ONLINE REVISION FOR YOUR MODULES/COMPETENCIES

Online revision and quizzes now fully functional !!!

If you'd like to try the online revision tests, just log onto http://www.classmarker.com/ and enter the following:

Username: paul8756

Password: kmstmhb

This is for module NUE400 - Electrical Installations - Protection Methods and Devices.

This can be taken online with a PC, laptop or mobile telephone and gives you instant feedback with result and correct answers.

If you want to subscribe ABSOLUTELY FREE!!! to this service, send an email to office@motorscan.info, together with the modules or new competencies you are studying ( eg; UEENEEe007b) and we will immediately email back the username/password for each. The password can be changed to one of your liking after you have logged on for the first time.

Our group including the new music teacher.

More pictures of our combined group including one of our new music teacher, employed to entertain us while we are busy wiring.

As you can see, we are also committed to teaching telecommunication installation skills and offer training for Austel certification.

This certificate can be gained prior to your final qualification and licensing as an electrician and enables you to undertake cabling and connection to telecommunication systems.

Great day at the ranch. Joe and Paul ( fastest teachers in the west!! ) decided to experiment with two combined classes P2 and P3 to work together as one large group and what an overwhelming success it was, as the pictures and videos prove.

Just goes to show what planning and cooperation can achieve. We're devoted to giving our students the best opportunities to work as a team and, at the same time learn.

We're going to do this more often and try out some new ideas and techniques to achieve the best results we can -- we're working with you guys and look forward to more lessons like we had yesterday.

As a teacher, I had one of the best days ever!!. The experience of working together with another devoted and highly motivated teacher, which was reflected in the way the students reacted and worked, is one that is one that needs to be experienced by all educators. What we put in is what we get out !!

THE BRILLIANT TALENT SHOW FROM P3

Not only can these guys wire up switches from one way to three way intermediate, but at the same time give us a show worthy of entering in a talent contest !!



Who said learning shouldn't be fun ? Learning should be one of the most rewarding experiences for a young person ( and older ones too ) - good on you guys !!

We all had a fantastic afternoon of fun and at the same time each pair of pre-vocational students completed the switching exercises without hassle and drama. Just goes to show that a little humour goes a long way.

Great to see !!!

Our revision and quiz site is now operational

Well, here it is !!

You can now log onto our new site with details of the modules and competencies you are enrolled in at TAFE ( Victoria only at this stage ). You will then have access to a bank of questions that you can answer with immediate feedback as to the result, and the opportunity to do the test again with the questions being randomised. This means that you will get a new set of questions each timeyou. but the answers to the previous attempt will be given to you.

We are able to present the tests and quizzes to you in revision mode, which means that you can have as many attempts as we have preset ( usually a maximum of 10 ), which gives you an opportunity to get on top of the subject. Remember, the questions are drawn randomly from the question bank. We are also able to put the exercise into " test" mode when assessment time at TAFE draws near,that only gives you one attempt and the results are emailed back to us for analysis

This test can also be taken using your mobile phone, yes you can also revise and answer questions while you are out and about or travelling to work or TAFE.

Just email us your name and details of each unit you are studying and we will email you back the link to the site and a username/password for each unit. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY FREE !!!

We can also apply the test so that the result is emailed to us. This is when we feel that the test should be applied prior to your final exam/assessment at TAFE.

The questions will mainly be multiple choice, multiple answer, yes or no and short written answers.

We will be increasing the size of the question banks on a daily basis and continuously adding new material.

When you are ready, send an email to office@motorscan.info with your module/competency numbers ( eg: NUE057, NUE064, UEENEEE004B ) and we'll email you back your log-in details.

REMEMBER, this service is ABSOLUTELY FREE - We want to help our young apprentices pass their units with above average scores.

Editor.

Let there be light !!!

This is fully functional 12 volt fluorescent light fitting made by one of our very smart pre-vocational electrical students.

All of the students in our group are hand picked from many who apply to us for training and are all deserving of an apprenticeship placement at the end of our rigorous education programme.

Practical, theoretical and communication skills are developed and a thorough assessment routine has to be undertaken before any of our pre-vocational students are declared sufficiently competent to enter a formal apprenticeship with an electrical company.

Surfers Paradise on a lovely, hot Queensland day

This is how I spent some time while in Queensland recently. What more could I have asked for, sipping my cold Guinness while watching the meter maids at "work".

Not a conduit in sight !!!!

PVC conduits on external walls of buildings

These pictures were taken in Mentone, Melbourne while shopping. As you can see, no expansion couplings were used and the saddles are galvanised steel.

As a result of exposure to the sun, the conduit has buckled for two reasons.

• No expansion couplings have been installed along the length of conduit and:



• PVC saddles should have been used to allow the conduit to slide within them while steel saddles have a raised "dimple" in the centre which grips the conduit. No problem with steel conduit but definitely bad practice to use them with PVC.

Remember the online quiz ( even on your mobile !!)

PC or Mobile phone

Remember that within the next 2 weeks, we'll be giving the link to our new page that contains questions and quizzes.

These quizzes are listed under the different competencies and modules currently being offered to electrical pre-vocational students and apprentices in Victoria.

The questions will be a mixture of different types of question including multiple choice and will be an invaluable revision tool.

The questions are marked automatically online ( immediately ) and if you want to repeat the quiz we have organised the site so that the questions are randomised and a fresh set of questions from our question bank will be offered to you.

It's going to be an exciting site as we have made sure that there is a mix of text and graphics.

Guess what ?? You can even do a quiz on your mobile phone while going to work or coming to TAFE.

I made this fluorescent light and it works !!!

I'm an electrical pre-vocational student and I made this fluorescent light from scratch by myself.

Everything you see was made by me and the printed circuit that controls this 12 volt light was assembled and soldered in the workshop by myself.

All students in my group made one of these light fittings that can be used in a van or caravan or even in your swish Winnebago motor home !!

This is just one of many things we learn to make during our pre-vocational training. We even make our own tool box.

Hopefully, I'll be offered an apprenticeship after this and I look forward to coming to your home one day to install some new power points, light fittings and even a computerised system to operate all of the appliances and lights you have.

See you then !!

Our future apprentices !!!

These are our future apprentices . We need to plan for their future and develop new techniques and technologies to allow them to become highly skilled electrical technicians !!
As you can see from the picture, it's a fine career for a man or woman.

LESSON 1 - ELECTRON THEORY

BOHR'S ATOMIC THEORY

Before we start to teach topics dealing with electron flow in an electrical circuit, we need to
know what an electron actually is. After all, it could be a type of alien being or motor car (".... here I was driving down the highway in my new Electron ..." ), so we need to make sure that all of our students know what electrons are and how they form the very basis of all electrical theory and application.

In 1913, the Danish physicist Niels Bohr managed to explain the spectrum of atomic hydrogen by an extension of Rutherford's description of the atom. In Bohr's model, the negatively charged electrons revolve about the positively charged atomic nucleus because of the attractive electrostatic force according to Coulomb's law.

So where are we leading ? How does this explain how these electrons flow through copper wires and light up our lives ?

The main parts of an atom are protons and neutrons that are grouped together in the nucleus ( centre), and electrons.

Neutrons have no electrical charge. Protons are positively charged particles, therefore the overall charge on the nucleus is positive.

Clear so far ?

Electrons are very small negatively charged particles. The amount of electrical charge on an electron is equal but opposite to the charge on a proton. Electrons are continuously moving in orbits, or shells, around the nucleus. A normal atom contains the same number of protons and electrons. The atom is therefore balanced electrically.

Now for the story you wanted to hear !!

As the electrons in the outer shell of an atom are relatively far away from the restraining influence of the nucleus, it is possible for an atom to gain or lose electrons and become electrically unbalanced.

When this occurs the atom becomes an ion. The process of gaining or losing electrons is known as ionisation.

Each outer shell revolving in orbit around the nucleus, somewhat like a spacecraft, has a different limit to the amount of electrons it can hold, but when a shell is the outermost one, its limit is eight. The number, which is actually in the outer shell, determines whether the substance will be a conductor or insulator. A full or nearly full outer shell produces an insulator, nearly empty produces a conductor.

In the next lesson, we'll discuss various conductors and insulators as well as semi-conductors ( the " things" that drive your Ipod ) and start to investigate how current flows.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We hope you found this informative and helped to explain what electrons actually are before we move on to explain how they flow through the wires and cables that enable us to enjoy the benefits of electric power

We're hard at work !!!

The P3 group of semester 1, 2009 are hard at work drawing diagrams of switches and working on switching charts. Today we've learnt 1 way switching, 2 way switching ( including the conversion method and 3 way intermediate switching.

Hi everyone,

Welcome to our new blogsite where all you electrical pre-vocational students and apprentices can share in a wealth of information and knowledge as well as stories, humour and anything else you may want to share with your friends and co-students.


Over the next few weeks we intend to fill these pages with as much useful information and knowledge enhancement as possible and we welcome your pictures, comments and suggestions.

Remember, this is YOUR site and we need as much feedback as possible to make it work as intended.

There will be a link to our new site available within the next 2 weeks where you can attempt online quizzes associated with the modules and competencies you are involved with. These quizzes will be automatically marked online and questions randomised to make it more interesting. A link to this website will be provided.

Editor.