Industry Talking — lunch time learning

As I write this article, NSW and Victoria are coming out of recent COVID lockdowns. We are all hoping that the next couple of months are more routine and that people can return to work safely.

In October ARCIA kicked off Lunch Time Learning sessions that are intended to provide quick bytes of industry information on a broad range of subjects. The response from members online has been terrific and we will keep doing this into the future.

I would like to thank all the ARCIA members who have contributed to the content for these snapshots and also delivered them online. Our honorary Treasurer Andrew Wyborn has put a huge effort into this program and he has done a fantastic job presenting online.

One interesting piece of feedback we received was that many members attending Lunch Time Learning are new to the industry or are involved in administration roles and do not have any real understanding of all the industry jargon. Andrew stepped in and created the first ever industry index of terms and we think this will be useful for many people.

As we ramp up our online training courses ARCIA has contracted with an online e-learning provider, https://etrainu.com/, to provide these services to our members. ARCIA will be putting all our professional development courses and other material onto this site for the benefit of members. There will be a mix of free and paid courses available as we load up new content and we see what demand occurs.

For some time, ARCIA wanted some method to provide professional development or micro-learning skill sets that are not available through traditional facilities. This follows on from the face-to-face courses that ARCIA ran in conjunction with Comms Connect; this online platform will make administration much easier.

The online service will also make this information more available to people who cannot get to a major centre or event. Competency-based training is becoming commonplace with staff using online services for work health and safety or inductions and many other services.

There is huge scope for a variety of courses; ARCIA wishes to create a system that enables a broad range of people engaged in our industry to upskill and document their progress. If our industry wants to create a vocational path for people coming into the industry this system will provide industry-specific skill sets that will complement TAFE or other formal education opportunities.

During October ARCIA had the opportunity to respond to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that was assessing the market for mid-band LTE spectrum in regional and remote Australia. ARCIA continues to argue that spectrum policy needs to include a methodology that allows for many types of users to access new technology options such as private LTE.

There is a growing chorus in the industrial and agricultural sectors that seek to use wireless technology to improve productivity. While spectrum policy is very complicated and subject to international harmonisation agreements we are seeing other countries use spectrum policy to encourage innovation in new markets.

As this will be the last post for 2021, we wish you a happy and safe Christmas and cannot wait for 2022 and in-person events to return.

Hamish Duff, President, Australian Radio Communications Industry Association