s also great with the compliance stuff – her attention to detail has led to success with internal, state-based and ASQA audits. Her ability to unpack and then re-build a competency standard into a meaningful learning resource that adds value and not just ticks boxes is her super-power.

Life on the Surf Coast means that she is constantly windswept with sandy toes, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.  

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